Denver Newsroom, Sep 2, 2022 / 10:24 am
A group of Filipino nuns has strongly denied any connection with terrorist activities after facing charges last month brought by the government under a controversial anti-terror law.
The nuns are members of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, a Catholic group active in the Philippines since 1969 which works to aid and educate the poor. RMP is not itself an order or congregation, and religious members remain part of their respective communities and priests of their dioceses, the group’s website says.
UCA News reported Aug. 16 that sixteen people — including five nuns — stand accused by the country’s Justice Department of financing the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), which is branded a terrorist organization by the Philippine government.
The CPP and NPA were designated terrorist groups by the U.S. Department of State in 2002. The CPP has been fighting the Filipino government in a communist rebellion since 1969.