FOR PNOY: FREE THE 43; FREE IN 43

Among the Priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan who chanced upon the wounded Jew on the road connecting Jerusalem and Jericho (in Luke 10: 30-37), the Samaritan was the one who showed mercy, the one who was neighbor to the person who was left half-dead, the one who stopped and helped a brother in need. That is why we call the Samaritan Good. He did what God’s Law required. He did what Jesus commanded. But more importantly, he did what sisters and brothers do for one another.
Like the Morong 43. We call health workers Good Samaritans. We even have Good Samaritan Hospitals to celebrate what they do for the sick, for the wounded, for the ill, for those whose only hope is God. Community-based health workers, most especially, minister to the “least among Jesus’ sisters and brothers.”
Thus, the Morong 43’s illegal arrest last February, their imprisonment, the torture many of them have experienced, the harassment they have endured, the lies that the military spun about them during the last months of the Arroyo regime, and their continuing illegal detention under the Aquino administration have driven countless people to exclaim, “Only in the Philippines are Good Samaritans demonized and victimized!”
This madness should stop now. This gross violation of human rights must end now. Senator Ninoy Aquino Jr. was illegally detained by the Marcos dictatorship for several years. Vowing to end political repression, President Cory Aquino, released all political prisoners during the early days of her term.
We call on President Noynoy Aquino, in honor of his late parents, Ninoy and Cory, to order the release of the Morong 43 and all political prisoners. We call on PNoy to order their release as part of his First State of the Nation Address on July 26, 2010.
If he does not order their release on Monday, we call on people of faith everywhere to begin a 43-day prayer chain to start the same day. We will pray for each of one of the Morong 43 in each of those 43 days. We will pray and hope and demand that they be set free on July 27. If they are not, we will pray for their freedom on July 28, and on July 29, and the next day… On each of those 43 days, we will pray that God give PNoy the wisdom, the humility, and the courage to do what is just and what is right. And on the 43rd day, on September 6, 2010, we will hold thanksgiving rites to celebrate the release of the Morong 43 and the release of all political prisoners.
43 days of prayer:
for each of the Morong 43;
for freedom for the Morong 43;
for PNoy to do what is just and what is right.
Again, we call on President Noynoy Aquino to honor the memory of his late parents.
Free the Morong 43. Free all political prisoners.