Marawi IDPs’ louder call for peace, truth and justice towards safe and dignified return

A press statement from the Marawi Advocacy Accompaniment (MAA) On the 7th Anniversary of Marawi Siege
May 23, 2024

We, members and networks of Marawi Advocacy Accompaniment (MAA) composed of bakwit communities (internally displaced persons - IDPs), civil society organizations, women and youth, and Meranaw leaders today, in commemoration of the 7th anniversary of the siege of our beloved Marawi City, reiterate our calls for justice, truth, human rights protection and peace towards the full realization of an IDP-centered and IDP-sensitive safe and dignified return of all IDPs back to Marawi.

Dubbed 'Kapanademtadem sa Marawi': 'LAKBAY KAMBALINGAN, LAKBAY KAPAYAPAAN', a ‘Solidarity Peace Caravan’ in various IDP areas in Marawi City was held today in Marawi City.

Seven years have passed since the Marawi Siege, the crisis of prolonged displacement still puts many lives in grave peril and has deprived the IDPs of their rights as human beings. Amid much publicized rehabilitation efforts in the city’s Most Affected Areas, the promise to rebuild the lives of the victims and survivors of the siege remain heavily unfulfilled.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) says that approximately 80,300 people (16,070 families) remain displaced since May 2017. Around 70% of the internally displaced population are in home-based settings while the rest are in transitory sites or temporary shelter communities.

Today, we demand that the Marawi Compensation Board (MCB), in the conduct of providing compensation for the families of those who perished and lost their properties and livelihood due to the Marawi siege in 2017, observe the principles of just compensation, fairness, and justice and prioritize those who need urgent compensation.

Beyond this, we believe that the national government has an obligation to address the issue more comprehensively by looking at the justice claims for the victims of the siege.

We urge both the national and regional Bangsamoro governments to take into account equally relevant challenges confronting the IDPs including land conflict and dispossession in Marawi, which affects especially four (4) barangays within ground zero; building of large-scale public infrastructures inside MAA which are reportedly unfit for the needs of residents; the continuing militarization of the entire province of Lanao with the intimidating presence and mounting of various military camps; and the critical issue of delivering justice to the innocent victims of the siege, who after seven years remain unidentified.

Until today, Marawi IDPs have been experiencing difficulties since our forced evacuation in May 2017. There are still unmet needs and challenges while we wallow in the cramped IDP camps and shelter communities such as lack of food and livelihood opportunities, poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, access to WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), and pursuit of education for our children. The dire state of the IDPs is further exacerbated by the lack of programmatic intervention and inaction of some relevant government agencies who must attend to the needs of the IDPs.

We reiterate our view that rebuilding Marawi must go beyond rebuilding the streets destroyed during the siege. Rebuilding the city must begin with rebuilding the lives of the displaced population by pursuing truth, justice and accountability within a transitional justice framework to comprehensively address the roots of festering conflict and to ensure that another Marawi siege or a similar tragic incident will never happen again.

A truth-seeking process to investigate the roots of Marawi siege and documentation of the dead in the mass grave (Maqbara) must be initiated by conducting an independent legislative inquiry on what really happened in Marawi and how billions of budget allocation for rehabilitation of the city has been spent since 2017. Delaying justice for the victims of the siege is resulting in prolonged emotional and psychological trauma to the families and survivors.

More importantly, the government must recognize the critical need to listen to the IDPs, Meranaw leaders, civil society, and the broad peace movement in Marawi in order to restore genuine peace and help Marawi get back on its feet and fulfill the promise of the Bangsamoro peace process.

There is an urgent need to institutionalize relevant peace and social justice measures to end decades of conflict and structural poverty in the region, and most importantly address the historical injustices committed against the Bangsamoro and all other inhabitants of Mindanao.

We believe that the issue of displacement, especially one that is driven by armed-conflict, is a transitional justice issue that must deliberately respond to the justice claims of the IDPs by addressing the bakwits’ most pressing needs, redress for the victims and their families, and by supporting their advocacy for durable solution.

We urge the general public, our progressive allies in the media, partner communities, human rights and peacebuilding civil society organizations, and champions within the government to remain in solidarity with the IDPs. Rebuilding Marawi to its old and new glory requires honoring and recognizing the heroism, culture and faith, optimism and resilience of the people of Marawi.

Today, we reaffirm our commitment to sustain our collective advocacy and struggle towards the safe and dignified return of the IDPs back to Marawi.

