By Conrado de Quiros
Misyon has for a long time taken a stand for tribal people throughout the world. Now here’s something close to home to shock us ...
Ikit Landahay is a 10-year-old boy from the Umayammon-Manobo, a ‘lumad’ or tribe living in the fringes of Agusan del Sur and Davao del Norte. He has this story to tell:
When he was only one year old, his father was shot to death by armed men believes to be working for the logging company, Sta. Ines Milale Corporation (Simcor). His father was Datu Tuting Landahay, and he had earned the ire of the company by protesting its logging operations. Ikit’s mother deeply mourned her husband’s death, and finding no solace in life, hanged herself. Ikit and his four brothers and sisters fell under the care of their uncle.
Last year, Ikit himself came to experience firsthand the harshness and brutality of his world. He and some boys were in the fields helping their elders harvest their crop when armed men came, they are looking for Datu Wingul’s son Arikwas who they said was a troublemaker. They took a tribesman and interrogated him as to the whereabouts of Arikwas. The tribesman fearing for his life, pointed to a nearby hut. Without warning the armed men sprayed it with gunfire. From inside, Arikwas’ wife shouted, "Arikwas, they’re here! Run for your life!”
Arikwas flew out of the hut and the armed men gave chase. They sent a hail of bullets in his direction, but he managed to elude them. Hearing the shots, Datu Wingul who was also working in the fields ran toward his son’s hut. Seeing the armed men who were even then trying to murder his son, he flew into a rage and shouted them: Drop your guns! Let’s use the bolos and fight like men!” the armed men laugh and figuring they might as well settle for the father as for the son, shot Datu Wingul where he stood. He fell to the ground, dead.
Ikit was there and saw everything. So did two other boys, after shooting Datu Wingul. The armed men trussed him up like a pig and carried him along the mountain trail for everyone to see. They also took them with then the three boys who witnessed the murder and Ikit’s cousin, a 20-year-old girl. At their camp, the armed separated Ikit and the other boys from Ikit’s cousin. To this day, he does not know what happened to her.
For two weeks the armed men held them. After the first couple of days, their captors asked themto dig a grave for Datu Wingul. But being small boy, they could not dig deep enough. The shallow pit could not cover the man’s body, and they just shoved some dirt on top of him while asking for forgiveness.
For two weeks, their captors made them work. One time, one of them asked Ikit to fill up a big pail with water. Unable to carry the weight, Ikit took some water and handed the pail over half-full. This angered the armed man who struck the boy with the butt of his M14 rifle, the blow landed on Ikit’s chest and made him double up in pain. To this day, he says, the wound still hurts.
A visit by Ikit’s brother in law failed to appease their captors who greeted his plea for their release with a pistol shot, fired next to his ear. Only the repeated procession of the tribes folks and their tireless importuning, persuaded the armed men to release the children.
What happened to Ikit and the other Umayammon-Manobo boys is not unusual. Since Simcor came to cut trees there as far back as Marcos time, it’s armed men have been spreading terror all over the place. The mayhem has not been confirmed-only to those opposing its logging activities. Ten years ago, some of its men raped two Umayammon-Manobo girls ages, 13 and 15. Despite the word of the victims their attacker remained free. The two girls, shamed beyond words, later hanged themselves.
Like the Ata-Manobos, the Umayammon-Manobos have to deal with accompany that has turned from pure loggings to planting fast-growing commercial tress (wrongly labeled reforestation, as reforestation suggest biodiversity). Like the Ata-Manobos, the Umayammon –Manobos are also riven in those who have resigned themselves to work for the company and those who continue to fight for a land they believe is theirs. More than the Ata-Manobos, the Umayammon-Manobos, have lost much in this fight.
The end of Marcos did not end their misery. Since the new government took over, three of their datus have been murdered, Datu Lanao Tiklunay was taken by Simcor or security men, beaten up and short to death. Datu Sindanaw Tiklunay tried to send a petition to government against Simcor and turned up in the bushes without head. Datu Wingul was but the latest victim, and – ‘lumads’ fear – probably not the last.
Doubtless Simcor is armed not only with armed men but with all sorts of documents to show it is there to develop the place. But at the very least, surely all this must make us wonder about the kind of development that causes its presumed beneficiaries to suffer their fate? Indeed, surely all this must make us wonder about the kind of law that makes children feel the butt of inquiry on their skulls?
But all this we may leave for later. For now, we need only to ask: Surely murder is evil by any reckoning? So why have their authors remained unpunished? So why have their victims remained unappeased? So why have we remained unmoved?
By Ariel Presbitero
Hundred of thousands of abandoned children roamed the cities of Brazil. These children are used and abused and even gunned down by the police when it suits them. Pope John Paul II in his New Year’s message has appealed to us to open our hearts to these lost abandoned by the world.
Ang Brazil ay ang pinakamalaking bansa sa South America. Pagkatapos ng napakaraming pagsubok, lumalago ngayon ang ekonomiya ng bansa, sa katunayan ang Brazil ang pinakamamalaking exporter ng kape at asukal sa buong daigdig . Subalit di rin mapagkaila na marami pa rin itong problemang kinakaharap. Isa na dito ang mga kabataang makikitang palaboylaboy sa mga daan at kalye ng Brazil.
