Church workers, rights defenders, and civil society groups in the Philippines marked April 11 with prayer vigils and protest actions, as global conflict continues to drive rising costs and deepen hardship among ordinary Filipinos.
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos, president of Caritas Philippines, presided over a Mass for Peace at Our Lady of Remedies Parish in Manila following a press conference with sectoral organizations and faith-based groups.
The gathering came amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, with Pope Leo XIV warning against growing indifference to violence and urging the faithful to confront war and suffering with renewed commitment to peace. In his Easter Urbi et Orbi message, he called on believers to reject resignation to conflict and work toward a peace grounded in compassion, dialogue, and transformation.
During the press briefing, Alminaza condemned the United States- and Israel-led war of aggression against Iran as “wrong” and “illegal,” saying it has escalated into a wider regional conflict.
The prelate said Filipinos “cannot remain silent about it” because the Middle East conflict is “not just news.”
“It is felt here in the daily lives of Filipinos. When fuel prices rise, the first to be affected are not headlines, but people,” he said.
Rising oil prices linked to the conflict have pushed up the cost of basic goods across Asia, while the Philippine peso has weakened, further burdening Filipino households already struggling to cope.
Labor groups said the crisis is hitting workers the hardest.
Jerome Adonis, general secretary of Kilusang Mayo Uno, said workers and ordinary Filipinos “did not create the crisis, yet we are the ones bearing its impact.”
“In a crisis like this, the government should be at the forefront. The question is: is it?” he said, adding, “We do not want aid that is quickly erased by rising prices.”
He urged the government to remove oil taxes, scrap the Oil Deregulation Law, and raise the daily minimum wage to ₱1,200 (US$20).
Church youth leaders also warned that the Philippines is being exposed to greater risks as global tensions escalate.
“The presence of foreign military bases in our country puts Filipinos at risk as tensions escalate,” said Patricia Mungcal of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines.
She raised concerns over the expansion of military sites under the Philippines’ Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States.
“As tensions rise, countries hosting these military sites risk being drawn into conflicts that are not their own,” she added.
Environmental advocates said the country’s dependence on imported fossil fuels is making the crisis worse.
Fr. Warren Puno, ecology ministry head of the Diocese of Lucena, warned that reliance on coal and imported energy leaves the Philippines vulnerable to global shocks.
“If we continue building coal-fired power plants, we are pushing the country deeper into crisis—energy insecurity, higher electricity prices, and greater burdens on ordinary people,” he said. “Coal is not a solution. It is a problem we keep choosing.”
In his homily, Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos described the “unjust war” in the Middle East as one of the “tolerated evils that persist,” not because they are right, “but because we do not act to stop them and instead simply accept them.”
He stressed that the peace the world seeks “is not only prayed for. It is fought for. It is lived,” adding, “We must not allow what is wrong to become normal.”
After the Mass, participants gathered outside the parish for an ecumenical prayer and protest action, carrying flowers and placards calling for peace and an end to wars of aggression.
Clergy and lay leaders led prayers as participants stood along the street, bringing their call for peace into public space and showing unity across sectors and faith traditions.
