Church leaders of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines’ (UCCP) Northwest Luzon Conference decried the surveillance operation allegedly carried out by men in uniforms, whom they claim to have disguised as civilians to spy on their church activities and community projects. To these church leaders, they consider the “covert” operation as harassment. The UCCP, which has at least 1.6 million members in the country, has earlier been accused as a front for communist rebels, making use of the church to infiltrate the minds of their believers to rebel against the government. Bishop Marino Inong of the Northern Luzon Jurisdictional Area clarified that the UCCP is not a rebel organization as he stressed that what they preach during church services are doctrines from God. “We are not against the government. In fact we are very supportive to government programs and activities but not to wrongdoings as we strongly denounce illegal activities affecting the lives of the people,” Inong expounded in a press conference held at the UCCP church here in Laoag. Included in the UCCP church services is the assistance of victims of human rights violations as the pastors and church workers have been assigned various desks, institutionalizing their motto of “Uphold the dignity of life! Stop human rights violations and respect the freedom of the Church to serve God and His people.” Rev. Noel Pagdilao of the UCCP in Currimao, Ilocos Norte and who has also been recently included in the alleged surveillance operations of the Philippine Army, said if these people had pure intents, they should have identified themselves properly and explained their intentions so as not to create panic among church workers. Pagdilao related that last July, there were some people who attended their church services thrice in Currimao. When asked about their identity, these people only mentioned that they were from the Visayas. Later however, the church people were able to uncover that they were from the military. Before that, Pagdilao said that a neighbor had informed him that there were two motorcycle-riding men wearing camouflage short pants asking his name. Pagdilao, who was then inside the chapel, said they should have just asked for him and he would have accommodated their visit. It was also noted that aside from their suspicious actions, the motorcycle they were riding had no plate number. Rev. Sadire I. Gumpad, president of the church workers’ organization, also reported that before the Currimao incident, the same people also visited the UCCP chapel in Laoag City, one of them identified himself as Sgt. Jojie Moniel of the 50th Infantry Battalion Alpha Company. They were asking the pastor’s name as well as the other church workers. On September 6, the same thing happened in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte as Gumpad, who is currently assigned in the area, said he experienced the same with a certain Sgt. Tumaneng who also came from the same military company, asking residents near the church about Gumpad’s whereabouts for unknown reasons. “Nakadandanag ngarud dagitoy nga ar-aramidenda kadakami a workers ta mapan da pay danunen dagiti members ko iti pagobraanda a pagdamagan ket no ngarud kuna dagiti kakaduami nga ipakasarita da kaniak ket agkitakit da met ngarud. Adu kami nga church workers a sapsapulenda ket makadadanag man kadakami ta dimi met ammo no ania dagiti panggepda,” Gumpad said. Another UCCP minister, Rev. Billy Austin, a conference minister in Solsona, Ilocos Norte, also relayed his experience in his place saying that while he was on his way to attend a service, he noticed a van following him. He added that he could have identified the said vehicle but its plate number in the front is different from that in the back of the van. All of these incidents had been reported to the police fir future references. Meanwhile. Col. Loreto Rirao, commander of the 503rd brigade of the Philippine Army, said the surveillance is a work of any military organization as he said, “Anybody who is afraid and therefore… why are they afraid.” Rirao however did not confirm whether there was really a surveillance or not conducted on UCCP workers. “A surveillance is a military tactic. It is not know. How could they know there was such?” Rirao asked who was also seen at the Provincial Capitol during the birthday celebration of Ilocos Norte Governor Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. In a related development, Lt. Col. Harold Cabreras confirmed an intelligence report that all religious sectors had been infiltrated by the communists; he clarified though that not all of them had been “totally infiltrated.” “The danger is that there are infiltrators who are there to disturb our churches,” Cabreras said. With this development, Cabreras advised church leaders and parishioners to carefully watch out for these infiltrators who may end up manipulating them towards the goals of the rebel group. Leilanie G. Adriano
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