Maliit na bilang sa mga batang ito ay anak ng mga Pilipino seamen na nakarating sa Brazil. Mapapansin na maraming daungan ng barkong pang iternasyonal sa Brazil: Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Vitoria, Paranugua at Recife.
Masayang masaya ang mga crew ng barko pag dumadaan sila sa Brazil sapagkat siguradong makapagbabakasyon sila. Pagkatapos ng higit na anim na buwan sa gitna ng karagatan, sino ba naman ang di matutuwa? Sa kanilang pagbabakasyon may nakilala silang mga kababaihan ng Brazil na ang karamihan ay sadyang umaakyat sa barko at lumalapit sa kanila. Magkakaroon sila ng panandaliang relasyon. Pagkatapos aalis na ang mga crew at maiiwan ang mga babae. May mga pagkakataong nagkakaroon sila ng anak.
Hinahanap ng mga batang ito ang kalinga at pagmamahal ng kanilang ama. Nangangarap silang makita ang mukha ng kanilang ama. Nagnanais rin silang makarating sa Pilipinas. Subalit babalik po kaya ang kanilang ama sa Brazil? Magkikita kaya sila ng kanilang mga ama? Makakarating kaya sila sa Pilipinas?
Lahat ng bansa sa buong daigdig ay nakararanas ng ganitong uri ng problema. Sana mamulat na ang lahat na inosenting bata ang nagdusa bunga ng iresponsabling kilos ng mga tao.
Tugunan natin ang panawagan ng Santo Papa. Bigyan natin ng magandang kinabukasan ang mga bata – isang mapayapang kinabukasan!
By Fr. Vincent Busch
On the island of Mindanao where I live I see signs all around me of how our generous and renewable planet is dying. Mindanao’s top soil is eroded, its forest stripped, its mangrove swamps uprooted and its rivers and seas are polluted. The people who suffer most from this ecological mess are those whose lives depend directly on the health of their habitat. I see the consequences so clearly in the town of Plaridel where the people of Barrio Danao go hungry in the wake of the destruction of their mangrove forest.
A few decades ago their mangrove forest was large and bountiful. It was the spawning and breeding ground for a rich variety of sea life; it was the permanent habitat for edible shellfish, crabs and fish; it was the home for trees and palms that provided free firewood. Thatching, lumber and food (fruit and nuts) and it was a natural buffer that checked coastal erosion and built up land mass by trapping sedimentation. This forest community fed, sheltered and adorned the barrio of Danao. Mrs. Pelic Cendenio recalls, “We had lots of good food then we could easily get fish, crab, shrimp shellfish and even lobster. Now, with the mangrove gone, we eat very poorly.”
During the 1960s and the 1970s the mangrove forest fell into the hands of a powerful family whose workers cut its trees to make charcoal. Hundreds of acres were destroyed and the charcoal sent to the Union Carbide factory in the city of Iligan.
The Mangroves left behind by the charcoal crews had to face another threat, fishponds. Once again, a few powerful individuals were allowed to reduce a bountiful public life-source into their small private resources by constructing fishponds. After years of abuse the coastal swamps of Danao was left in ruins, and the people were left to face a desolate future.
A tiny woman, Mrs. Nidia Tacang, took compassion on Danao. With the barrio people she began to restore their dying swamp. For over a year now she and her co-worker have been replanting the coastline. The group had no funding for seedlings and supplies. They collected seeds from the remaining forest. One day bringing their own food and water they trudge barefoot over the rough and muddy remains of the swamp to the planting area two miles from their homes. Their steady work has produced fruit. Over 70,000 seedlings now dot the mud flats.
In profit-minded world where self interest is the norm selfless labor is often viewed with suspicion. Nidia spoke of attempts to stop their work: "We were told to stop planting because the government planned to develop the area commercially. We are poor people and have no political influence, we asked our parish priest, Fr. Fred Malais, to intercede for us. He represented us well and helped convince some officials to let us continue. But still we were told to limit our planting to this remote area of the swamp.”
The opposition that the people of Danao are facing grows from the pressure put on the Philippine government to create an economic order that will allow it to continue to service its massive foreign debt. Since the time of the corrupt Marcos regime the Philippines has borrowed millions of dollars from abroad. In many cases the borrowed funds were embezzled by corrupt officials, squandered on grandiose projects, or funneled into expanding the armed forces. Every year a huge position of the national budget goes into debts payments. Little money remains for public health, appropriate education, social services, renewable energy, urban renewal. Rural reconstruction or for maintaining the country’s ecological integrity.
To get funds to service this debt the international financial community demands that the Philippine government design economic policies that will make more money quickly for the people and from the land. They want policies to favor money-making enterprises, especially dollar-earning ones, even if those policies deprive people of basic needs – life, food, water, shelter, health and habitat. In effect the people of the Philippines are being told they must service the nation’s debt first before they can care for their land and their families.
