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2 IMPACT • December 2006

 IMPAC T December 2006 / Vol 40 • No 12
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
The Unfinished Dance .......................................... 2 1
COVER STORY
Sparing the Rod: The Problem of Child Abuse...1 6
ARTICLES
PCP-II On A Renewed Church Pursuing Justice,
Development and Peace ......................................... 4
Ramifications of Cheating— Another Look at the
Nursing Exam Leakage .......................................... 8
How Catholic Is Your School? The Don Bosco
School (Salesian Sisters) Experience .................. 1 0
When will the killings end? ................................. 1 4
The Christmas Spirit ............................................. 1 5
STATEMENTS
Pastoral Statement on the Celebration of National
Family Week ........................................................... 2 2
Forging Social Solidarity for Human Rights .... 2 3
Plea and Appeal: Stop STL, Please ..................... 2 4
A Call to Vigilant, Heroic and Engaged
Citizenship ............................................................. 2 4
A Wrong Move by the Wrong People at the
Wrong Time ............................................................ 2 5
Watch and Pray ...................................................... 2 6
CharACter more than Charter Change .............. 2 6
FABC 11 th Bishops’ Meet Statement ................... 2 7
DEPARTMENTS
Quote in the Act ...................................................... 2
From the Blogs ........................................................ 2 0
From the Inbox ....................................................... 2 8
Reviews .................................................................... 2 9
Cinema Review ...................................................... 3 0
Quotes in Quiz ....................................................... 3 0
News Briefs ............................................................. 3 1
CHRISTMAS is not coming so easy this time.
The socio-political instability has been domi-
nating, indeed tipping the balance of the hori-
zons of late—dragging, in fact, for some years
now, but most especially as an aftermath of the
2004 national elections that has been massively
accused of equally massive cheating allegedly
by no less than the government’s poll body.
The infamous “Garci tapes” will go down
in history—certainly not in the fashion of Santa
Clause—distributing votes at will, or at cost
and at mandate, to favored administration can-
didates.
On the other hand, Christmas may be com-
ing very easy after all. When it first happened,
Herod was accused of extrajudicial killings,
not of militant groups and journalists but of
hundreds of innocent infants. Corruption, gam-
bling, and patronage and transactional politics
were the language of the day. While most
people were suffering and hungry, he was wal-
lowing in wealth and debauchery.
The baby Jesus was born into this milieu.
If this is the context of the original Christmas, it
should not be difficult to relate with it today—
theologically, at least. Christmas is the entry
point of the paschal mystery that bears fruit into
the springtime of a new creation at the Lord’s
resurrection. How we wish this Christmas, so
close to the poverty of the manger and the pain
of the cross, will bring us a better tomorrow.
Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, OMI, pre-
sents a vision of a church and society in his
article, “PCP-II On a Renewed Church Pur-
suing Justice, Development and Peace”. One
realizes that the role of the church in a changing
society like today may not only be about dis-
pensing sacraments, but by really witnessing
more seriously to the mission of integral evan-
gelization.
More disturbing is the question of Baltz R.
Acebedo in his article, “When will the killings
end?” Or course, not when it is still organized
and, more so, when the present dispensation is
not doing—or is it?—anything about it at all.
The problem of child abuse is the issue
raised by our cover story by Sr. Pinky
Barrientos, FSP. Read on.
Volume 40 • Number 12 3
 PCP-II on a Renewed Church
Pursuing Justice,
Development and Peace
By Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, O.M.I.
A. The PCP-II Vision of Church
and Society
T
he general question that PCP-II
grappled with in 1991 was: How can
the Church be a more effective and
credible evangelizer, given the present pas-
toral situation of the Philippines? The gen-
eral answer was: by being a renewed
Church and by being faithful to its mission
of integral evangelization.
The term “integral evangelization”
meant that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
has both eternal and temporal dimensions.
Jesus announced salvation in the King-
dom of God, a kingdom of justice and
peace, truth and love, which has now be-
gun in Jesus here on earth but is not
44 IMPACT
IMPACT •• December
December 2006
2006
fulfilled definitively except at the end of
time. It is in the “here and now” dimension
of the Kingdom of God that integral libera-
tion from everything that is dehumanizing,
most especially sinfulness, finds its place.
Eternal salvation does not exclude human
liberation. In fact, the church teaches that
human liberation is intimately linked to the
mission of evangelization. It is here—in
the task of human liberation—that the
social action apostolate is grounded.
Surveying the national situation, PCP-
II discerned many “lights and shadows”
(See PCP-II Final Document, nos. 18-32,
and especially Appendix I, “The Contem-
porary Philippine Situation,” pp. 275-91).
PCP-II described the imbalances of the
economic and political situation and saw
© Roy Lagarde
these imbalances as reinforced by the
negative features of our cultural life. From
such a situation PCP-II proceeded to de-
scribe a vision of society toward which the
Church would carry out its task of social
transformation. This is the PCP-II vision of
society:
That all may have life (mabigyan
ng buhay)—we shall have to create
a free nation: where human dignity
and solidarity are respected and pro-
moted; where moral principles pre-
vail in socio-economic life and struc-
ture; where justice, love, and solidar-
ity are the inner driving forces of
development.
We shall have to build a sover-
eign nation: where every tribe and
 A R T I C L E S

faith are respected; where diverse preference for the poor, thus making recommendations found within the text of
tongues and traditions work together the community of disciples a Church the Council were very difficult to imple-
for the good of all; where member- of the Poor(see my talk, “The Forma- ment. In order, therefore, to make the goals
ship is a call to participation and tion of Teachers and Lay Leaders in of renewal more simple, the National Con-
involvement and leadership a sum- Service of the Faith and the Filipino,” sultation drew up nine major pastoral pri-
mon to generous service. CEAP National Convention, July 4, orities for the Church in the Philippines
Ours will have to be a people in 1991; also NASAGA, Naga City, Oc- (see Final Message of NPCCR, “Behold I
harmony with one another through tober 2, 1991). Make All things New,” 7), namely: 1)
unity in diversity; in harmony with The PCP-II vision of Church is, in- Integral Faith Formation; 2) Empowerment
creation, and in harmony with God. deed, formidable. And the most difficult to of the Laity towards Social Transforma-
Ours shall be a civilization of life and realize, I believe, is to be a Church of the tion; 3) Active Presence and Participation
love (PCP-II Final Document, nos. 253-55). Poor, because this vision requires a pro- of the Poor; 4) The Family as the Focal
The above vision of Philippine soci- found conversion of every facet of our Point of Evangelization; 5) Building and
ety expresses the following values of the lives. Strengthening of Participatory Communi-
Kingdom of God: 1) freedom and sover- From the situation to the vision, the ties that make up the Parish as a Commu-
eignty; 2) human dignity and solidarity; 3) Church committed itself to a journey of nity of Communities; 6) Integral Renewal
the primacy of morality in the social order; renewal, a journey of integral evangeliza- of the Clergy (and Religious); 7) Journey-
4) justice and love as driving forces of tion, so that the Church could be credible ing with the Youth; 8) Ecumenism and
development; 5) respect for cultural val- and effective in its over-all mission in the Interreligious Dialogue; 9) Animation and
ues and traditions; 6) the common good as Philippines. The Church would have to Formation for Mission ad Gentes.
goal; 7) participation and service as re- avoid the failures of its evangelizing ef- The Consultation exhorted, “We en-
sponsibility; 8) unity in diversity; 9) har- forts (see PCP-II Final Document, e.g., join all communities of faith to engage in
mony with creation and with God. nos. 30-31) as a “potent yet flawed” evan- contextualized pastoral reflection, dia-
Presumably, if the above values be- gelizer. logue, discernment, planning and action
come operative in society, based on these nine priori-
the result would be “a civi- ties” (Message of NPCCR,
lization of life and love.” "To recognize spirituality as the 8).
The general response It is now 15 years since
of the Church toward this synthesizing principle in the task PCP-II ended. In many dio-
vision and the task of so- ceses all over the country the
cial transformation is its of pursuing justice, development work of renewal toward the
vision of itself.
Although PCP-II did and peace is to recognize the role of vision of church and society
has focused on the building
not provide an explicit and
concise enunciation of this
the Spirit of God in recreating a of Basic Ecclesial Communi-
ties as the pastoral priority.
vision, we are by now gen-
erally aware of its funda-
new nation and a new Filipino. It The BEC as a vision of “a new
way of being Church” has
mental components, is also a confession of our own the advantage of concentrat-
namely: 1) a Church of au- ing pastoral efforts on the
thentic disciples; 2) a utter human lack of power in the family level of grassroots
Church of communion; 3) a communities, namely, on the
participatory Church; 4) a face of evil." cluster of families that make
Church engaged in integral up the BEC (thus nos. 3-5 of
evangelization; 5) an inculturated Church; In 2001, ten years after PCP-II, the the pastoral priorities).
6) and a Church of the Poor. National Pastoral Consultation on Church In the BEC the focal point of evange-
The following would be a personal Renewal (NPCCR) stated that the PCP-II lization is, indeed, the family. Toward the
summing up of the PCP-II vision of Church reading of the Philippine situation was still BEC all the pastoral programs of the dio-
in the Philippines: quite valid. The imbalances remained gen- cese, including social action, is directed.
To announce effectively and cred- erally the same. The Church reviewed what The BEC in turn becomes the agent of
ibly the Gospel of Jesus as truly salvific it had accomplished in its 10-year journey integral evangelization.
and liberating, to be truly a leaven in of renewal and integral evangelization.
society transforming the Filipino per- The review showed similar “lights and B. In Pursuit of Justice,
son into a new creation and the Fili- shadows” that PCP-II had already seen. Development and Peace
pino nation into a closer reflection of The economic, political, cultural, and reli-
the Kingdom of God, we Filipino gious problems remained generally the From the perspective of integral re-
Catholics have to be what we claim same. Nonetheless there were many sig- newal and of integral evangelization, we
we are: a community of the Lord’s nificant advances in renewal especially now ask: what is the place of Social Min-
disciples, where everyone partici- where the BECs were active. istry or Social Apostolate?
pates actively in the building of God’s One of the problems that dioceses PCP-II itself raised the urgent and
people, each one totally motivated encountered was the sheer comprehen- relevant questions:
by God’s love which expresses itself siveness and magnitude of renewal. The How should the Church foster
most especially in a Christian love of 132 decrees of PCP-II and the many other social transformation and assist the

