Update

Save the Life of OFW Cecilia Alcaraz!

O that our sisters and brothers are not forced to leave this bounteous land to find jobs overseas!
O that they would stay home with their loved ones, prosper and enjoy the blessing of Divine Providence bestowed on this nation!
O that those who govern take to heart the interest of the greater majority of the people of this land!

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) laments what has befallen Cecilia B. Alcaraz. Today, the Apellate Court in Taiwan will render its decision on her appeal. We enjoin one and all to pray that she be spared from the court sentence of death by firing squad in Taiwan following the death of a Taiwanese broker. Let us all pray for her family too, that they may have the strength to meet the days ahead.Cecilia, 48 years old is a single parent. Like all other good parents who desire the best for their children, she left the country to work as an English teacher in Taiwan. Her case is yet another tragic reminder of how our sisters and brothers sacrifice their lives and limbs overseas to provide for their families back home. Their remittances have also kept our economy afloat. We rue the labor export policy of the government and its failure to provide adequate protection for these sisters and brothers. According to Migrante International, on a crucial hearing on April 1, 2009, she neither had the benefit of a legal counsel nor support from a representative of the Department of Foreign Affairs. Need government be reminded time and again to do everything in its power and act with dispatch to snatch its people from the jaws of death? Save the life of Cecilia Alcaraz!

Our lament at the forced migration and commercialization of labor and our call for the Arroyo government not to be remiss especially to OFWs are prompted by the compelling faith imperative to choose life that we and our “descendants will live long in the land that God promised your ancestor” (Deuteronomy 30:20).

Cecilia cannot remain another statistical mark of another tragic end. Then as now, the NCCP reiterates the call for building a just community where migration becomes a voluntary option, not a compelling and perilous necessity for the survival for millions of families in the Philippines.

Reference:
REV. FR. REX RB. REYES, Jr.
General Secretary – NCCP

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