Everywhere in the Philippines we can see the consequences of policies that favor the debt. More and more of the nation’s prime farm land is being uses for export crops or is in the hand of agribusiness. Its mangroves are being destroyed to make fishponds to produce fish and shrimp for export. Logging operations continue to strip its dwindling rain forests. Mining operations scar its landscape and spew toxic waste into its seas and rivers. The air and water in the major cities are filthy with domestic and industrial waste. The soil, sea and forest of the country are being scarified to pay the debt.
The cruelty of the Philippines debt came home to me in Danao. Eusebio Agan, his wife Dominga and their two sons Angilito and Dondon were among those replanting on the day I visited Danao. Eusebio told me of the tragic loss: “Last September our son, Ricardo, died with a severe fever. We took him to the doctor and to a government hospital but the hospital had no funds for medicine. We had to borrow 3, 000 pesos from a moneylender who charges 20 percent interest a months. The medicine was too late; Ricardo died. My wife gathers firewood and I sell the fish I catch to pay the 460 pesos we owe each month in the interest and other charges. We have already paid the moneylender over 3,600 pesos and we still owe him the 3,000 we borrowed.”
In the case of the Agan family the cruelty of the local moneylender was made possible by the prior cruelty of the international moneylenders who drain the Philippine government so much that it cannot afford to supply its hospitals with basic medicine. The crushing poverty of the Agan family need not have happened yet such imposed poverty is common in the Philippines. Yet, despite their suffering, the Agan Family has not let oppressive cruelty kill their generous spirit. Indeed, throughout the Philippines it is the poor people like then who are beginning to restore the habitats that were destroyed by the rich and powerful.
Both Agan Family and the Philippine nation are in debt to people who have no intention of forgiving their debts. The future looks grim for the nation so long as its economy is adjusted to serving the debt rather than serving the people and the land.
Far away from the Philippines, in handsomely furnished boardrooms, the policy makers of the international financial community do not see the dying swamp, the sick children and the historic people of Danao. But our God, who asks us to feed the hungry and to give drink to the thirsty, does see them and will welcome them in heaven because of their compassion for the earth and for each other.
By Fr. Brendan O’Connell
I met Pilar Tilos in 1963 in Hinoba-an, Negros Occidental. It was my first year as a priest and her first as a teacher. We have been friends ever since. She was one of the first group of lay people to become actively involved in the Church in Southern Negros in the Philippines. Through the legion on Mary and other mandated organizations of the sixties she helped prepare Hinoba-an for the tremendous changes that were to come.
She always claimed that she learned different values from the different priests who came after me. From Bob Burke she learned ‘action now’. from Joe Coyle in the seventies interpersonal relationships, from Michael Martin in the eighties a passion for social justice.
All of these things came together for her in the events describe in the Australian Far East article in January 1982 called “Two Weeks in August in Hinoba-an”. In the midst of the reign terror of the Marcos military, Pilar and Des Quinn organized a protest over the cruel torture and killing of innocent Rudy del Carmen.
I remember that during the meetings, preparing for the protest. Pilar left several times to go privately to an adjoining room. Later she told me that she had left to cry. “Why Cry?” I asked. “Because of the dedication and love of you guys for my people” she replied, and ran away.
In the early eighties the four most southerly parishes in Negros formed a unit to share knowledge, resources, seminars, etc. (It was called Hibasin for Hinoba-an, Bacuyangan, Sipalay and Inayanan.) Most of our meetings were held ad a unit and even priests meetings had a lay coordinator from each parish attending to ensure maximum participation and communication. It was through Hibasin that both Pilar and I became more aware of the situation in which we lived and sought ways of making Christ incarnate there. I was in Inayawan, Pilar in Hinoba-an.
So great was Pilar’s influence that the active lay people in Hinoba-an were called “Sila ni Pilar”. Pilar grew through Hibasin in the eighties. As well as a person of deep faith and action, she develop as fun loving, playful, joyful and a lover of God in the good things in life, like the sea and mountains and trees where she was born and live in beautiful Hinoba-an.
She naturally moved on towards the Columban lay missionary movement in the late eighties and went to Pakistan in 1990. I visited her there in 1994 on my way to Ireland. She took me to “Shadbagh” (Joyful Park) in Lahore where her mission was situated. In the time of the Moguls it was one of the forty parks in Lahore. When I was there in 1994 I wrote that it is “one of the poorest areas that I have ever seen in my life.” However having spent some time there with Pilar I wrote “It is now a joyful in their faith. That is, to a large extent, due to our Columban lay missionaries like Pilar Tilos.”
Pilar was in Pakistan when her good friend Joe Coyle died in the Philippines in 1991. She was shattered by the fact that she was too far away to attend the funeral and that the expense was prohibitive. She said that she experienced the sadness many of us missionaries feel when our friends and colleagues die in every corners of the world.
In January this year Pilar herself died in Pakistan. Word came through that her Filipino friends and companions in Hibasin are inconsolable with grief. However “Sila ni Pilar” will continue to grow. Unquestionably some of them will follow her to countries far away to share their faith with others. Undoubtedly some of them will die there too.