Volume
Volume 40
40 •• Number
Number 12
12 5
5
 PCP-II
© Roy Lagarde
little people in bringing about har-
mony and kaayusan in their lives?
How should the Church announce
the Kingdom of Justice, Peace and
Love in the context of great social,
economic, political and cultural im-
balances? How can we as a commu-
nity of the Lord’s disciples be a leaven
of social transformation? (no. 261).
Responding to the questions, PCP-II
prescribed four general directions for so-
cial action to take (see nos.262-373): 1) the
Formation of a Social Conscience; 2) the
Application of the Social Doctrine of the
Church; 3) the Renewal of the Political
Order; 4) The Living of a Spirituality of
Social Transformation.
How urgent and imperative these four
general directions are in our day! I am
sometimes shocked that many well edu-
cated Catholics think of the mission of the
church in purely “other worldly” terms, in
exclusively spiritual terms. We are aware
of course, of the many current misunder-
standings of the role of the Church regard-
ing issues of politics, economics, ecology
and the like. And we are often frustrated
and exasperated by the political circus
played by politicians from left, right, and
center that happens daily in “imperial”
Manila. Unfortunately media seems to treat
this political bickering with an intensity
and seriousness that it does not really
deserve. People in the countryside are
concerned more about their own economic
survival and politicians have ignored these
more primary needs. Hence, we see how
absolutely necessary it is for us to form a
6 IMPACT • December 2006
On A Renewed
truly Christian social conscience and to
renew the political order with the guidance
of the social doctrine of the Church. The
social doctrine of the church consists of
“principles of reflection, criteria for judg-
ment, and directives of action.”
Thank God, we now have in our hands
a Compendium of the Social Doctrine of
the Church. A copy of this should be in the
hands of every Social Action director. In
fact, it should be translated into the major
languages of the Philippines for easy ac-
cess to lay leaders in the Basic Ecclesial
Communities.
Let me suggest further supplemen-
tary answers to the questions PCP-II asked
by way of a process of discernment and a
general schema for the social apostolate.
1. A Process of Discernment
PCP-II followed a process of discern-
ment that is known as the Pastoral Spiral.
This was developed in the 1980s by two
FABC Offices, Human Development and
Laity, in order to help participants in social
immersion programs to interiorize and ex-
press their experience.
The process begins with a holistic
analysis (social and cultural analysis) of
the pastoral situation. It is followed by
faith-reflection on the situation in the light
of Sacred Scriptures and the Teachings of
the Church. It then proceeds to pastoral
decisions, planning and action. The spiral
ends with evaluation, after which a new
spiral begins. It is a fuller version of the
usual “see, judge, act” process. The Final
Church Pursui
Document of PCP-II was also constructed
according to the same process, although
the documents end with pastoral deci-
sions or decrees. Thus, the Pastoral Spiral:
Situation Analysis ! Reflection in Faith !
Pastoral Decision ! Planning ! Action !
Evaluation.
2. A Schema for the Social Action
Apostolate
To give some sense to the PCP-II
decrees of the social apostolate, may I
suggest a schema. At the outset, Article 20
of PCP-II provides a general pastoral ori-
entation for all the decrees on the social
apostolate:
#1. The Church must exert all efforts to
reduce the gap between faith and prac-
tice in the area of social justice by
working for greater justice and equal-
ity in Philippine society.
#2. Action on behalf of justice is to be
pursued as a sign of Christian witness-
ing to Christ and His teachings.
#3. The social action apostolate is to be
constantly given solid religious
grounding through catechesis and
organic linking with worship.
The decrees then specifically target
three areas as tasks of renewal, namely,
Formation, Inculturation, and Spirituality.
Moreover, Article 22.1 notes the neces-
sity of holistic analysis: A thorough social
analysis, structural and cultural is to be
promoted more intensely in the process of
building up discerning communities of
faith, precisely to the end that their efforts
at social transformation take into account
hard social realities and carried through
from a genuine perspective of faith.
Hence, the following suggested
Schema for Social Ministry in Pursuit of
Justice, Development and Peace. See PCP-
II articles 22 - 33:
a) Process / Activities
1. Holistic Analysis
• through brainstorming sessions in dio-
ceses and parishes;
2. Formation and Inculturation
• through immersion-exposure pro-
grams, reflection-action process;
• formation of a Christian social con-
science;
• biblical catechesis for social involve-
ment and transformation;
• formation in the social teachings of the
Church;
• emphasis on value formation;
• political formation for lay people;
ng Justice, Development and Peace

• skills training;
• grounding the social apostolate in the
teachings of the Church and linking it
with worship - the liturgy and the
sacraments.
3. Organization
• Social Action steering committee made
up of the different sectors of
theChurch;
• Lay people to assume leadership roles;
• Coordination of all pastoral programs
based on a common vision;
• Inter-sectoral, inter-faith, international
linkages.
4. Programs and Projects
• e.g., ecology, labor, rural poor;
• women, sick and handicapped, youth,
families of OFWs;
• setting up social fund for the poor;
• research by Catholic educational insti-
tutions on basic causes of social prob-
lems.
5. Spirituality
• development of a holistic spirituality
for social transformation;
• Christian witnessing in action for jus-
tice.
a leaven of social transformation?”
The answer immediately follows in
no. 262: “the most basic and effective
response… can come only from the very
depths of our being as disciples of the
Lord, . .. in our following of Jesus, in our
fidelity to his Gospel of Justice and Love
and thus, in our spirituality.”
The faith-reflection of PCP-II looks at
the socio-economic and political prob-
lems in terms of sinfulness (nos. 264-70).
This realization of sinfulness as the root
cause must lead to conversion and social
transformation (nos. 272-74).
For this to happen, a definite way of
life—a spirituality—has to develop,
“which is nothing more and nothing less
than a following of Jesus-in-mission. It is
the spirituality of the community of dis-
ciples” (See a further elaboration of this
spirituality in my talk, “Spirituality of
Social Transformation,” 1990 National
Social Action General Assembly,
Dumaguete City).
PCP-II firmly believed that a spirituality
of “following Jesus-in-mission” bears the
key to authentic social transformation, to the
overcoming of sinfulness and the disman-
tling of structures of sin. This spirituality is
“marked by an enduring and intimate com-
mitment to Jesus, .. by a love of preference for
the poor” (no. 278). It is “a hunger and thirst
for justice,” a heeding of God’s word “in the
voices of the voiceless and powerless,” an
urging “to care for the earth as God’s gift,”
“a witnessing to the radical demands of the
Gospel” (nos. 278-82).
To recognize spirituality as the syn-
thesizing principle in the task of pursuing
justice, development and peace is to rec-
ognize the role of the Spirit of God in
recreating a new nation and a new Filipino.
It is also a confession of our own utter
human lack of power in the face of evil.
It is, finally, a declaration that, when
all is said and done, it is the power and the
wisdom of God manifested by the Cross
and the Empty Tomb that ultimately brings
“into our midst a fuller realization of the
Kingdom of Jesus, a kingdom of justice,
peace and love” (no. 401). I
(This piece was delivered on the occasion of the
Orientation Seminar for new Diocesan Social Action
Directors, held in Tagaytay on March 23, 2006—Ed).

b) Thrust
• toward Justice, Development and
Peace;
• toward Empowerment of the Poor /
Grassroots Communities (BECs);
• toward Building Discerning and Trans-
formative Communities.

c) Setting / Target
• Diocese, Parish;
• Small Faith Communities, Schools, Semi-
naries, Formation Houses;
• Religious Organizations, etc.

d) Vision of Church and Society

C. Spirituality of Social
Transformation—The
Synthesizing Principle
What I would consider as the synthe-
sizing principle, the summing up of the
requirements of renewal in the pursuit of
justice, development and peace, is “a spiri-
tuality of social transformation.” [This
section is mostly taken from my CBCP
article, “Announcing a Message of Lib-
eration,” 1992]. PCP-II develops this spiri-
tuality in nos. 262-282.
In no. 261, PCP-II asks: “How can we,
as a community of the Lord’s disciples, be
© Roy Lagarde

Volume 40 • Number 12 7
 A R
Ramifications
of Cheating—
By Jose B. Lugay
P
rior to the release of the decision of
the Court of Appeals, the media pro
jected the scandal day in and day out
since the expose’ of the cheating—the
nursing board exam leakage. There was
flip-flopping of decisions by the Adminis-
tration. President Arroyo at first expressed
her desire for a retake to redeem the integ-
rity of the nursing licensure examinations
as well as the overall reputation of our
professional health care workers. Then
when the affected examinees who passed,
cried “unfair”, the Administration changed
its stand—they will wait for the decision of
the Court of Appeals. When the decision
was released, PRC was prevented to per-
form the oath-taking of all the nurses who
8 IMPACT • December 2006
T I C L E S
passed, by the Secretary of Labor until the
order is final and executory.
Leonor T. Rosero Chair of the Profes-
sional Regulation Commission (PRC) dur-
ing the Senate hearing, defiantly remarked
that she did not agree with the President’s
order to transfer her office under Secretary
Arturo Brion of the Department of Labor
and Employment and a former Justice of
the Court of Appeals. Rosero criticized the
stand of her new boss to have all examin-
ees retake the board examination. She also
attacked Filipino Overseas Chair Dante
Ang for intruding into and doing a demo-
lition job of PRC.
A total of 17,871 of the 42,000 exam-
inees passed the exam conducted last June
© dutypix.multiply.com
Another Look
at the Nursing
Exams
Leakage
11 and 12. Only Tests III and V were
considered tainted with the leakage.
Twenty questions of Test III out of 100
were leaked to three review centers. Test
V weighted scores was reduced from 100
to 80 percent. The new passing average
was determined based on these changed
criteria. This is the decision of PRC in its
Resolution No. 31. As a result, of the
17,871 original passing examinees, 1,687
who failed passed while 1187 who origi-
nally passed, failed. The U.S.T. School of
Nursing filed a restraining order to nullify
the oath-taking of the passing examinees
as determined by PRC Resolution No. 31.
The National Bureau of Investiga-
tion, meanwhile busied itself determining
 Ramification of Cheating
who were involved in the leakage of exami-
nation questions. The 2 examiners involved
in the leakage were named: Anesia Dionisio
and Virginia Madeja. Three review cen-
ters were implicated—the Gapuz Review
Center, Innress Review Center and Penta-
gon Specialists, Inc. who were charged
including 17 individuals. No PRC officials
were involved according to the NBI. The
Office of the President after the decision of
the Court of Appeals announced that the
Administration will abide by the decision;
that is, no retake of the examination except
for 1,687 who did not pass in the original
computation.
It is a mess—a nasty professional
mess! But this did not end yet. Japan who
recently signed an agree-
ment with President Arroyo,
the Japan-Philippine Eco-
nomic Partnership allowing
employment of Filipino
nurses and caregivers ex-
pressed their concern about
the integrity of our health
professionals. This was sec-
onded by a communiqué
from Brussels representing
the European Union, one of
the active markets for Phil-
ippine healthcare workers.
If you were the President
and the Secretary of Labor, "The most obvious and necessary
how do you get out of this
dilemma? action is to inculcate in the young
How did this problem
start? This is not the first that cheating is a sin and must
occurrence of leakage in
board test questions. It hap- never be tolerated. Hence we go
pened in the bar examina-
tions; the board examina- back to basic catechism and family
tion for medicine, etc. These
incidents did not create con-
evangelization."
tinued media exposure—months on end.
How and when did Review Centers prolif-
erate? Is greed for money their overall
motivation for running this business? Who
and how are they going to be regulated?
My experience in the past may elucidate
some problem areas for which certain rec-
ommendations may be appropriate.
There was a time decades ago, when
board reviews were conducted by the
Colleges/Universities as part of their aca-
demic program. When the enrollment rose
exponentially, as a result of population
growth, the universities could not handle
them. Review groups came about led and
conducted by individual professors.
Board examinations were usually con-
ducted in Metro Manila so the board re-
views were held in this city. However, on
or about 1985, during the Marcos years,
Universities in the Visayas requested for
board examination to be conducted out-
side Manila since there were enough gradu-
ates to fill several classrooms of examin-
ees. It was during this time that I was
appointed as a member of the Board of
Chemical Engineering.
Having held the position for three
consecutive years, I had a chance to in-
vestigate the causes of low passing aver-
age of the Chemical Engineer examinees.
Just like the Nursing examination, the per-
centage passing yearly was 33% to 40%.
From PRC data I made a statistical review
of the 10 preceding years to find a clue to
the cause of this low passing grade. In-
variably, the top schools for engineering,
U.P., U.S.T., De La Salle, M.I.T, University
of San Carlos, consistently maintained
70% to 95% successful examinees among
45 schools offering the chemical engineer-
ing course at that time. There were 12
schools which did not have a successful
examinee in all those years. Obviously, the
Professional Regulation Commission
(there was no CHED then) did not do its
function of control—that is, in regulating
the schools which did not pass the stan-
dards that they have set. One of the
parameters to be measured is the profes-
sor/student ratio; another is the complete-
ness of the laboratory equipment. Col-
leges do cheat in this regard. Laboratory
equipment is rented and shown to the
inspectors and returned to the owner after
the inspection. This was due to the fact
that the scheduled visit was made known
to the schools in advance.
Accreditation of schools/colleges/
universities is the first step to solve the
problem of low passing grades in the board
examination of any degree course. In
today’s government structure, this should
be the function of the Commission on
Higher Education (CHED) not the Depart-
ment of Labor and Employment. The sec-
ond step of solving the problem is the
strict selection of students by giving them
entrance examinations as what well-known
educational institutions do. Proficiency in
English, I notice, is key to passing the
board examination. Misunderstanding the
test questions is sure to cause
failing grades. Lastly, the
Board Examiners chosen and
appointed by the President,
needless to say, must be
morally upright. In a politi-
cally dominated system,
probably this is too much to
expect!
If we religiously follow
© kateliz.multiply.com
accreditation of schools and
colleges; training teachers/
professors updated in their
fields of specialization; pur-
suing strict selection of en-
rollees; updating the curricu-
lum to meet changing needs
of the practice of a profes-
sion; supporting scholar-
ships of bright students and
financial support from the
government of deserving in-
stitutions, may be there is no
longer the need to screen
graduates through board
examinations.
The most obvious and necessary ac-
tion is to inculcate in the young that cheat-
ing is a sin and must never be tolerated.
Hence we go back to basic catechism and
family evangelization. I wonder how many
public schools allow the catechists to give
classes to primary grade students. How
many dioceses have enough catechists to
train public school students in their local-
ity? How many Christian parents teach their
children to be honest? What comes to mind
too is a biblical passage I heard yesterday
on the occasion of CFM’s 50 th anniversary
from our chaplain Mons. Manny Gabriel—
to follow the advise of the prophet Micah
(6:8): “You have been told, O man, what is
good and what Yahweh requires of you: to
do justice, to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with your God.” I
Volume 40 • Number 12 9
Introduction