Seven years after the siege, our call remains louder: KAMBALINGAN! (Kambalingan is a Meranaw term which means ‘voluntary, safe, and dignified return’ of IDPs)

Christ gives himself to us completely

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
April 18, 2024

THAT’S what we can gather from what Christ said about himself being the Bread of Life. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eats of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world.” (Jn 6,51)

This gives us a great reason to be truly happy and confident in our life which will always be marked with all sorts of challenges, trials, difficulties, etc. Christ wants to give himself completely to us so he and us can be one as we should, since we are God’s image and likeness, despite our weaknesses, limitations and sins.

We need to process this truth of our faith thoroughly and try our best to receive Christ as the Bread of Life in Holy Communion as worthily and frequently as possible. We need to enliven our belief that in Christ we have everything, we have what is truly and ultimately needed by us. Many of our needs are passing, are of a temporal nature. It is Christ who we truly and ultimately need.

And he gives himself so completely to us as to make himself bread to be eaten by us. Although he is like air since we cannot truly live without him, he compares and makes himself bread, because unlike air, he as bread has to be deliberately sought.

This duty of seeking him is what we have to be more aware of. In the Gospel itself, we hear our Lord saying, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Mt 6,33) Not only that, we should also spread this most wonderful truth as widely as possible.

In the first reading of the Mass on Thursday of the Third Week of Easter (cfr. Acts 8,26-40), we are told about the Apostle Philip who preached about Christ to an Ethiopian eunuch, giving us an example of how eager we should be to make Christ known, loved and received by as many people as possible.

Christ as the Bread of Life means that he is truly and really with us even while he sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven. We are not left only with some picture or souvenir or symbol of his. And he accompanies us in our earthly sojourn, giving us the ultimate means we need to tackle whatever we may encounter in this life.

It’s a madness of love to which we have to correspond as best that we can. God himself gives us the grace in abundance to enable us to correspond to that love. We should not be scared of the tremendous prospect before us. But it’s up to us if we choose to love him or not. We should do everything to make use of what God is making available to us.

We are told that if we are generous with God, God will even be more generous with us, for he cannot be outdone in generosity. He assures us that whatever little we give to him will always yield us a hundredfold. It’s always good to keep this divine assurance in mind.

We have to learn to subordinate our earthly and temporal concerns and plans to the task of seeking Christ. We have to be wary of being influenced mainly if not solely by the standards of practicality, convenience and other worldly values. That’s our problem. God is often left behind in the play of our competing interests.

The challenge of Christian poverty

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
April 9, 2024

THE readings of Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter (Act 4,32-37 / Jn 3,7-15) somehow reminds us of two things: we need to live Christian poverty which demands all from us, and for that to take place, we need to be “born again,” so that the spirit of Christ would truly animate us and not just our human spirit.

Christian poverty is no joke. As depicted in the first reading, the believers of Christ sold or turned over everything, created a common fund which was distributed to everyone according to their needs.

This is a big challenge for us, considering that we always tend to get attached to the things of this world in a way that undermines true love that channels the very love of God for all of us.

Let us remember that in our relation with God, there is no middle ground. It is either we are with him completely or not at all. We have to overcome that strong tendency to think that we can be partly with God and partly with our own selves, even if we can say that we are giving God 99% of what we have and keep only 1% for us.

We have to give all! In fact, with God we have to give our very own selves, and not only things, not only some possessions. Remember Christ telling us that we have to love God with “all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Mt 22,37)

Let’s hope that we can echo these words of an old song: “I have no use for divided hearts. I give mine whole, and not in parts.” Let’s strive to reach that goal. It’s not an easy goal, but neither is it impossible. With God’s grace and our all-out humble efforts, we can hack it.

But given our human condition which allows us to learn things in stages, we have to understand that everyday we have to conquer our tendency to some earthly attachments so that we can say we are giving ourselves more and more to God until we give ourselves completely to him.

We have to learn to let go of our possessions, our preferences, our opinions, etc., until we can say that we are letting go of our whole selves so as to give everything to God.

This is what generosity is all about. Instead of feeling emptied, we feel filled with peace and joy. No earthly happening can add or diminish that peace and joy. It’s a peace and joy that can only be the effect of having God with us. As St. Teresa once said, “Solo Dios basta,” with God we have enough.

Christian poverty is never a state of misery and pure suffering and privation, even if in human eyes it can be seen that way. It is always motivated by love of God and neighbor, and is filled with all goodness, generosity and magnanimity.

It is a spirit of total self-giving that goes beyond any effort at quantification and measure. It’s never a matter of how much we give and keep. It’s purely a matter of total self-giving that identifies us with God of whom we are supposed to be his image and likeness.

We have to learn to develop and live this true spirit of Christian poverty which first of all would need God’s grace which we have to constantly beg and, of course, to exert our all-out effort.

