Fr. Rex B. Reyes: ‘Focus on the oppressive system, not the person’

Fr. Rex B. Reyes: ‘Focus on the oppressive system, not the person’

FR. REX B. REYES (Photo: HG)

By Althea Manasan
The Philippine Reporter

In order to protect human rights in the Philippines, we shouldn’t focus on any one individual, but must instead address the country’s longstanding system of oppression as a whole.

That’s the key message Fr. Rex B. Reyes highlighted on Thursday (May 17) during a lecture in Toronto, where he spoke about human rights in the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte.

“We cannot be forever fixated on one person, when it comes to dealing with the issues in my country,” Fr. Reyes said to about 40 people who attended the public event. It was part of a two-week-long speaking tour across Canada, which took him from Montreal to Vancouver.

Photo: HG

“Rather, we need to be more focused on a system that has been oppressing, that has been divisive, that has been exploitive, and everything that has sustained the abuse of human rights then and up to the present day.”

Affectionately known as Padi Rex, Fr. Reyes is the first Indigenous Filipino, an Igorot, to become the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines. During his Canadian visit, he received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Montreal’s Union Theological College for his work on human rights, peace and justice in the Philippines.

Speaking calmly and thoughtfully, Fr. Reyes painted a portrait of a nation afflicted by divisiveness, corruption and poverty. He addressed a range of issues and events: the ousting of Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno by her fellow judges, ongoing inefficiencies in Manila’s public transit system, the suffering of Overseas Filipino Workers around the world, martial law in Mindanao, the communist rebellion, and Duterte’s war on drugs.

On each topic he avoided placing blame on any party or person, instead insisting that decades of corruption, bureaucracy and structural inequalities are the causes of the country’s suffering, oppression and human rights abuses.

“How is it possible that a very rich country coveted by so many, many countries is the home of one of the most impoverished people? How is it possible?” Fr. Reyes said. “It’s not about Marcos, it’s not about Aquino. It’s about a system that has entrenched itself.”

The Church’s Response

In response to these ongoing inequalities and abuses, Fr. Reyes highlighted the work of several activists, some of whom have lost their lives for their causes.

Fr. Marcelito “Tito” Paez was killed in 2016 after facilitating the release of a political prisoner, and Fr. Mark Ventura, who was known for his anti-mining activism and for supporting Indigenous peoples, was shot dead in April.

The ecumenical community in the Philippines has also been at the forefront of advocacy campaigns on a number of human rights issues. Religious coalitions of various Christian denominations have been coming together to tackle the online sexual exploitation of children as well as the country’s HIV/AIDS crisis. They have also launched initiatives to support families of victims of extrajudicial killings, Lumad children and the displaced peoples of Marawi.

Across the ocean, ecumenical groups in Canada are also hard at work to support human rights in the Philippines.

Connie Sorio of KAIROS (Photo: HG)

Connie Sorio, who works with KAIROS Canada, a religious coalition supporting ecological justice and human rights, attended the event and outlined some of the programs the group has been spearheading.

“The work that we’ve been doing here in Canada is responding to specific issues in the Philippines, but also connecting it to the global issue,” Sorio said.

Last year, they organized a delegation from the Philippines, including two Indigenous women leaders from Mindanao, to visit Canada and speak about mining justice and the peace process in the region.

KAIROS has also held 70 public events and meetings across Canada and launched letter writing campaigns targeted at Duterte, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the minister of international trade.

“In many ways, those of us who are silent are complicit to these violations,” Sorio said. “The governments are complicit to these violations, especially if they are involved in trade and investment that promote and help the escalation of human rights [abuses] in the Philippines.”

As part of Fr. Reyes’s visit, he was able to meet with Canadian government officials involved in human rights and development in the Philippines.

Fr. Rex Reyes with Japhet Ndhlovu, the program coordinator for South Asia and Southern Africa for the United Church of Canada (Photo: A. Manasan)

Japhet Ndhlovu, the program coordinator for South Asia and Southern Africa for the United Church of Canada, says these meetings have been reassuring.

“They’re not just sitting quietly. They are doing something, and it’s very important for us to get that assurance,” he said.

Fr. Reyes encouraged members of the audience to also take action by urging the Philippine government to lift martial law in Mindanao, saying that “nothing has been achieved so far except more suffering.”

He also asked that people support peace talks between the Philippine government and communist rebels — as long as the talks focus on socio-economic reforms.

Quoting a fellow reverend, Fr. Reyes said, “the antidote to tyranny is the power of organized people,” then added, “wherever they are, be they in Toronto or in Montreal or in Calgary or in Vancouver.”

Youth performers
(Photo: A. Manasan)

Photo: A. Manasan