T
he Institute of the Daughters of Mary
Help of Christians (Salesian sisters
of St. John Bosco) was founded by
St. John Bosco and St. Maria Domenica
Mazzarello in 1872 in Mornese, Italy. The
small seed blossomed into a fruitful tree
that has spread its missionary presence in
89 countries all over the world with more
than 15,000 FMAs living and working with
the young in an educative presence char-
acterized by the Salesian Preventive Sys-
tem. Don Bosco School (Salesian Sisters),
Inc. is one of the educational institutions
owned and operated by the FMA.
St. John Bosco was an exceptional
educator. His acute intelligence, common
sense and profound spirituality led him to
create a system of education that devel-
ops the whole person—body, heart, mind
and spirit. It enhances growth and free-
dom while putting the child at the center of
the whole educational enterprise.
To distinguish his method from the
repressive system of education prevalent
in 19th century Italy, he called his own
method the ‘preventive’ system—because
it seeks to prevent the need for punish-
ment by placing the child in an environ-
ment in which he/she is encouraged to be
the best one can be. It is a congenial, How Catholic is Your School?
friendly and holistic approach to educa-
tion.
It creates a climate that ‘draws forth’ The Don Bosco School
(Salesian Sisters)
(educere) the best in the child, that encour-
ages the child’s complete and fullest self-
expression, that assists young people in
acquiring habits that will lead them to opt
in favor of what is good, healthy, joyful Experience
and life-enhancing. It promotes a harmo-
nious and fruitful integration of reality
aimed at integrating faith and everyday By Sr. Maria Socorro Cristina L. Fernando, FMA, Ph.D.
experience. We evangelize through edu-
cation and we educate through evangeli- Mazzarello. Our being a Catholic School young, joy, trust, dialogue, by preference
zation. lies not merely in structures and activities for the poor, educative passion, openness
The Preventive system of Don Bosco but in the culture of our being a Catholic to the realities of the area, and a clear plan
and Mary Mazzarello is the hallmark of our Salesian School. The activities, struc- of Christian life. It speaks in various lan-
specific spirituality and method of educa- tures, curriculum, governance, etc. are guages: poetry, theatre, music, sports, play,
tion as Salesian Educators. It guides and concrete expressions by which we live our quality work and study. It is an environ-
permeates our relationship with others and faith…as Salesian educators and ment where experience becomes a school
characterizes our lifestyle. It creates an Bosconians. Our distinct Salesian educa- of life and where one proceeds with one
environment in which the young person tional culture challenges us each day to be another in accompaniment.
grows in making choices and imbibes val- signs and bearers of God’s love to the The Salesian organizational culture
ues spontaneously because of the models young “that they may have life…life to the called the Salesian Spirituality is shared by
he/she sees in the educators and compan- full.” the members of the Educating Community.
ions. Don Bosco spoke of forming “good The Salesian “organizational climate”
Christians and honest citizens”. Pedagogy of the Environment known also as “Salesian Family spirit”
We identify several elements of the characterizes the specific educational at-
Salesian Education by which our school The Pedagogy of the Environment is mosphere steeped with dialogue, sponta-
lives the Gospel according to the style and so important in Salesian Education. It is an neous, warm and trusting, confidence-
spirituality of St. John Bosco and St. Mary environment characterized by trust in the filled relationships. Don Bosco exhorts us

10 IMPACT • December 2006

 A R T I C L E S
© javemervin.multiply.com

to always “find the seed of goodness in
every event and every person” and that
“Education is a matter of the heart.”
The FMA Educating Communities
draw from the Preventive System the crite-
ria that qualify each environment and ex-
perience as Salesian. Every Salesian edu-
cational environment is called on to be
characterized by the quality of its propos-
als, by the flexibility with which it faces the
emerging formative challenges and by its
ability to read the educational needs of the
younger generations. We commit our-
selves to:
• The integration of formal and non-
formal education. In practice, this
means strengthening collaboration
between the schools, professional
training, and works for children and
young at risk, women promotion cen-
ters and oratory youth centers where
our teachers, parents, young students
volunteer themselves on weekends to
work in these area of service.
• Attentive to the family as the principal
place in which education takes place.
Relations with the family are a big
challenge for the Educating Commu-
nity. In the Salesian tradition, dia-
logue with parents becomes open to
the sharing and offering of formative
support in their irreplaceable role.
• Intelligent and discrete work in favor of
inculturation of our educative pro-
posal.
• Attentive to ecumenical and interfaith
dialogue and the ability to network as
in our interfaith summer camps, mod-
ules, cultural immersion with students
of our other schools, inter-school plan-
ning, leadership programs, extra-cur-
ricular cluster club days.
• Attentive listening to the new forms of
youth poverty (dysfunctional fami-
lies, abuse, migration, globalization,
new forms of illiteracy, etc.)
loving what they love, of accompanying
them in their search for meaning. It is an
accompaniment that helps them to dis-
cover the presence of God in their life,
which leads them to harmony with the
Holy Spirit and moves them to a response
of joyful availability to god’s call. It calls
for the solid formation of educators in line
with the Preventive System as spirituality
and a method: preparation together in
mutual enrichment between religious, lay
people, and the young people themselves.
It promotes a harmonious and fruitful inte-
gration of reality aimed at integrating faith
and everyday experience.
The Educating Community
In Don Bosco School Manila, as in all
our other schools, the lay mission part-
ners: (i.e. the teachers and staff), the par-
ents, members of the Salesian Family, and
the young form the Educating Community.
It is their primary role to form the young to
become builders of the Christian commu-
nity, women and men of Christian con-
science, commitment and social responsi-
bility.
The educating community shares a
common mission through different and
complementary roles. Through their dif-
ferent roles they share at different levels in
the educational plan. Their presence en-
sures the convergence of educational in-
terventions.
The educating community is educated
as it educates. We offer the members of the
Educating Community the possibility of
gradual preparation enabling them to share
with us the responsibility of organizing
and carrying out our educative work using
the Preventive System. The progressive
acquisition of a planning mentality and
continuous updating has allowed the edu-
cating communities to express the rich-
ness of the preventive system in different
contexts.
• It is formed by working together as a
family that puts itself together at the
service of the poor and of the school.
• It is attentive to find the signs of the
presence of God in everyday life.
• It believes in the positive energies of
the younger generations and of adults
and is capable of moving out of its own
security to welcome the precarious-
ness experienced by young people, to
enter into dialogue and rethink human
and religious experience with them.
• It fulfills its mission by valuing
everyone’s contribution and, in an
attitude of co-responsibility and par-
ticipation, favors the creation of the
“family spirit”.

