Members of the Marriage Encounter Foundation of the Philippines (MEFP) gathered at the Makati Sports Club in Makati City, part of Metro Manila, for their 2026 Annual Meeting and General Assembly, hosted by the Central Luzon Cluster.
A church-backed workers’ group warned that unsafe working conditions in the Philippines are costing at least one life a day, as it called for urgent action and condemned what it described as systemic violations of labor rights.
Marking the 40th anniversary of the 1986 People Power uprising, Bishop Gerardo Alminaza called on Filipinos to move beyond commemorating history and instead practice what he described as “People Responsibility” in confronting present-day injustices.
In the lead-up to the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si', Bishop Gerry Alminaza of the Diocese of San Carlos co-celebrated Mass at the historic Notre-Dame de Paris alongside Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort of Reims, appealing for support from the French community in urging French banks to cease financing fossil fuel projects threatening the Verde Island Passage (VIP) in the Philippines—hailed as the “Amazon of the Oceans.”
The Vice President of Caritas Philippines has expressed solidarity with the hardships faced by farmers and the ongoing crisis in the country’s agricultural sector.
The Church People-Workers Solidarity (CWS), a coalition of church leaders and labor advocates in the Philippines, has renewed its call to uphold labor rights as a critical component of human dignity in observance of International Human Rights Day.
In time with the Season of Creation, and the 134th anniversary of San Miguel Corporation (SMC), its Catholic shareholders and stakeholders released a statement calling for the company to divest from ‘dirty’ energy such as gas and coal as the Church has committed to divest resources from fossil fuel companies as early as 2025.
Father Ulep urged the audience to contemplate the societal frameworks that enable the epidemic of poverty-related deaths and to embrace the discomfort they cause.
Fr. Labiao also hopes that the project will not only spread the purpose of the encyclical Laudato Si' of His Holiness Francis but also generate employment in the communities and further prevent the worsening climate crisis.
The bishop said this project is a great way to express gratitude and tell inspiring stories of the so-called “Next Door Saints” who left an incredible legacy to the Church.