The cross is necessary in our life

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
March 15, 2024

WE have to realize that we need the cross. Whether we like it or not, the cross will be unavoidable in our life due to our wounded human condition. We should, therefore, develop the proper attitude toward it, and that can only be the attitude Christ had toward the cross.

The gospel tells us that Christ knew he was going to offer his life on the cross as the ransom for all our sins. When it was not yet his time to do it, he managed to escape the attempts of those who wanted to arrest him. (cfr. Jn 7,1-2.10.25-30) But when that time came, he even went to offer himself for his eventual arrest and execution.

We have to understand that the cross, in any form it comes to us, is the way to our redemption. Christ had to win our redemption through the cross. And if we believe that we are meant to follow Christ, then we too, like Christ, has to win our own redemption through the cross with Christ.

It’s important that we lose the fear of the cross. For this, we need to ask first for God’s grace, and then train ourselves to develop a certain love for the cross. While the cross would inevitably cause us some suffering, we have to look at it with faith and convince ourselves that it actually is what would give us true joy.

So, we just have to be sport and cool about the whole reality of the cross in our life. What we need to do is to follow Christ in his attitude toward them. For Christ, embracing the cross, is the expression of his greatest love for us. We have to enter into the dynamic of this divine logic and wisdom so we can lose that fear of the cross.

Thus, we have to understand this very well. Unless we love the cross, we can never say that we are loving enough. Of course, we have to qualify that assertion. It’s when we love the cross the way God wills it – the way Christ loves it – that we can really say that we are loving as we should, or loving with the fullness of love.

We have to be wary of our tendency to limit our loving to ways and forms that give us some benefits alone, be it material, moral or spiritual. While they are also a form of love, they are not yet the fullness of love. Given our human wounded condition, the fullness of our love would always need the cross.

So, everyday let’s see to it that we have the cross. It can come to us in different ways – sickness, trials, difficulties, losses, death, etc. – and if we seem to have no cross for the day, then let’s look for it, the way Christ looked forward to embracing his cross.

This can take the form of taking the initiative to do a lot of good to others, or to make better use of our time, fighting against our tendency to laziness and complacency, or to do some small mortifications like denying ourselves some food, drink, the use of gadgets, etc.

We have to see to it that the cross figures prominently in our daily life, since the cross would clearly enable us to follow Christ instead of just following our own will and ways, which is a strong tendency for us. Our own victory over sin and death can only come through the cross, the cross of Christ.

The real purpose of fasting

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
February 16, 2024

THE Lenten Season being a time for intense spirit of penance and mortification in preparation for the ultimate act of love by Christ as he offered his life on the cross and finally conquered our sin and death through his resurrection, we should try to understand appreciate the necessity for such penitential acts like fasting and abstinence.

In the readings of the Mass on Friday after Ash Wednesday, we are given some ideas of what true fasting is. For example, in the first reading, from the Book of Isaiah, we are clearly told about true fasting is. “Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen?” it says

“Loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them are broken go free, and break asunder every burden.” (58,6)

Fasting is not just a matter of refraining from our usual intake of food. We have to make sure that such act would have the effects mentioned above. When we fast we should keep in mind the effects we intend to produce and come up with the appropriate plan to achieve them.

The gospel for the day (cfr. Mt 9,14-15) is even more specific as to what fasting is for. It is to see to it that we foster our longing for Christ, our burning desire to identify ourselves with him.

In so many words, this is expressed thus, “The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.’”

Indeed, we have to see to it that our fasting and abstinence would truly fuel our desire and hunger for Christ, identifying ourselves with him to the extent of even offering our life for the sins of men, just like what Christ did for all of us.

Let’s remember that only when we truly identify ourselves with Christ can we also share in his powers and everything that he has. Let’s remember that he is not sparing in this regard, but is making himself fully available for us.

Toward this end, we have to realize the need for fasting. That’s because our body needs to be disciplined, because with our earthly condition that is wounded by sin, it usually finds its pleasure in earthly things rather than in God. And fasting is one such effective form of self-denial and carrying the cross of Christ.

With fasting we align our body according to the dynamics of God’s love that will always be motivated by the salvation of mankind and will involve sacrifice. We don’t fast simply because of some health reasons, be it physical health or mental or emotional. Our fasting should be motivated by love.

And fasting nowadays may involve more than food. It can involve the use of our modern gadgets and technologies that if resorted indiscriminately can truly spoil and enslave us.

We really need to practice restraint and moderation in the use of these new things so that we would not compromise our spiritual and supernatural bearing. We need to purify our intentions and set clear limits when using them. In fact, we have to come out with a concrete plan to translate this ideal into reality.

