DAVAO CITY – The City Council here on Tuesday commended Sister Stella Matutina for being a recipient of the prestigious Weimar (Vai-mar) Human Rights Award for the year 2015.
Matutina, who chairs the Sisters’ Association in Mindanao, is also the spokesperson of Davao-based Panalipdan! Mindanao (Advocates for the Defense of the Environment, Patrimony, and Creation).
Matutina is also a member of the Catholic congregation of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing and is based in Marihatag, Surigao del Sur, in Southern Philippines.
In her privilege speech Councilor Antoinette Principe-Castrodes said Matutina “stands as the epitome of the Mindanawon and the Dabawenyo who excels to uphold human rights.”
“This award to Sr. Stella is something that we in the City Council and all Davaoeños can be proud of — in the same way that we have received national and international citations for having trailblazed in passing the Women’s Development Code and the Children’s Welfare Code, both firsts in the whole Philippines at the time,” she said.
The City Council also passed a resolution extending its gratitude to Weimar City for conferring the award on Matutina.
Two kidnapped Syrian Archbishops Mor Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi, who had campaigned for peace and reconciliation in the war-torn country, were the awardees last year. To date, both Ibrahim and Yazigi remain missing.
“Sr. Stella herself was subjected to harassment and threats and was even tagged as an NPA pretending to be a nun apparently because of her fearless anti-mining and environmental advocacy,” said Castrodes.
Matutina is one of the accused of kidnapping and serious illegal detention, and human trafficking of Lumad evacuees to Davao City.
Matutina is one of the convenors of Justice for Fr. Tentorio Movement. She has also worked with Fr. Tentorio as a member of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP).
As an environment advocate, Matutina has attended the International Mine Workers Conference in Peru in 2013 and the International People’s Mining Conference in Manila only last month.
Matutina is a summa cum laude graduate of Bachelor Arts in Catechetics in Rome in 1996. (davaotoday.com)
