SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union (PIA) – Archbishop Socrates Villegas of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan has called for a rosary campaign to promote peace in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
The campaign will run from June 27, the Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, to the solemnity of the Assumption on August 15.
Archbishop Villegas, one of the country’s most vocal religious leaders, referenced historical events such as the height of Soviet power and the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, where the faithful armed themselves with rosaries.
“Let us do it again! The rosary is simple, small, and powerful, like the mustard seed in the Gospel,” he said in his pastoral letter read in all masses in the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan last Sunday.
Villegas expressed concern about China’s actions in the WPS, including land reclamation and militarization.
“The Church must respond — and she must respond as the Church. This means that we will find the confidence to take a firm stand because of our conviction that if God is with us, no power can ever prevail against us!” he said.
The archbishop also encouraged additional actions beyond prayer.
He said, “I also appeal to our Catholic faithful to fast whenever they can and to do penance, above all by approaching the Sacrament of Penance and also by performing other acts of penance and supererogation with particular intensity within this period.”
Further, the archbishop urged lawmakers to conduct investigations into national and local institutions allegedly infiltrated by agents and associates of the People’s Republic of China.
Villegas also called on prosecutors and judges to “be loyal to their oaths as administrators of justice” and prosecute and punish those “who have made a mockery of our legal and administrative processes to enable foreign elements to prejudice our national security and our interests as a nation.”
The archbishop also enjoined the uniformed personnel patrolling the Philippine seas to “escort our fishermen, assert our claims, and defend our territory and its waters.”
“May you receive all the support that the government can give you and that our people are able to. Take courage. Defend our seas and our people. Be the heroes we need now!” he said.
Villegas likewise lauded the Filipino fisherfolk who joined the recent flotilla that sailed to a disputed shoal in the West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines and China have been locked in a territorial dispute over the South China Sea, with China claiming a vast swathe of the waters through its “nine-dash line.”
An international tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines in 2016, but China continues its aggressive actions. (JCR/AMB/PIA Region 1)