The story of David and Goliath

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
January 17, 2024

THIS story (cfr. 1 Samuel 17,32-33.37.40-51) simply tells us one important lesson: that as long as we carry out our struggles with God, no earthly obstacle, challenge or trial can really put us down, no matter how formidable they are and how weak we may appear before them.

The youthful David with a sling only as his weapon managed to defeat the vaunted warrior Goliath because God was with him. May this story reassure us that as long as we are doing God’s will and ways, our victory is guaranteed, even if that victory may be in a form that is not in accord with our desires.

We have to learn how to deal with the difficult and the impossible things in our life. Let’s remember that as long as we are here on earth, we have to contend with all sorts of difficulties, trials and temptations.

And as if these are not enough, we also have to contend with the truth of our faith that tells us that we are meant to pursue a supernatural goal that definitely cannot be achieved simply with our own human powers, no matter how excellent they are.

The secret is always to go and to be with God who can make the impossible possible. In all our affairs and situations in life, we should always go to God to ask for his help and guidance, and to trust his ways and his providence, even if the outcome of our prayers and petitions appears unanswered, if not, contradicted.

This should be the attitude to have. It’s an attitude that can only indicate our unconditional faith, trust and love for God who is always in control of things, and at the same time can also leave us in peace and joy even at the worst of the possibilities.

Remember the Book of Ecclesiastes where it says that for everything there is a season, “a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal…” But everything is under God’s control, and even if we are capable of eternity, we just the same “cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (3,1ff) We just have to trust him.

We have to follow the example of the many characters in the gospel who, feeling helpless in the many predicaments they were in, earnestly rushed to Christ for some succor. They went to him unafraid and unashamed and they got what they wanted.

There is no denying that life always has more to offer to us than what we can understand, let alone, cope. And they can come in all shapes and sizes, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant, likeable and hateful. There are surprises and moments when we seem to rot in expectation and still things we long for don’t come.

In the face of all this, I believe the attitude to have and the reaction to make is to be calm, pray hard, and while we do all we can, we have to learn to live a certain sense of abandonment in the hands of God.

We just have to remember that Christ never abandons us and is, in fact, all ready and prompt to come to our aid, albeit in ways that we may not realize, at first.

“A holy day has dawned upon us”

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
December 25, 2023

FINALLY, it’s Christmas! A child is born for us! Thus, in the Alleluia verse of the day’s Mass, we are made to say: “A holy day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations and adore the Lord. For today a great light has come upon the earth.”

It’s indeed a day of great, undescribable joy! In the Opening Prayer of the Mass for the day, a beautiful sentiment is expressed: “Lord God, we praise you for creating man, and still more, restoring him in Christ. Your Son shared our weakness: may we share his glory…”

Once again, our Christian faith tells us who we really are. Despite our natural awkwardness in believing this truth of our faith, the truth is that we have been created to be like God, to share in his very life and nature. And no amount of our sins and foolishness can detract from that truth. God will do everything to recover us. All we have to do is to go along with God’s will and ways as far as we can.

We need to process this truth of our faith about ourselves very slowly, because it will obviously astound us to think that we are supposed to be one with Christ. Who, me, one with Christ? We most likely would be tempted to say, tell it to the Marines!

But that’s just the naked truth about us, whether we like it or not. We cannot be any other if we just bother also to know why it is so. An expression that is relevant to this matter is ‘alter Christus,’ another Christ. And it’s worthwhile to know what it is all about.

We are supposed to be ‘alter Christus,’ the goal and ideal that is meant for us, though we need also to do our part, free beings as are, to achieve that status. God, our Creator and Father, wants us to be that way, though he does not impose it on us without our consent that should also be shown with deeds and not just with intentions and words.

We are supposed to be ‘alter Christus’ simply because, if we have been created in the image and likeness of God, and Christ is the Son of God who is the perfect image and likeness that God has of himself, then we can only conclude that we have to be like Christ.

In other words, Christ as the Son of God is the pattern of our humanity. If we want to know who we really are, how we ought to be, all we have to do is to look at Christ and try our best, with God’s grace, to identify ourselves with him.

More than that, because of our sin that defaced the original state in which we, in Adam and Eve, were created, Christ is the Son of God who became man to save us. The immediate conclusion we can derive from this truth of our faith is that for us to know how to handle our sinfulness, again all we have to do is to look at Christ and try our best, with God’s grace, to identify ourselves with him.

So, let’s welcome Christ to our life. At his birth on Christmas Day, we should also remind ourselves that Christ actually wants to be born in each of us, so we can truly be “alter Christus” (another Christ), if not, “ipse Christus” (Christ himself).