Presence of Adults
Accompanying the Young
towards Holiness

The great challenge that the present

youth and cultural situation poses for
educators regards a renewed understand-
ing of the presence of the adult as an
educator and as capable of working in
synergy. It is an adult who seeks to radiate
and witness the values of the gospel in
daily life.
According to Salesian tradition, the
heart of education is passion for young
people, the art of showing them trust, of

Volume 40 • Number 12 11
 How Catholic is Your School? The Don Bosco School

Coordination: Circular Animation
(Governance)
Coordination for communion (unity
of interventions) involves people working
and networking in a circular method that
favors sharing of resources and creativity
in search for unity; coordination goes
beyond organization and brings out more
clearly the main lines or areas of conver-
gence.
Coordination is a way of thinking and
working together that involve people ac-
cording to a circular process, so as to
encourage sharing of resources and the
expression of creativity in communion. It
is entrusted to all the sectors of the educa-
tional setting and requires that we act in a
complementary and convergent way.
Coordinating in a harmonious way guar-
antees the synergy of all the resources
around a common international, provin-
cial and local educational project or plan,
over and above the different methods and
structures of animation. It involves a plan-
ning mentality and a strong sense of co-
responsibility.
The educative mission is entrusted to
the whole educating community and re-
quires convergence of multiple interven-
tions that, in turn, requires the participa-
tion of a number of voices and different
levels of interaction: ecclesial, social, and
political. Putting the young at the center,
the educating community is committed to
weaving a network of solidarity between
all who believe in education and, in par-
ticular, with the groups of the Salesian
Family (Past pupils, Salesian Cooperators,
Salesians, Colunteers, etc.).
science, commitment and competency, and
includes the development of all their di-
mensions and interests. Therefore, be-
sides academic, technical and other regu-
lar subjects, the playground and the youth
activity clubs help the young person grow
by means of positive suggestions and
experiences capable of awakening and in-
volving all his/her interior resources. The
group experience provides them with a
possibility of exercising responsibility and
initiative in a family atmosphere. These
youth experiences are characterized by
freedom to participate, organize things for
themselves, spontaneity, the active pres-
ence of the educator-animator, and a com-
mon ideal.
The activities of the different youth
groups are animated by a common and
values lived by both the Animator (Group
Moderator) and the Young: the Salesian
Youth Spirituality which is characterized
by the different elements:
• MEETING God in daily life: finding the
mysterious presence of the Lord of life
in persons, in everyday events and
duties. A daily spirituality that pro-
poses ordinary life as the meeting place
with God.
• LIVING our daily duties with an atti-
tude of celebration: blending the joy
of knowing that we are in the hands of
God and the duty of freeing ourselves
and others from every form of sad-
ness. It is an ‘Easter’ spirituality of joy
in action that develops a positive atti-
tude of hope in both the natural and
supernatural resources of the person,
and presents Christian life as a path to
happiness.
• BEING Church for the spreading of the
Kingdom: A spirituality of responsible
service that encourages in young
people and in adults a renewed apos-
tolic commitment which becomes a
vocational call to the Christian trans-
formation of their world. It is experi-
encing community life in an atmo-
sphere of fraternity, sharing family
spirit, the sense of belonging to the
Church and of openness to service.
• CELEBRATING the joy of salvation in
the Eucharist and in Reconciliation. It
is a spirituality of friendship and per-
sonal relationship with the Lord Jesus,
known and visited through prayer, the
Eucharist, the Word and the Sacra-
ments. Salesian Education is a peda-
gogy of joy. The fount of joy is the
intense and frequent encounters with

Salesian Youth Movement

The Salesian Youth Movement is a

place in which young people, Salesians,
FMA and other members of the Salesian
Family share experiences and put the
Salesian charism into action, in different
contexts and ways.
School activities (co-curricular, extra-
curricular, spiritual) are considered in the
integral formation of the young. The pu-
pils and students are given the venues and
experiences which allow them to live con-
cretely the values and learnings they have
taken in the curricular subjects in the class-
room. All Salesian Youth Groups form part
of the Salesian Youth Movement.
The Salesian style of education rec-
ognizes the aim to educate young people
to become builders of a Christian commu-
nity as women and men of Christian con-

12 IMPACT • December 2006

l (Salesian Sisters) Experience
Jesus.
• FOLLOWING the road taken by Mary:
a Marian spirituality where one en-
trusts oneself simply and trustingly to
the maternal help of Mary, finding in
her a strong, free woman, the Mother
and Teacher of a responsible “yes” to
God and neighbor. At the school of
Mary, Mother and Educator, they learn
passion and care for the young, espe-
cially those who are poor and at risk.
Guidelines for the Educational
Mission (GEM) of the FMA
The Guidelines for the Educational
Mission of the Daughters of Mary Help of
Christians (FMA) are a fruit of research
done together, reflected upon and evalu-
ated by the World Educating Community.
They are our response to the requests that
came from the General Chapter and the lay
mission partners the world over. They are
dedicated to a the Educating communities
the world over and are our response to the
continual challenge to quality Salesian
education. These Guidelines are entrusted
to each person in the Educating Commu-
nity as a sign of giving hope to the future
generations. They are to be translated in
the local context and in the daily living. In
these guidelines, the treasure of the Salesian
Preventive system of Education remains
firm. The newness involves how to trans-
mit and translate the Preventive System
into our times.
Salesian Servant Leaders: Fruits
of the Salesian Education
Sanctity runs in the family. God has
shown great love towards the Salesian
Family of Don Bosco by enriching it with
holiness. These fruits of the Salesian
Preventive system are concrete proofs of
the effectiveness of Don Bosco’s Educa-
tional System in preparing servant lead-
ers for the state and church and citizens
ready to go to heaven at any time in their
lives.
Priests, lay people, consecrated reli-
gious, young people and adults in the
Family, members dedicated to education
and evangelization, building God’s King-
dom in daily life and apostles called to the
heroism of martyrdom, all find a richness
of inspiration among our Saints. The
communion which we intend to achieve
as a Family has in a holiness, sought after
with constancy, the richest aspect of our
fellowship. (Charter of Communion in the
Salesian Family, Article 38).
ease!
Rel
Some Fruits of the Preventive
System of Don Bosco New
Saint Dominic Savio(1842-1857) is a
well-known young saint, formed by Don
Bosco himself, the masterpiece of his
pedagogy and apostolic work. He him-
self became an apostle among his com-
panions, and thus helped his teacher and
friend. His First Communion resolutions
are famous and inspired many other boys
and girls.
Blessed Laura Vicuna(1891-1904).
ovc.blogspot.com
Born in Chile, a pupil of the FMA in Junin
de los Andes, Argentina. She died offer-
ing her life for her mother’s conversion at
a tender age of 12. On 3 September 1988
at the “Hill of the Beatitudes for Youth”
(Colle Don Bosco, Italy), in the presence
of thousands of young people who were
taking part in “Confronto ‘88", Pope John
Paul II beatified her, and presented her as
a model of Gospel authenticity. For Orders Contact:
Roderick Flores (1969-1984). He was
a scout in the Don Bosco Technical Col-
lege unit in Mandaluyong. He drowned National Matrimonial Tribunal
trying to save two companions who had Office
sudden cramp while swimming. His body Tel. No. (632) 5274160
© Denz Dayao / IMPACT
was found one week later. “This heroic
gesture of jumping in to save his compan- CBCPWorld Office
ions was only the culmination of a long Telefax (632) 4041612
series of numberless acts of altruism per-
formed daily.” This is what a Salesian Other books by
who knew him testified. Abp. Oscar V. Cr uz, JCD, DD
Aurima Joy Magtoto. A past pupil of
the FMA School at Mary Help of Chris- 1. Marriage Tribunal Ministry
2. Guide Documents on Parish, Vicariate and
tians School, mabalacat, Pampanga who Diocesan Administrative/Pastoral Concerns
died at the age of 13 on June 6, 2003. She 3. Canon 290 CIC in the Service of Truth,
took Laura Vicuna as her model as she Justice and Charity
bore the pains of bone cancer at the 4. Annotations on Rotal Jurisprudence on Canon
tender age of 12. She was constantly 1097, 1098, 1102
cheerful and did her best all the days that 5. Annotations on Rotal Jurisprudence on Canon
1103
she can manage herself in spite of her 6. Annotations on Rotal Jurisprudence on Canon
illness. Like Laura, she offered her suffer- 1095
ing for her family and she lived heroically 7. Annotations on Rotal Jurisprudence on Canon
Laura’s motto: “Suffer silently, smile al- 1101
ways.” The Salesian priest who heard her 8. Evidence in Marriage Nullity Cases
confession remarked that she was “ex- 9. Impediments to Canonical Marriage
10. Markers
traordinary soul graced by God.” The 11. Penal Process for Dismissal from the Clerical
sisters, teachers, and schoolmates pray State
to her for the many intentions they have 12. Provincial Council, Diocesan Synod,
and our young people take her as a model Pastoral Assembly
of holiness, within their reach and nur- 13. CBCP Guidelines on Sexual Abuse and
tured among them: a young person who Misconduct: A Critique
14. Board of Conciliation and Arbitration
walked and triumphed the road to holi- 15. Viewpoints at the Onset of the New
ness. I Millennium
16. Media in our Midst
(Sr. Maria Socorro Cristina L. Fernando, FMA is
currently the Principal of Don Bosco School—
17. Administration of the Temporal Goods of the
Salesian Sisters, Inc., Sta. Mesa, Manila. The Church
foregoing article is her paper presentation during the 18. Curia Management
65t h national convention of the Catholic Educational 19. Clergy Compensation
Association of the Philippines held last September 20. Call of the Laity
13-15 at the Manila Hotel – Ed.)
Volume 40 • Number 12 13
 A R
When will the killings end?
By Baltz R. Acebedo
H
uman rights lawyer Gil Gojol was on
his way back to Sorsogon City last
December 12 after attending a court
hearing in Gubat town when, as he left the
court on board a marron van, three assailants
on an unmarked motorcycle tailed him. Upon
reaching Barangay San Ignacio, near an
Army detachment, the gunmen blocked the
van and shot the driver. Gojol tried to flee but
was shot in the buttocks and fell on his face
near a house. His attackers finished him off
with a shot in the head.
The murder of Gojol, which by stark
irony occurred just two days after the Dec.
10 International Human Rights Day cel-
ebration, is the latest in a long series of
seemingly interminable killings of activists
since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
took office in 2001.
Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes con-
demned the killing of Gojol and urged the
government to put a stop to the series of
killings as more lives are to be wasted in the
murder rampage. “I condemn these sense-
less killings. It shows no respect for human
rights,” Bastes said.
The Integrated Bar of the
Philippines(IBP)—Sorsogon chapter also
strongly condemned the murder of Gojol
which the chapter described as a threat to
their group. The IBP stressed that it should
not be taken against the lawyers who ex-
tend services to known left-wing organiza-
tions or individuals as they could not refuse
those who need their legal service, similar to
doctors who are bound by their sworn duty
to extend medical help to whoever is in need
of such assistance.
Militants have long since blamed the
14 IMPACT • December 2006
T I C L
series of killings on military “death squads,”
noting that the numerous political killings
have remained unsolved, which gives the
public the perception that the government
is not concerned about these killings at all.
Spiral of Violence
The murder of Gojol, according to Phil.
Daily Inquirer records, brought to 262 the
number of militants or activists killed. Some
human rights groups have put the number
of political killings at more than 700.
The global human rights group Am-
nesty International (AI) reported that at
least 51 murders were committed in the first
six months of 2006 compared to 66 in the
whole of 2005.
“Most of those killed are members of
the legal leftist political parties which, de-
spite their legal status, have been accused
by senior government officials of being
front organizations for illegal communist
armed groups,” AI said.
In a 51-page report issued some few
months ago, AI said the increasing number
of political killings has resulted in threats of
retaliatory assassinations by insurgents,
raising the prospect of a spiral of violence
and abuses in the country. It also stressed
that the government’s “all-out war” on
communists paves the way for the further
increase in killings.
From 2001 to June 2006, records from
the government’s Task Force Usig show
that 114 leftists have been killed; suspects
in only three cases have been arrested and
no convictions have been reported so far.
The Philippine human rights group
E
Karapatan has recorded a total of 725 civil-
ians murdered since 2001, 307 of which were
activists.
“The attacks are not an unconnected
series of criminal murders but constitute a
politically-motivated pattern of killings. The
organization remains gravely concerned
that members of the security forces may
have been directly involved in the killings
or else have tolerated, acquiesced, or been
complicit in them,” AI said.
The Melo Commission
In an attempt to stem the spate of
© bayan.ph
killings, President Arroyo issued last Au-
gust 21 Administrative Order No. 157 creat-
ing an independent commission to probe
the killings. Led by former Supreme Court
Associate Justice Jose Melo, the other
appointees are National Bureau of Investi-
gation Director Nestor Mantaring and Chief
State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno from the
government, and Butuan Bishop Juan de
dios Pueblos and UP Regent Nelia Torres
Gonzales from the private sector.
Congressional, militant and Church
leaders however have questioned the mem-
bers’ track record on human rights and the
commission’s independence, saying that
the NBI and the DOJ are subordinates of the
President, the commission will be a mere
mouthpiece of the administration.
The National Union of Journalists in
the Philippines (NUJP) likewise assailed
that the commission’s mandate to investi-
gate also remains unclear, noting that it
duplicates functions of the Commission on
Human Rights as well as the government’s
Task Force Usig, which erstwhile has been
ordered to solve 10 killings in 10 weeks.
Malacanang has asked its critics to
give the commission a chance.
To date, the commission held a hearing
last December 11 in Davao City on political
and agrarian related killings in Mindanao
but its witnesses failed to give enough
evidence that would help the commission
identify the masterminds, panel officials
said.
“The court will not arraign (the case)
because there is no person identified,” re-
tired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo said.
Genuine Political Will
To counter the threat of further killings,
AI has urged the Arroyo government to
identify those responsible for the attacks
and bring them to justice. It added that
stemming the tide of killings requires a genu-
When will / p. 19
 F e a t u r e A r t i c l e

