“Justice cannot flourish where corruption continues unchecked”
In chapter 4 of Dilexi Te, Pope Leo XIV reminds us of a truth that is both simple and demanding.
Faith cannot be separated from love, especially love for the poor.
Belief that remains abstract or confined to prayer is incomplete.
Authentic discipleship is lived. It recognizes Christ in the sick, the migrant, and those pushed to the margins.
To follow Jesus is not only to believe but to stand with those who struggle, to share their burdens, and to defend their dignity.
As we enter 2026, this message speaks directly to the Philippines.
In the year ahead, this calls us to defend the dignity of women and children, ensure access to education and healthcare, protect farmers, workers, indigenous peoples, and the urban poor, and resist every form of exclusion. Love is not charity alone.
It is a commitment to justice and equality.
Justice, however, cannot flourish where corruption continues unchecked.
When public resources are stolen, it is the poor who suffer first and most deeply. A just Philippines will remain out of reach unless corruption is confronted with courage.
The struggle unfolding in Marihangin Island in southern Palawan is a reminder of what it means to stand with the marginalized.
Members of the Molbog Indigenous community are resisting displacement driven by tourism and conservation projects that claim to protect nature while excluding the very people who have long safeguarded the land and sea.
What is being presented as development or environmental protection has, for the Molbog, meant threats to their homes, livelihoods, and ancestral waters.
Their fight exposes a familiar injustice: policies made without genuine consent, protection invoked without participation, and progress measured without dignity.
To stand with Marihangin is to affirm that climate action, conservation, and development must never come at the expense of Indigenous Peoples, and that love for creation cannot be separated from love for those who live closest to it.
Recently, I have called for the acquittal of the Talaingod 13, a case that grew out of a 2018 humanitarian evacuation of Lumad students and teachers from Talaingod, Davao del Norte, at a time of military operations, school closures, and mounting threats to community safety.
Among those charged were former Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo, ACT Teachers representative France Castro, and Lumad school administrator Meggie Nolasco, together with other teachers, church workers, and volunteers.
Although prosecutors initially floated accusations such as kidnapping and trafficking, the case that reached judgment was limited to child abuse and endangerment under Section 10(a) of RA 7610.
In 2024, the Regional Trial Court in Tagum City convicted the accused, ruling that bringing the children to temporary shelters in Davao and Cebu exposed them to danger, while discounting evidence of parental consent, humanitarian purpose, and the context of forced displacement.
The Court of Appeals later affirmed the conviction, largely deferring to the RTC’s factual findings and failing to seriously engage with the reality of conflict-driven evacuation, Constitutional protections for children and Indigenous Peoples, and the principle that humanitarian action should not be treated as a crime.
Together, the RTC and CA decisions exemplify a formalistic and punitive approach that ignored context, minimized the realities of displacement, and transformed acts of care and protection into crimes.
As a result of this advocacy, I was redtagged by Mr. Antonio Parlade.
He also redtagged the people I defended.
This was not the first time he (and others in his group) has charged me with being sympathetic with the communists.
He has of course no credibility as even his peers in the military have rejected his mindset.
I know because I have taught and mentored many AFP and PNP officials, including generals. They know where I stand.
For the record, I strongly believe that peace must also be at the center of our national renewal.
For sure, the pursuit of peace with the CPP-NDFP-NPA requires courage and honesty.
Ending decades of armed conflict demands addressing the roots of rebellion, inequality, landlessness, and exclusion, while rejecting violence and protecting civilian lives. Peace is not weakness.
It is a moral choice grounded in justice.
The challenges before the country remain serious.
There will be no better 2026 unless love confronts injustice, peace defeats violence, and accountability ends impunity.
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