By Gee-Gee O. Torres, assistant editor

Before I left for Manila to attend the National Congress of the Laity last year, I received an email from our editor, Fr Niall O’Brien, who was on vacation in Ireland.  He said we would feature Fr Robert Reyes in Misyon.  Fr Niall sent me some materials for the article but we needed a personal story to go with it.  Since I was on my way to Manila, I decided to visit and interview Fr Robert in his parish in UP Diliman, Quezon City.

The Interview

This was my first time to interview a prominent figure.  I was nervous.  I had to ask a friend to accompany me.  I waited outside his office and after a few minutes of bearing the agony of anticipation, a man came out and invited me in.  It was no other than Fr Reyes himself.  He was very accommodating. During the interview I was just like having a casual conversation with a friend.  Thirty minutes was all I got for he had another appointment at 5:00 pm so I had to get down to work right away.

Fr Robert Reyes, popularly known as The Running Priest, is from Malabon, the eldest in a family of four, studied AB Philosophy in Ateneo de Manila University, joined the San Jose Seminary and ordained into priesthood in 1982.  Presently he is the parish priest of the Holy Sacrifice Church in UP Diliman.

Becoming almost an Athlete

Running wasn’t really Fr Robert’s sports since childhood.  However when he contracted tuberculosis a year before the joined the seminary, his doctor told him that if he really wanted to recover and stay away from TB he must become almost an athlete.  He had to develop his cardiovascular abilities.  “I had to learn to bike, to run and to swim regularly.  In the seminary there was a swimming pool, lots of open space for running and there was a bicycle.  So talagang doon, sineryoso ko na. From 1970 up to the present, I run, I swim, I bike,” said Fr Reyes.

The Running Priest?

I asked him, “Why The Running Priest?” He said the title was born in 1996 when he started running publicly.  The media named him “The Running Priest” because he runs to bring attention to issues he is passionate about such as protecting the environment, speaking out against graft and corruption in the government, abolition of the Death Penalty and cancellation of the Debts of the poor countries such as the Philippines.  Fr Robert says the title has become more and more used that “people will recognize me on the streets, but they don’t know my name.  I don’t know if I am really happy about that. It makes me feel like I have become a commodity, but on the brighter side a symbol of a movement both within the Church and society.”

Crazy Idea

In 1996 Fr Robert hit the headlines:  Priest to run cross-country, Takbo para sa Kapayapaan, Kalikasan at Kalayaan.  For the next three years he covered Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.  The thought of running the entire archipelago dawned on him in 1995. “It came as an isolated inspiration.  I was just running one day and the Centennial celebration of our independence came to mind.  I thought of doing something that would have a national impact, that would contribute to a deeper consciousness of being Church and of our being Filipino.  National impact? Takbuhin ko ang buong Pilipinas. ‘What a crazy idea.’ I laughed at myself.  I was 40 years old at that time. I was not old neither was I young. At forty, I decided to run the whole Philippines?!”

Cesar Guarin

This crazy idea of Fr Robert didn’t just end there.  When he shared it with a friend, he found out that it could be done.  His friend knew Cesar Guarin, a Filipino who had tried to become the first global runner.  Fr Robert met Cesar and Cesar said that if he war really interested, he would train him. “But, Father, you should realize that I started running at the age of 23.  And you are now 40.  You are trainable but are you ready to submit to the discipline?  You need at least six months of intensive training.”

Rigorous Training

True enough, it was not easy.  “Cesar would make me run.  I had to become an ultra runner.  The tortures and rigors of training to become an ultra runner was tough.  An ultra runner means somebody who could run 50-100 kilometers non-stop, 24 hours without sleep.  The whole time when I was training I was assistant priest in Cubao and by the time I was about to start my run, I was transferred to UP Diliman as parish priest.  Training and adjusting to my new assignment at the same time made things even more complicated.

That’s the kind of physical, psychological, mental and spiritual training I needed to meet.  During the training I was already getting discouraged and scared.  But then Cesar told me, ‘Father, if you really want to run the whole length of the archipelago, you cannot run 10 kms a day you’ll never finish. So you have to run 40-50 kms everyday so that in one week’s time you could, for example, cover Manilato Bicol.’  I wasn’t able to complete the training because it was time to take off with the first leg of my run: Takbo para sa Kapayapaan (Mindanao).  I had to train on the run. I had to run 50 kms a day when I never had an experience of running 50 kms consecutively.’

It’s Faith

When I asked Fr Reyes what gave him the courage to continue with his plan of running the whole Philippines despite the inadequate training, he said, “Faith.  It was humanly impossible for me to keep running everyday for 50 kilometers with very little sleep and rest in between.  However I was not just relying on my physical energy but also on another source of energy – the ‘energy’ of my faith.  The spirituality of running sustained me throughout the run.  It’s the spirituality that made me focus on the goal of reaching the finish line and not allow myself to be distracted by things that are extraneous and incidental like fatigue, abrasions, callouses.”

Waste of Energy

There are people who think that what Fr Robert is doing is useless.  They say the situation in the country is getting worse and nothing we do will change a thing.  So why waste energy in running?  Why waste precious resources when nothing is changing?  “The secret in change is not making big steps but constantly making little steps towards the big change.  Running is a very appropriate analogy of change.  For example, when you start running from Sorsogon, your first step is till far away from Manila, but your second step is closer to Manila than your first step and your10,000th step is already bringing you to Manila.  If changing the Philippine society was a marathon, it’s not an ordinary marathon.  It’s an ultra marathon which involves thousands of kilometers of running non-stop. You won’t see the change overnight but when you reach the end of the line you will see the change,” says Fr Robert.

At the height of the Abu Sayyaf crisis in the country Fr Robert’s name was included among the list of names of targets which the Abu Sayyaf released.  I asked him what precautionary measures was he taking.  “I am being careful.  Definitely I don’t want to be wasted away. These threats are natural consequences of what I am and what I do.  But these things cannot be a reason for me to keep quiet and stop running.  What will stop me from running?  Sickness, disability, death.”

Running has given Fr Robert the endurance he needs to believe in an ideal and to keep fighting for it even if there are very few left to fight for it.  He said, “All it takes is to believe that one can be an ultra runner, can train for it and at the end become what you dared to be.”

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“Be faithful to your missionary vocation abroad because your faithfulness will strengthen us who are missionaries at home.” – Fr Robert Reyes

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FR ROBERT RUNS IN AUSTRALIA

The Columban Mission Institute and Caritas Australia invited Fr Robert last year to run in their “Run for Life -- Drop the Debt!” campaign.  The campaign was to help raise awareness in Australia about the misery and death which the Third World Debt causes to people in many poor countries who are burdened by debt.  Seven million children under the age of five will have to die each year from preventable diseases just to pay the interest on their Debts.

The Philippines owes more than Aus$90 billion and spend up to 40 % of its income servicing our debt.  This means that every year many Filipinos will die and millions will be reduced to grinding poverty because there is little money for medicines and food.  For every $1 received in aid, thePhilippines spends $14 in debt service.

Fr. Robert shared that his run in ten major cities in Australia over a period of 35 days helped him to understand running in a different perspective.  “It was good to see how two countries and two peoples, Australian an Filipino, can work together towards something that will benefit both.”