I
n spite of varying times and climes,
favorable or unfavorable, the Christ
mas spirit thrives not only in the hearts
of children and the simple, but also in
those of mature men and women, wearied,
hardened and even jaded by ugly worldly
affairs.
It’s a spirit of joy, bred by faith, which
cannot be simply kept inside. It has to
show itself externally, generating a beau-
tiful gust of popular piety that boosts the
faith, whether sagging or vibrant, of people
both young and old.
“A child is born for us, a son given to
us; dominion is laid on his shoulder, and
he shall be called Wonderful-Counsellor.”
(Isaiah 9,6)
Though repeated countless times
through the ages, every time they are spo-
ken, in faith, on Christmas Day, these words
of Scripture leave an electrifying effect,
mysteriously evoking an undeniable truth
and an unspeakable joy that only our heart,
made by God and for God, can relish.
Whatever they say, there is in man an
inherent goodness that readily recognizes
the spirit of Christmas. It’s a goodness
that frolics with the good news of Christ’s
birth, it sings and dances no matter what
adverse circumstances there may be.
Of course, our theology deepens this
truth of faith by telling us that with Christ’s
birth, God becomes man to save us, and
eternity re-acquires our errant time and
world and sets them in their proper course.
A very beautiful truth we are celebrating in
Christmas!
The Christmas Spirit
This irreducible and inalienable good-
ness in us simply shows that in spite of our
weaknesses and failures, in spite of some By Fr. Roy Cimagala
weakening of faith or whatever, we some-
how understand we are meant for the eter- a lot more. We are God’s children, meant to the liturgy, which is the official prayer
nal, for the infinite. participate in his very own supernatural of the Church, the prayer of Christ
We are not simply earth-bound or life. himself with all of us. Popular piety
time-bound. Our true dignity seeks a much Christmas brings this phenomenon should climax in the liturgy;
higher level of existence. We may not be about. There is something in it, regardless • the “spirituality of gift,” proper of
very aware of this, but we actually yearn of the contamination of commercialism, Christmas, should be highlighted,
for this goal. paganism, etc., that causes this sublime based on the truth that “a child is born
Our natural goodness makes us dis- realization to surface. for us, a son is given to us” (Is 9,5), and
cern where our true home is and what our Yet, despite this mysterious law, it is God “so loved the world that he gave
true happiness really is. It makes us realize incumbent on us to exert all we can to his only Son” (Jn 3,16);
that we are meant to live on beyond this life purify the way we celebrate Christmas. In • to convey the message of solidarity,
and time, and beyond this world. this duty, we cannot be passive. also proper of Christ, since with
This innate goodness, I like to think, There can be many things to take care Christ’s birth God lives solidarity with
is the original language that unites us with of, but I’d like to reiterate what a Church sinful man and the poor;
our Creator, before other layers of lan- document wants us to pay special atten- • Christ’s birth should also stress the
guages come between God and us. If taken tion to during Christmas. This is to keep sacredness of human life, now threat-
good care of, it’s a language that can lead the celebration from falling into becoming ened gravely in many places;
us to loftier realities about ourselves. too emotional and shallow. These points • also to emphasize the spirit of simplic-
We are not mere creatures who try our can be: ity and poverty, humility and trust in
best to make the most of what we have in • all manifestations of popular piety God so conspicuous in Christ’s birth
this world. We are something much more, should be linked and harmonized with and so direly needed by us today. I

Volume 40 • Number 12 15
 C O V E R S T O R Y

By Pinky B. Barrientos, FSP

I
n signing Proclamation No. 1137 and
declaring October 2006 to October 2007
as Child Abuse Prevention Year, the
Philippine government committed itself in
promoting the welfare of children and up-
holding their rights. At the launching of
National Year for the Prevention of Child
Abuse last November 6, President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo remarked that the
threats on the safety of the Filipino child
remains endemic, thus, it is imperative that
society be reminded of the “important value
of protecting the child and preventing
abuse.”
In the Philippines, children are the
most precious asset every family can take
proud of. Data from the National Statistics
Office show that there are 36.3 million
Filipinos who are 19 years old and below,
which comprise more than a third of the
country’s entire population. Nonetheless,
among the various sectors of Philippine
society, children are the most vulnerable
and susceptible to all forms of abuse. Stud-
ies show that more than a million and a half
children are estimated to live in the streets,
while three and a half million children from
5 to 17; work under conditions that are
considered hazardous to their health and
safety. (www.childprotection.org.ph)
The data clearly depict the hardships
many Filipino children have to endure. It is
unfortunate that the family which is prima-
rily the foundation where children can
draw love, support and nurturance is itself
besieged with many problems. Breakdown
in family ties and poor economic condi-
tions oftentimes become the prevailing
factors that expose children to all forms of
abuse.

Statistics

DSWD statistics confirm an increase

in the number of child abuse cases served
by the agency from 1998 to 2002. However,
the frequency of child abuse and neglect
which have sprung up from 2,716 to 10,045
cases in four years are generally regarded
as underestimates since they only reflect
cases of abuse that were reported and
validated. The sudden increase is also
viewed as a result of heightened aware-
ness and reporting in the community. The
general perception is that the number of
cases of abused children reported to agen-
cies is merely the tip of the iceberg, so to
speak.
In a recent article written by Tina
Arceo-Dumlao and published by the In-

