Archbishop Ledesma and Bishop Pabillo meet with the Lay Consultants and members of the Secretariat for the Second National Rural Congress
Above: Lay Consultants include Mr. Bobby Tañada (2nd from left), Mr. Christian Monsod (3rd from left), and Mr. Leonardo Montemayor (4th from left).  The fourth lay consultant is Ms. Mary Racelis (3rd from right) shown in the lower photo.

CBCP SPONSORS THE SECOND NATIONAL CONGRESS

The first Rural Congress was in 1967.  It has been forty years since then.  The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in its plenary assembly last January issued a pastoral statement entitled: THE DIGNITY OF THE RURAL POOR – A GOSPEL CONCERN.  In this document, the Catholic Bishops stated in no uncertain terms that the greatest victim of our unjust economic order (are) the rural poor, and the diminishment of their dignity as people and as citizens.  The document continued to state the bishops' condemnation of the extra-judicial killings of unarmed crusaders for justice and their call for the full implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

As one specific response, the CBCP proposed to revive the memory of the First Rural Congress held in 1967 and hold the Second Rural Congress.  The document states “that this time our farmers must do that speaking by themselves, the discerning the proposing of their own ideas, the planning of how we must as a people come together to work for the common good of the country and of ourselves.”

 The structure of the Second Rural Congress has the CBCP Plenary Assembly as the highest decision making body with a Central Committee composed of four bishops (Abp. Ledesma as Executive Chair, Bp. Pabillo as Vice Executive Chair, and Bp. Villegas, Bp. Utleg and Sister Rosanne as members), and an Episcopal Advisory Council composed of Cardinal Rosales, Cardinal Vidal, Abp Quevedo and Abp. Lagdameo.  They will be assisted by the CBCP Secretariat, CBCP Media Office, CBCP Research Office.

 There will be two pronged consultations: ad intra and ad extra.  The ad intra consultations will be the Diocesan BEC Consultations with NASSA, BEC Office and ECIP composing the secretariat.  The ad extra process will be the Sub-Regional Consultations with Philippine Misereor Partnership (PMP), Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), and the Rural Poor Solidarity (RPS) forming the secretariat. 

 The time frame of the consultations is August 2007 to March 2008, and the Second National Rural Congress will be in the second quarter of 2008.

 We invite all the partner organizations of the Philippine Misereor Partnership to actively participate in this process and facilitate the opportunity for the rural poor to voice out their concerns and their experiences of rural poverty and be heard by the church.  Please attend the cluster meetings so that all can truly participate in this Second National Rural Congress.