Have a Merry and Blessed Christmas, everyone!

The virgin birth

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
December 20, 2023

“THE Lord himself will grant to you a sign. Behold, a virgin will conceive, and she will give birth to a son, and his name will be called Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.” (Is 7,14)

Thus, the prophecy about Christ’s birth was announced and was fulfilled in Mary. When she asked the Archangel Gabriel how she can conceive a son since, according her, she had “no relations with a man,” the angel told her about the Holy Spirit who will overshadow her and with that she will conceive a son in her womb. (cfr. Lk 1,26-38) And with her faith-filled “Be it done,” the virginal conception took place.

That a virgin can give birth without human intervention clearly tells us that the birth involves a divine intervention that shows that the one to be born is not only man but is also, first of all, God. He is both God and man, perfect God and perfect man!

What can we derive from this truth of our faith? What we can only conclude is that, indeed, God and man share the same life and nature, without of course blurring the distinction between God who is the Creator, and man as a creature made in God’s image and likeness.

This is, of course, a truth of faith that is really incredible! Given the way we are, we can only say, “No way.” But again, whether we believe it or not, the truth still remains that we share the same life and nature of God. It’s just really up to us, if we rev up our faith, to accept the truth about ourselves.

In this regard, the way to go is to follow the example of Mary whose faith in God is so complete and perfect that she, being a creature, could become the daughter of God the Father, mother of God the Son, and spouse of God the Holy Spirit.

All these came to be because of her response, “Fiat” (Be it done) to God’s messenger. Her openness to God’s will, her obedience to the divine designs for man somehow started the healing of the disobedience of our first parents that plunged all of us into a life and a world of sin.

That “Fiat” is the best example of obedience that man as a creature can have in relation to the will of God, our Creator and Father. It perfectly echoes in a mysteriously anticipative way also Christ’s obedience to the will of his Father – “If it is your will, let this cup pass by me, but not my will but yours be done.”

Mary’s “Fiat” is the perfect model of how our will ought to be conformed to God’s will. We have to be reminded that by the very nature of our will, the very seat of our freedom, our will is supposed to be in synch with the will of its Creator. It just cannot be by itself, turning and moving purely on its own.

It is meant to be engaged with the will of God, its creator and lawgiver. It is the very power we have been given by God that enables us to unite ourselves with God in the most intimate way. All the other aspects of our life—physical, biological, chemical, etc. – are also governed by God-given laws but, by themselves, they cannot bring us into intimate union with God.

It is with this faith that the impossible to us becomes not only possible but would be actualized. The virgin birth is proof to this truth of faith!

The end times

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
November 28, 2023

NOW that we are ending the liturgical year, we should not be surprised that the readings and the tenor of the prayers at Masses these days somehow refer to the end times. It’s a good occasion to remind ourselves of this reality, not to scare us but rather for us to be realistic in our life here on earth and learn to prepare ourselves for the end times.

We are told in the gospel that the time will come “when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down,” and that “nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom,” and that “there will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.” (cfr. Lk 21,5-11)

To top it all, we are told not be deceived because as Christ said, “many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘the time has come.’ Do not follow them!” It would seem that as the end of time approaches, the enemies of God and of our soul would use the most duplicitous tactics to mislead us. So, let’s be properly guarded.

We have to learn to prepare for this eventuality. If Christ, who is God made man and who is our Redeemer, could not help but had to offer his life to save us, how can we think that our life and the world in general would take a different path?

Remember Christ telling his disciples, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (Jn 15,20) So we have to expect to have the same fate as Christ. And that means that we have to prepare for the worst scenario. The world will end badly. That’s already a given, a truth of our faith.

What we have to do is to always have a proper focus in life. Especially these days when we are easily carried away by many distracting elements, what with all we can devour in the social media, videos, etc., we need to remind ourselves quite strongly that we have to be well focused on what is truly essential in our life.

We have to remind ourselves that our life here on earth is actually a testing and training ground for what God, our Father and Creator, wants us to be, that is, that we be his image and likeness, adopted children of his, meant to share in his very own life in eternity.

Everything that we are, we have and we do in this life should be made as an occasion, material or reason for us to attain that God-given goal for us. Everything should be related and referred to him. Simply being on our own and doing things on our own, without any reference to God, is an anomaly. It would surely end in tragedy even if we feel we are having a good time in our life.

This fundamental truth about ourselves should be proclaimed time and time again because we are notorious for taking it for granted, if not for violating it. We have to remind everyone that we have to take the necessary steps for us to be aware of this truth and to live according to it.