16 IMPACT •• December
December 2006
2006
Sparing
the Rod
The Problem
The Problem of
of Child
Child Abuse
Abuse

Volume 40 • Number 12 17
 Sparing
quirer, she told of the story of 15-year old
Anna Saavedra (not her real name) who
recounted to the newspaper the physical
and emotional abuses she suffered from
the hands of her mother. Just like other
children who did not know any better,
Anna thought her mother’s abusive be-
havior was just one of the ways how par-
ents should discipline their children.
In a research on the emotional and
physical punishment inflicted on children
in Southeast Asia by Save the Children
Sweden in 2005, the study disclosed that
violence towards children in the home is
rampant, and that corporal punishment is
applied by parents in the name of disci-
pline and child rearing. The children inter-
viewed explained that punishments can
vary from physical assault to verbal abuse.
Those interviewed in the Philippines re-
vealed that punishment inflicted physi-
cally includes direct assaults like hitting,
spanking, whipping, hair pulling and ear
twisting while verbal abuse include nag-
ging and shouting. Other kind of punish-
ments were also employed in the form of
indirect assaults (hang on a post or a tree),
use of substances (putting chilli on the
mouth), confinement, threats, verbal at-
tacks, denigration, and non-violent pun-
ishment.
The 2003 Annual Report of the UP-
PGH Protection Unit also cited that among
the various form of maltreatment inflicted
on a child physical abuse is the most
prevalent, followed by psychological
abuse and neglect, with sexual molesta-
tion and rape as the least common form of
abuse.
Not regarded as individuals
In a society that is highly patriarchal,
it goes on to say that it is not only women
who have little say on their rights but
children as well. It is particularly true in the
developing countries, where culturally,
children are not regarded as individuals
who possess human rights as much as
anybody else, but more of a property of
their parents or elders. In effect, they be-
come invisible and excluded from receiv-
ing and enjoying essential services soci-
ety provides. The situation of children in
many parts of the world, especially in terms
of their rights to survival, health, educa-
tion, protection and participation in soci-
ety has been for sometime now the con-
cern of the international community.
UNICEF reports that “millions of children
are denied their right to a formal identity,
facing early marriage, or forced into armed
18 IMPACT • December 2006
the Rod:
combat or dangerous work. As a result,
they often have no access to the services
they need to survive and develop to their
full potential and face exclusion from full
participation in society as adults,
too.”(www.unicef.org)
In 1989, the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted
into law and took effect the following year
after it was ratified by member nations
(including the Philippines.) The accord
affirms and describes the fundamental hu-
man rights of all children (all human beings
below the age of 18). The CRC is consid-
ered the most thorough and well-estab-
lished international paradigm for children’s
rights. It provides the framework for the
programs of UNICEF, the UN children’s
agency.
Diverse factors
Diverse factors contribute to exacer-
bate the plight of children. In a 2005 World
Report on Violence against Children by
the UN’s Secretary-General, among the
many factors cited which have affected
children negatively were the changing fam-
ily patterns and make-up as well as eco-
nomic pressures on low-income families.
The same unstable family conditions have
also opened the possibilities of abuse
being experienced by children at home.
The World Report also took note of the
fact that the forms of violence children
experience vary according to age and stage
of development. “Infants and young chil-
dren are more likely to be victimized by
primary caregivers and other family mem-
bers because of their dependence on adult
caregivers… while older children are more
likely to be victimized outside their home
and family.” (www.violencestudy.org)
Research studies on various types of
child abuse noted that one out of three
Filipino children experience abuse. Save
the Children, reports in its website that
“millions of children in the Philippines
work on farms, in factories, in the mining,
quarrying and logging industries, and as
domestics or street vendors. The Philip-
pine authorities estimate that the country
has over one million street children, some
60,000 of whom are prostituted.”
Poor Economic conditions
Poverty is essentially a major factor in
the breakdown of families and other sup-
port structures that are important in nur-
turing an environment conducive in the
development of children. Because of the
The Proble
poor economic conditions, many children
from indigent families are forced to work in
order to bring food onto the table, conse-
quently exposing them to unnecessary
danger and exploitation. However, the dan-
ger does not only lie outside the home. In
some instances, abuse, physical or other-
wise can easily happen right at home where
the children ought to experience love and
nurturance from family members. In its
2005 situational analysis on Filipino Chil-
dren, the Council for the Welfare of Chil-
dren (CWC) points out that “data gath-
ered from health survey indicates 88.6% of
adolescents have at one time been abused
at home, either sexually or physically.”
The same analysis also shows that nearly
half of the cases reported to the Depart-
ment of Social Welfare (DSWD) concern-
ing child abuse are sexual abuse and ex-
ploitation.
UN Universal Declaration of
Rights of Children
The United Nations Universal Decla-
ration of Human Rights affirms the right of
children to receive special care and assis-
tance from their own families which could
afford the natural environment and neces-
sary protection they need. “…The child,
for the full and harmonious development
of his or her personality, should grow up
in a family environment, in an atmosphere
of happiness, love and understanding…
[And] should be fully prepared to live an
individual life in society, and brought up
in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the
Charter of the United Nations, and in par-
ticular in the spirit of peace, dignity, toler-
ance, freedom, equality and solidarity.”
em of Child Abuse
The UN Charter also takes into ac-
count the difficult situations children in
other parts of the world experience be-
cause of traditional practices and cultural
values that families hold on to at the ex-
pense of their children’s welfare.
Special Protection of Children
against Abuse
Republic Act No. 7610, also known as
Special Protection of Children against
Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination
Act defines child abuse as referring to
maltreatment of a child, whether such ac-
tions are done habitually or not. Maltreat-
ment can include the following: “psycho-
logical and physical abuse, neglect, cru-
elty, sexual abuse and emotional maltreat-
ment; any act by deed or words which
debases, degrades or demeans the intrin-
sic worth and dignity of a child as a human
being; unreasonable deprivation of his
basic needs for survival, such as food and
shelter; or failure to immediately give medi-
cal treatment to an injured child resulting
in serious impairment of his growth and
development or in his permanent incapac-
ity or death.” (Sec. 3, RA # 7610). In sum-
mary, the above explanation simply points
to four types of child abuse, specifically:
psychological/emotional abuse, physical
abuse/cruelty, sexual abuse and neglect.
“The implementing Rules and Regulations
to RA 7610 define some terms within the
context of the Philippine law. On the as-
pect of physical abuse the Rules and Regu-
lations states that “discipline administered
by a parent or legal guardian to a child does
not constitute cruelty provided it is rea-
sonable in manner and moderate in degree
and does not constitute physical or psy-
chological injury.” This explanation is
rather ambiguous considering what is
deemed reasonable and moderate depend
on an “assessment influenced by one’s
values, beliefs and own experiences.”
For instance, in the Philippine culture,
light corporal punishment like spanking or
hitting the backside of an erring child with
a belt is seen and normally accepted as a
form of discipline. This is especially true
among uneducated and low-income fami-
lies. The existence of RA 7610, however,
has emboldened advocacy groups to take
the cudgels upon themselves to protect
children from the trauma of abuse, physi-
cally or otherwise.
Situation Analysis of Filipino
Children
A recent analysis on the situation of
Filipino children prepared by the Council
for the Welfare of Children shows that the
children especially in need of the protec-
tion of the law are those who engaged in
hazardous and exploitative labor; those
living in the streets; victims of sexual
abuse and commercial exploitation; vic-
tims of family violence and neglect; either
separated or have lost their parents; chil-
dren affected by HIV/AIDS; those in con-
flict with the law; in situation of armed
conflict; with various disability; girl chil-
dren; those belonging in ethnic/cultural
communities that may suffer from neglect
and discrimination; and Muslim children.
How to address the problem
Obviously, ratifying a law for the pro-
tection of children does not necessarily
bring an end to the gnawing problem of
child abuse, which is considered a silent
epidemic in today’s society. Poverty and
breakdown of families maybe pinpointed as
the basis of the problem, but other factors,
like cultural beliefs and lack of education
also contribute to aggravate the situation.
To address the problem of violence against
children necessitates promoting an envi-
ronment that is conducive to change and to
implement measures that will enable par-
ents, teachers and caregivers, as well as law
enforcers, to apply positive ways of disci-
plining children. It has been said time and
again that love begets love. And studies
have proven that abuse received in child-
hood eventually results to abusive behav-
ior in adulthood. The time to break the cycle
is now. Today’s children are tomorrow’s
adults, the country’s future. I
When will / from p. 14
ine political will to ensure prosecutions in all
cases.
“The failure to prosecute and convict
those suspected of human rights violations
is having corrosive impact on public confi-
dence in the rule of law,” AI said.
AI recently drafted a 14-point program
for the prevention of extrajudicial execu-
tions. It is urging the government to imple-
ment the said program in full.
Key recommendations in the program
include:
Reassert respect for human rights: the
government must condemn all political kill-
ings; prohibit orders from superior officers
authorizing or tacitly encouraging other
persons to carry out unlawful killings; and
prohibit and disband “death squads”, pri-
vate armies, vigilantes, criminal gangs, and
paramilitary forces.
Guarantee the administration of justice:
The government must ensure all complaints
are investigated promptly by an indepen-
dent and impartial body; ensure that those
responsible for political killings are brought
to justice; and fully implement the Witness
Protection, Security and Benefit Act.
The peace process—ensure compliance
with human rights agreement: All sides of the
armed conflict should recommit to and en-
sure compliance with the 1995 Comprehen-
sive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights
and International Humanitarian Law.
Action by other human rights institu-
tions: The government’s investigative agen-
cies and the human rights commission should
conduct prompt and effective investigations
of all reported political killings; and the gov-
ernment must be urged to access the exper-
tise of United Nations special mechanisms
by inviting the special rapporteur on extraju-
dicial executions, the special representative
on human rights defenders, among others.
But still, granted, AI’s program recom-
mendations are implemented, will the killings
come to an end?
With the present administration’s half-
hearted, if non-committal, stance on the is-
sue, critics are even more skeptical, saying
that political killings will not end unless the
administration shifts its current perspective.
Informed critics and analysts argue that while
the Arroyo government is unstable, and its
legitimacy is yet in question, some people –
in or out of the government – can always use
the situation to further their cause, either to
preserve their tenure of power or simply to
protect substantial interests. Such being the
case, killings will always be resorted to as the
easiest way to silence or shun strident stake-
holders. I
Volume 40 • Number 12 19
 F R
Greed
G
reed is synonymous to
insatiability. For the
greedy, nothing is
enough. They feel the continu-
ous craving for more. When
they have more, they want to
have much more. The end is
always the same; they eventu-
ally lose whatever they have—
with sickness, despair, death.
The question of greed has
a special relevance in our now
obtaining national socio-politi-
cal present. This is specifically
the case of some of our greedy
politicos. The immense power
they exercise, the huge wealth
they have, the big influence they
wield—all these combined are
not enough. Strange but true,
they still feel deprived and de-
pressed. Hence they feel the
need to become even more pow-
erful, wealthy and influential.
The insatiable greed for
power, wealth and influence is
the underlying cause of the
unicameral constitutional as-
sembly for a Charter Change.
Never mind ethical norms and
moral principles. Never mind
the contrary feeling and voice
of many sectors of society.
Never mind the present and
still binding constitutional pro-
vision on Charter Change.
What counts for these
greedy politicos is to stay long
20 IMPACT • December 2006
O M T H E B L O
The Poor
I
t is sad but true. To be
poor in this country is a
big living and continu-
ing curse. During elections,
all local and national candi-
dates shout their avowed
commitment to help the
© Historical Picture Archive/CORBIS
poor. When they are in of-
fice and in power, they still
say they are pro-poor. Even
the national leadership
loudly and repeatedly claims
its pro-poor plan, programs
and projects. It goes all over
in power no matter how, to con- the world, attends assem-
tinue accumulating wealth with blies, hosts meetings—
whatever means, to hold on to yes—to eventually help the
position of influence with utter poor.
disregard for integrity, truth and With the possible 2007
justice. Elections, exactly the same
They do not know—or pro-poor speeches will be
refuse to acknowledge—that delivered ad nauseam. Cam-
their greed is in fact their own paign materials, slogans and
punishment. It is like having advertisements will infalli-
thirst while immersed in drink- bly proclaim the basically
ing water. It is big hunger in the pro-poor promises of the
midst of abundant food. And candidates, and it has been
the eventual result is the same this way for decades on. The
always: their greed becomes poor have always been in
their own undoing. These are the primary concern of all
people who should be pitied— the election candidates, in
not hated. They should be the priority agenda of all
objects of regrets—not rage. governments officials—
Now, it is interesting to from to the local, to the re-
watch and see where and what gional up to the national
the greed of these politicos will levels.
bring them. For one thing, they Yet, all present realities
are not immortal. They are plus updated statistical data
wherefore not really as power- show and prove one and
ful, wealth and influential as the same truth. The fact is
they think and feel they are. there are more poor in the
Lastly, it is their own greed that land. In effect, the poor have
will consume them, eat them all become even poorer, they
up. do not have enough to eat,
Even the greatest of great and simply die when sick for
men and women in human his- lack of medical care. There
tory all end up sick, dead and must be something funda-
buried six feet below the mentally wrong in this coun-
ground. To say the least, not try, something grossly
one of our greedy politicos wrong with the governance
would qualify even as great. of the present administra-
www.ovc.blogspot.com tion.
G S
More. It is not enough
that the poor in this country
remain poor and become
poorer. They are in fact made
the constant target of mul-
tiple exploitation.
One: They are the day
to day victims of onerous
indirect taxes from birth to
death, though they may not
know it, government taxes
follow them throughout their
lives. The water they drink (if
clean), the food they eat (if
any), the daily needs they
have (which are many) are all
taxed. Their beneficiary is the
government while they re-
main its continuous multi-
million victims.
Two: They are ex-
ploited as export labor. They
are the abundant source of
dollar remittances. There are
women forced into the flesh
trade. There are children
given to forced labor. They
are the common targets of
illegal drug consumption
from marijuana to rugby.
Result: they all suffer while
their exploiters all rejoice.
Three: They are special
victims of small town lot-
tery, bookies, jueteng and
many other illegal forms of
gambling they all eventu-
ally lose while the gambling
operators and their payola
beneficiaries all go to the
banks laughing.
If the poor in the coun-
try would unite, march and
take over whatever they
want, no guns would be
enough, no bullets could
suffice to stop them. So
helpless in actualities yet
so strong potentials—this
is the poor people in this
country.
www.ovc.blogspot.com
 E D I T
The Unfinished Dance
T he dance floor was cleaned. The dancers
were ready. The dance band was prepared
and the dance was suddenly cancelled—
for another day. So it was claimed. The reasons
given were both confused and confusing.
The Con-Ass proponents retreated. Yet, they
issued a challenge to their oppositors to do the
Cha-Cha via Con-Con. They even gave an ulti-
matum lest they continue with their own Cha-Cha
by themselves through their favorite Con-Ass.
More strange was the claim that the national
leadership had nothing to do either with the
solitary Con-Ass or with its sudden withdrawal.
This is taxing not only to reason but even to mere
imagination. The main storyline was that the pro-
verbial Con-ass train simply started and made to
rush on without the hand of the national leader-
ship. And it suddenly stopped and stood still for
the moment also independently of its control. So
convenient to say and so gross to believe.
There is the strong presumption akin to moral
certitude that the challenged Senate would sim-
ply dismiss the challenging House. The reason is
O R I A L
quite plain and simple: the House has no right to
challenge the Senate, and the Senate has no
obligation to even mind the challenge of the
House.
In this impasse, it is not true that the ball is
with the Senate. The ball remains with the House.
And it is both interesting and intriguing to even-
tually know what the pro-administration con-
gress would do next—under the baton of the
national leadership. This is getting more interest-
ing and curious!
For a start, the House Con-Ass is not ac-
ceptable to the general public. Then there is the
norm that the House cannot Cha-Cha alone as
even but a simple dance is done by a pair.
Wherefore, the question: what could and would
the House do next, if any? But the House might
still spring up a surprise in its go for broke design
of amending the Constitution—unless the na-
tional leadership itself permanently stops the now
known and so-called “Cha-Cha Express”.
Will the now unfinished dance ever be fin-
ished? If so, how and when?
Volume 40 • Number 12 21

