“WE PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY, FOR BROTHER CHINA”

THE Philippine government was called not only to stand in defense of poor fishermen who are prevented by China’s  Coast Guard to fish in the West Philippine Sea but to stop the destruction of the rich marine resources in the area by foreign poachers as well.

This was underscored by Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas in his homily during a mass he celebrated in the shores of Barangay Cato, Infanta on July 16, shortly before leading a fluvial procession in the West Philippine Sea with some 100 fishermen and priests.

Impleading that “War is not in Our Path, never!,” he prayed for “a government with a sense of urgency in this time of emergency”, because he said the Philippines “is now standing on the precipice of continental conflict”.

In his homily, Villegas called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to raise the problem in the West Philippine Sea  “to the international institutions of justice and order” again.

“China huwag bully, Pinoy huwag pa bully”,  Villegas succinctly said as he underscored that diplomacy and dialogue between equals is actually the country’s path but cautioned that such diplomacy must be “respectful of laws and based on truth”.

Villegas said peace of the Philippines will not come from the hands of superpowers but from the heart of God and the hand of the Immaculate Mother and prayed to the leaders of the country “to give us the competence of statesmen not a student council government that made vulgar men models and that glorified treason.”

The fluvial procession for the protection  of the Philippines from China that followed, was participated in by some 1,000 priests, fishermen and members of the laity in Infanta, adjacent towns, Dagupan and Lingayen.

“We pray for our country… and for brother China… it has thousands of years in civilization in the vast continent of Asia. May it use its civilization to preserve peace and harmony among nations according to the ancient teachings of Chinese wise men,” Villegas said.

“Amid the trials and pains that the Chinese people endure, day after day, may our Lady who watches over China in Sheshan in Shanghai be their source of hope and love,“ he said, clarifying that the patron saint of Shanghai, China in fact is Mary Help of Christians.

During the fluvial procession, the statue of Immaculate Virgin Mary aboard a boat was accompanied by the archbishop, priests and lay leaders, and mediamen.

The fluvial procession was a part of the Rosary Campaign of the Lingayen-Dagupan archdiocese for the protection of the Philippines, that kicked off at the Saint John the Evangelist Cathedral in Dagupan on June 27. (Leonardo Micua)

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