By BenCyrus G. Ellorin/ July 8, 2024

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — It was COVID-19, now the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Coming out of the three-day plenary assembly attended by 83 bishops and around 40 religious support staff in the city, Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)  said the Church acknowledges that  “the people of the country are getting tense,” because of events at the WPS.

To assuage the anxiety of the people, as spiritual leaders, the CBCP decided during its 120th Plenary assembly held here in the city. to come up with the Oratio Imperata to de-escalate the conflict in the WPS.

The Church acknowledges the tension in the West Philippine Sea between the country and China, said David.

The Oratio Imperata for peace in the WPS is the Church’s response to the geopolitical stand-off in the world’s busiest seaplane where China is believed to have invaded the country’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

 “We are not political leaders, we are spiritual and moral leaders of our compatriots, thus we call on the people to recite the Oration Imperata,” said David.

The Church, he added will toll out the Oratio Imperata for the WPS on July 25, 2024, on the occasion of the celebration of the Feast of St. James.

“We do not want to add further fuel to the tension. Nobody wants a war. Our parents were part of a generation that was traumatized by the Second World War,” he said.

David, who is also the bishop of Kalookan, said they do not want a new generation to be harmed by another war.

Oratio imperata is a Latin prayer that means obligatory prayer. It is an invocative prayer that believers recite under grave need or calamity seeking Divine intervention.

“It will be a prayer for peace. An Oratio Imperata for peace in the context of what is happening in our country, in the geopolitical tension that we are experiencing,” he said.

“We have to not just work for peace, but to pray for peace,” David added.

David however acknowledges the socio-political implications of the WPS conflict. The CBCP’s invocation of the Oratio Imperata came days after a senior Vatican diplomat urged claimants to areas in the West Philippine Sea to “abide by international law” and resolve their differences through peaceful means.

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, met with Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo on Tuesday, July 2, 2024, to discuss a host of issues, including the overlapping maritime claims.

“In such circumstances, such situations of conflict, whatever they are, first of all, that every effort must be made that any differences, conflicts are resolved peacefully,” the British prelate said in a press briefing.

“We would encourage parties in conflict to abide by international law and to pursue that as a way of resolving difficulties and problems with the best interests of all involved,” he added.

Gallagher is on a five-day visit to the Philippines and will address the Filipino bishops gathered for their annual retreat at the Abbey of Transfiguration in Malaybalay City on Thursday.

Manalo said he and Gallagher exchanged views on regional and international dialogue and discussed regional issues, such as the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, apart from the West Philippine Sea.

“We noted our shared perspective amidst the various international challenges and conflicts. The international community must be united in preserving a world where differences are resolved peacefully and based on international law,” the Filipino official said.

Tensions between Manila and Beijing have risen amid the Philippines’s rotation and resupply missions to a decrepit vessel run aground Ayungin Shoal.

Beijing has also barred Filipino fishermen from entering Scarborough Shoal, a traditional fishing ground within the Philippines’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

China refuses to recognize a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated its historic claims covering the WPS.

Same positions

Manalo told reporters the Philippines and the Holy See shared advocacy on migration governance and had consistently espoused similar positions on climate change and climate resilience.

“We have actively collaborated on combating human trafficking globally,” he said.

Manalo and Gallagher also discussed a proposed memorandum of understanding for the Philippines and the Holy See to mutually recognize degrees earned by Filipino religions from Catholic educational institutions.

China has been putting more and more pressure on the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea over the past several months.

Before the CBCP assembly, the bishops gathered for a three-day retreat at the Transfiguration Abbey in Malaybalay City, where the Vatican’s foreign minister was among the speakers.

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, in a press briefing in Manila on July 2, urged claimants to areas in the West Philippine Sea to “abide by international law” and resolve their differences through peaceful means.

“In such circumstances, such situations of conflict, whatever they are, first of all, that every effort must be made that any differences, conflicts are resolved peacefully,” Gallagher said. (with reports from CBCPNews)