Beloved People of God:
I
f the Church joins the nation in the
celebration of National Family Week,
we call on all families to a deeper
reflection on the identity and mission
of the Filipino family as the basic cell of
the Church and Society and the point of
reference for the social, political, eco-
nomic and religion-based ideal relation-
ships of the Filipino people and the
Philippines as a nation.
The family does not owe its foun-
dation to any organization, but directly
to the will of God. It is a natural institu-
tion, antecedent to any political or ju-
ridical organization. The authentic de-
velopment of the human person reveals
in each of us the image of a child of God.
No living being on earth except man
was created “in the image and likeness
of God” (Gen 1:26).
Human fatherhood and mother-
hood, though biologically similar to
that of other living beings in nature,
contain in an essential and unique way
a “likeness” to God which is the basis
of the family as a community of persons
united in love. ( Letter to Families, John
Paul II, February 22, 1994, n. 6). The
marriage covenant established between
a man and a woman is a symbol of God’s
love for His people and Christ for His
Church (Eph 5:25-26). Because the
transmission of divine life presumes the
transmission of human life, marriage not
only brings about the birth of human
children, but also, through the power of
Baptism, the birth of adopted children of
God, who live the life received from
Christ through his Spirit. (Letter to
Families, n.18)
The family is the true origin of human
and Christian development, and the re-
newal of society. To the family is en-
trusted the task of unleashing the forces
of good, the source of which is found in
Christ alone. Every family needs to make
these forces their own so that Philippine
culture may be “evangelized in depth,
true values acknowledged, the rights of
men and women defended, and justice
promoted in the very structures of soci-
ety”. (Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris
Consortio, The Role of the Christian
Family in the Modern World, November
22, 1981, n. 8). To use a phrase spoken on
the occasion of the Millennium of Chris-
tianity in Poland, the family must be
“strong with the strength of God”. (Car-
22 IMPACT • December 2006
Pastoral Statement on the
Celebration of National Family
Week
“Family be stong with the strength of God”
- John Paul II, Letter to Families
dinal STEFAN WYSZYNSKI, Rodzina
Bogiem silna, Homily delivered at Jasna
Gora, August 26, 1961).
It is in the family where living stones are
formed for that spiritual house spoken of by
the Apostle Peter (1 Pet 2:5). The bodies of
the husband and wife are the dwelling-place
of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19).
The family is placed at the centre of the
great struggle between good and evil, be-
tween life and death, between love and all
that is opposed to love. Christian parents
must build a moral universe rooted in the will
of God, where the child grows in the human
and Christian values that give life its full
meaning. And so the Second Vatican Coun-
cil teaches that “Christian married couples
and parents, following their own way, should
support one another in grace all through life
with faithful love, and should train their
children, lovingly received from God, in
Christian doctrine and evangelical virtues.
(SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL
COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church, Lumen Gentium, n.41).
The family however, as an institution is
the object of numerous forces that seek to
destroy it or in some way to deform it (FC,
n.3) and is experiencing a radical and wide-
spread crisis (Novo Millennio Ineunte, Janu-
ary 6, 2001, no. 47).
To protect the family “every governing
authority, whether national, regional or lo-
cal, owes it to itself to have a family policy
which enables families freely to assume their
responsibilities in contemporary society”
(Ethical and Pastoral Dimensions of Popu-
lation Control,May 13, 1994, n. 82). Family
policy would include programs for liveli-
hood assistance, providing access to hous-
ing and education and other programs to
assist the family.
Family policy should protect and pre-
serve a nation’s sovereignty in the struggle
against “contraceptive imperialism” which
the delegation of the Holy See denounced in
1974 during the International Conference on
S T A T E
Population held in Bucharest. This “contra-
ceptive imperialism,” violates religious and
cultural traditions of family life and harms
families and nations. (Ethical and Pastoral
Dimensions of Population Control, May
13, 1994, n. 82).
Furthermore in their implementation,
population control programs utilize govern-
ment money, laws, incentives and force to
pressure people to have fewer children us-
ing population growth as a reason to coerce
changes in people’s intimate beliefs and
childbearing practices.
Based on moral principles the Church
strongly opposes the “Reproductive Rights/
Sexual Rights” Agenda (inclusive of abor-
tion) in Congress and its integration in school
textbooks.
St. Augustine says that “laws which
threaten the family and the sacred gift of life
create the most serious distortions in the
social fabric that weakened societies.” (De
Civ. Dei 4.:4)
The Filipino family is blessed in that so
far it has preserved its religious practices
that allow the light of faith to continue to
shine on family life. But the faith of young
people is endangered by the massive spread
of sexual rights / reproductive rights propa-
ganda in the legislature, by local government
and in particular, in school textbooks.
The Church is firmly opposed to an
often widespread form of imparting sex infor-
mation dissociated from moral principles.
(FC, 37). The Pontifical Council on the
Family, under the guidance of the late Pope
John Paul II, has provided a practical guide
for parents and educators entitled “The Truth
and Meaning of Human Sexuality” which
summarizes and defines the obligations of
Catholics and Catholic parents.
Families should be the first to take steps
to see that the laws and institutions of the
State not only do not offend but support and
positively defend the rights and duties of the
family (FC, 44). There are four bills that pose
serious threats to our families due to their
M E N T S
emphasis on population control disguised
as “reproductive health”. These bills are:
House Bill 3773, where the government would
make the two-child family the ideal size and
thereby discriminate against larger families;
House Bill 5285, where the aspects of so-
called “reproductive health,” or birth con-
trol, are added to the civil and political rights
of women; House Bill 634, where same-sex
unions could be allowed; and House Bill
5012, where companies would be required to
provide free annual seminars on “reproduc-
tive health” to indoctrinate our people.
We need to act with vigilance against
these Bills and support those proposals
pending in Congress that are pro-family and
pro-life which promote the authentic good of
the family. Among them are: House Bill 5028
of Congressman Hermilando Mandanas,
which will grant our public and private health
workers their conscience rights, so that they
can protest against any birth control pro-
gram imposed on them; House Bill 4643 of
Congressman Rene Velarde, which will make
illegal the use of abortifacient drugs and
devices; House Bill 1245 of Congressman
Rozzano Rufino Biazon, limiting marriage to
natural-born men and women; House Bill 216
of Congressman Rozzano Rufino Biazon,
offering free marriage counseling for en-
gaged couples; and House Bill 5327 of Con-
gressman Eduardo Zialcita, offering preg-
nancy care centers supported by the gov-
ernment.
The family is fundamental to what Pope
Paul VI called the “civilization of love” (
Letter to Families, n.13). In discovering the
family as the “sanctuary of life” (John Paul
II, Evangelium Vitae, On the Value and
Inviolability of Human Life, March 25, 1995,
n. 92) men and women can be freed from the
“culture of death.”
Together with efforts aimed at estab-
lishing family policies, the inherent value of
each child as a human being must be pro-
claimed. In the face of population trends,
everyone is invited to put to good use the
talents given by the Creator to realize per-
sonal development and to contribute in an
original way to the development of the com-
munity. In the final analysis, God created
man to make him a partner in his Divine Plan
of Life and Love.
Fraternally in the Lord, our Life and Truth,
Most Rev. Paciano B. Aniceto, D.D.
Chairman, CBCP Episcopal Commission
on Family and Life
September 25, 2006
Forging Social Solidarity
for Human Rights
A
s we celebrate the 1948 Univer-
sal Declaration of HUMAN
RIGHTS, we recall what our coun-
try has been through and on account of
which the Church in the Philippines has
issued its statements and exhortations,
such as against arbitrary arrests and
detentions, liquidations and salvaging,
secret marshals and para-military forces,
persecution and killings of church per-
sonnel, ministers and journalists, extra-
judicial killings of protesters and de-
fenders of their rights, all committed
and perpetrated in the name, in those
days, of national security and develop-
ment.
Today, with all advocates and vic-
tims of Human Rights, in this Year of
Social Concerns, we are raising again
our concern regarding practically the
same issues: various killings without
benefit of court-trials. Has the situation
in fact improved or become worse? And
why are advocates, defenders and ben-
eficiaries of agrarian reform being ha-
rassed and killed? And how many pris-
oners are languishing in jail without the
benefit of defense or beyond the length
of time that will be imposed if their cases
were heard on time.
The advocates of Human Rights
and Peace have to forge a strong net-
work of “social solidarity” as the moral
bastion of the “power of the power-
less,” who are “the least of our breth-
ren.”
On this occasion of Human Rights
Day, we are invited to look at the big
picture. In the Encyclical “Centissimus
Annus” Servant of God, Pope John Paul
II has drawn up a list of them for our
individual and collective examination
of conscience: “the right to life, an
integral part of which is the right of the
child to develop in the mother’s womb
from the moment of conception; the
right to live in a united family and in a
moral environment conducive to the
growth of the child’s personality; the
right to develop one’s intelligence and
freedom in seeking and knowing the
truth; the right to share in the work
which makes wise use of the earth’s
material resources, and to derive from
that work the means to support oneself
and one’s dependents; and the right
freely to establish a family, to have and
to rear children through the respon-
sible exercise of one’s sexuality. In a
certain sense, the source and synthesis
of these rights is religious freedom,
understood as the right to live in the
truth of one’s faith and in conformity
with one’s transcendent dignity as a
person.” (Centessimus Annus, 47: AAS
83 (1991)
Recalling the statement of Pope
John Paul II before UNESCO in 1980,
Pope Benedict XVI called for “a mobi-
lization in defense of Human Rights”
(June 2, 2005, WNews.com).
Peace can only be attained in the
atmosphere of a local and global advo-
cacy of Human Rights, where the pro-
motion and defense of which have be-
come more complex and difficult. That
is why there is need for an ever stronger
solidarity among human rights advo-
cates, peace advocates and all people
of good will. It is in this atmosphere
which includes the dismantling of self-
interest that we can have genuine eco-
nomic development, we have been long-
ing for so long a time. It is in the atmo-
sphere of political stability that
economy and business prosper and
develop.
May God who shows us the vision
of a social order founded on truth,
justice and love (Gaudium et Spes, no.
26), guide our steps in the way of peace.
+ ANGEL N. LAGDAMEO, DD
Archbishop of Jaro &
President, CBCP
December 9, 2006
Volume 40 • Number 12 23
 S T
T
his is an urgent and ar-
dent plea addressed to
our government officials
from the local to the national
level. It is also a straight and
strong appeal to private indi-
viduals and corporate entities
involved in the same serious
moral issue with socio-politi-
cal undertones.
Stop the Small Town Lot-
tery or STL, please!
For those who do not know
and those who refuse to admit it,
STL is the legal cover-up for the
illegal numbers game of jueteng.
The endorsement of STL simply
means the promotion of jueteng.
We were well appraised that all
intelligent computations math-
ematically show STL will not
survive financially without
jueteng behind it.
In fact, we are told both
STL and jueteng have the same
operators and collectors, the
same poor victims and the same
influential wealthy beneficia-
ries. With STL and jueteng, our
poor people become poorer
while the gambling payola re-
cipients become twice enriched.
STL and jueteng together is le-
gal and illegal gambling com-
bined. They are a dangerous
and insidious pairing.
A Call to Vigilant, Heroic and
Engaged Citizenship
A Statement of the Church-Academe-NGO
Formation of Cagayan de Oro City
I
n the wake of the recent turn
around of the members of
the House of Representa-
tives and the Executive leader-
ship on the manner of chang-
ing the Constitution, we, repre-
sentatives of the Church-Aca-
deme-NGO formation based in
Cagayan de Oro City, would
like to call upon our people to
remain vigilant, engaged and
committed to uphold our demo-
cratic tradition and values. As
we have consistently asserted
in the past following political
24 IMPACT • December 2006
A T E M
Plea and Appeal:
Stop STL, Please
Just as not to defend truth is to suppress it, so also not
to oppose what is immoral or illegal is to approve it. To
neglect to fight evil when one can do it is no less a sin than
to encourage it. (Pope Felix III).
We ask: Is it not enough
that there are already millions
of poor people in the country?
Is it not enough that there are
men, women and children in
the country who no longer eat
what they need, when they
have to? Is there not enough
poverty in the country that the
poor should have even less
because of STL and jueteng?
It would be hard to find
elected officials in the country
who did not promise during
elections that they would serve
the poor, work for human de-
velopment and attend to the
common welfare. This is why it
would be unconscionable for
them to adopt STL and auto-
matically allow jueteng that
exploit their already poor con-
stituencies. We pray: Would
that our elected officers do not
allow themselves to be instru-
machinations to change our
charter in the guise of institut-
ing reforms, we reiterate our
stance that we are for respon-
sible, measured, transparent,
and people-oriented constitu-
tional reform. Change the Con-
stitution, if we must. But let us
do it honorably and under the
watchful gaze and participa-
tion of the citizenry.
Although it appears that
the administration from both the
House of Representatives and
the Executive leadership has
E N T S
ments of poverty aggravation
instead of poverty alleviation.
Even if STL is legal, does
this make it necessarily moral?
And when something legal as
STL is paired with something
illegal as jueteng, is this not in
fact something illegal? And
would our local and national
officials dare promote any ille-
gal operation in the country?
With the adoption of STL, it
would be next to impossible to
stop Jueteng.
And so we make this ap-
peal: Stop STL please! It is
another cause of corruption,
another means of exploitation
of the poor. The country has
enough of these anti-social
factors. Whatever economic
development our government
shall have proudly achieved
will be diminished or negated
by the corruption and exploita-
heeded the clamor from church
groups and civil society organi-
zations, we should continue to
monitor the turn of events and
ensure that the voice of the
people be articulated and repre-
sented in the halls of power.
We call upon our execu-
tive leaders and members of
the Congress to address the
following pressing issues that
affect the lives of our people
especially the poor and those
at the margins of society:
Reform the electoral sys-
tem beginning with the
COMELEC, both at the leader-
ship and operational levels, so
that our electoral exercise may
truly be honest, free, clean, and
transparent;
Ensure through an en-
abling law that there be propor-
tional representation of the
tion that accompany STL and
jueteng.
“If corruption causes seri-
ous harm from a material point
of view and places a costly
burden on economic growth,
still more harmful are its effects
on immaterial goods, closely
connected to the qualitative
and human dimension of life in
society. Political corruption, as
the Compendium of the Social
Doctrine of the Church
teaches, ‘compromises the cor-
rect functioning of the State,
having a negative influence
on the relationship between
those who govern and the gov-
erned. It causes a growing dis-
trust with respect to public
institutions, bringing about a
progressive disaffection in the
citizens with regard to poli-
tics and its representatives
with a resulting weakening of
institutions.’ (No. 411).” (The
Fight Against Corruption, Pon-
tifical Council for Justice and
Peace, Vatican City, No. 4)
For the Catholic Bishop’s Con-
ference of the Philippines,
+ ANGEL N. LAGDAMEO
CBCP President
November 30, 2006
members of the Constitutional
Convention so that there be a
broad representation of the
various sectors of our society;
Act on social reform that
will enable the poor and politi-
cally excluded to participate in
their scheme of development;
Strengthen our democratic
institutions such as the judi-
ciary and the electoral system;
Support peace initiatives
that are founded on true devel-
opment for Mindanao.
We call upon our citizenry
to an interfaith prayer vigil on
17 December 2006, Sunday,
from 7.30 pm at the Kiosk,
Divisoria. We need to gather
ourselves together, reason to-
gether, discern together, prayer
together and act together for
our country and our future
generations.
 S T A T E M E N T S

T
he events in the House
of Representatives last
week that unfolded over
A Wrong Move by the Wrong
TV and other modes of mass
media have triggered such a
People at the Wrong Time
widespread outcry that the pro-
ponents for a Constituent As-
sembly have backtracked from
their original position. But the A Pastoral Letter
challenge is not yet over.
It is well to ask ourselves
why there was such a swelling
of righteous indignation in the
first place. This was expressed
by various sectors—ranging
from Civil Society groups that
characterized the House pro-
ceedings as “garapal” (i.e.,
brazen, callous, desperate) to
the CBCP statement that
bluntly described the actua-
tions of the House majority as
“fraudulently illegitimate and
scandalously immoral.”
First, it was the wrong
move. The Lower House can-
not blithely bypass the Senate
in a duly constituted bicameral
Congress. It cannot simply
change house rules to rush the
revision of the basic law of the

land. And it should not dis-
pense with the principle of
checks and balances in our
democracy; otherwise, as has
already happened too often in
the past, one party may issue
all the checks while the people
are left with a zero balance.
Secondly, it was the
wrong people. Congressmen
are elected by districts to rep-
resent primarily the interests of
their constituents; they can-
not be expected to transform
themselves overnight to have
a broader outlook for the entire
nation and to be divested of
their localized, much less per-
sonalized, interests. The sug-
gestion of postponing the May
elections and extending their
terms is a blatant manifestation
of self-serving interests on the
part of the representatives.
Even players in a basketball
game cannot be their own ref-
eree to declare overtime.
We should also be re-
minded that the present Ad-
ministration that backed the
Con Ass still has to give a full
accounting for the “Hello,
Garci” tapes, the Bolante fertil-
izer fund scam, the Mayuga
report, extra-judicial killings,
etc. Going beyond political par-
tisanship, these are moral is-
sues that continue to prick the
Christian conscience. Charter
change cannot be made a di-
versionary tactic to leave un-
answered these prior questions
on the credibility of the present
leadership.
Finally, it was the wrong
time. Just when the issue of the
People’s Initiative had been re-
solved by the Supreme Court,
the hurried move for a Constitu-
ent Assembly raised anew fears
of manipulation and railroading
(as indeed descriptive of the
Cha Cha train). Why the haste
in revising the fundamental law
of the land? Why not allow the
holding first of May elections
that are constitutionally man-
dated—and can indeed provide
the genuine people’s initiative
in retaining or replacing the
present leadership?
What then are some les-
sons we have learned?
First, that we want the rule
of law and not of men. Our law-
makers should not be seen as
law-breakers, or people who
bend due process to suit their
own interests.
Secondly, that democracy
is not only a matter of numbers,
but of moral principles. For the
thoughtful observer, a well-rea-
soned objection is more con-
vincing than a hundred “ayes”
on the floor.
And thirdly, we can indeed
heed the dictum that politicians
look to the next elections,
whereas statesmen look to the
next generation.
It is in this light that as
citizens we must maintain our
vigilance. On December 17th,
there is a call for inter-faith
prayer rallies in Manila and
other cities, including Cagayan
de Oro. This will show our
solidarity and social concern
© bayan.ph
over what is happening to our
country.
This would also provide
an appropriate occasion for us
to start forming engaged (and
enraged) citizens’ groups in our
parishes to prepare for the next
elections or referendum. These
groups should first enunciate
the moral principles they want
to be embodied in the leaders
that they choose. Moreover,
it is perhaps time to look for a
new crop of leaders with ideals
and Gospel values that can give
hope for a brighter future for
our country.
Together with other faith
communities and people of
good will we can all join hands
and hearts to build the City of
Man even as we acknowledge
the over-arching moral prin-
ciples of the City of God.
(SGD) +ANTONIO J.
LEDESMA, S.J.,D.D.
Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro
12 December 2006

Volume 40 • Number 12 25
 S T A T E M E N T S

WATCH AND PRAY Assembly.

We need to be vigilant.
Magmalasakit Para sa Bayan The temptation to manipulate
and to hold on to power endan-
“As Church, we need to respond not only individually but gers the common good and the
more collectively to our country’s social problems since they safety of the greatest number.
are deeply rooted in the social system.” (PCP-II, #240) We need to watch and pray, to
“But beyond its being a social and political resource, the offer sacrifice for the country.
Church is first and foremost a light that illumines a spiritual In this spirit, we are pro-
force that needs to critique the social, political and cultural posing a NATIONAL WATCH
fields in order to affirm, denounce, purify or reinforce in the AND PRAY GATHERING, in
light of the World of God.” (PCP-II, #248) all major cities or dioceses in
order to express our opposi-
tion to the hasty and manipula-
tive way CON-ASS is being
pursued or undertaken for Char-
ter Change. Not only do we
need to WATCH (critique, de-
nounce, purify) but above all
we need to PRAY for the en-
lightenment of our leaders in
government.
It would be good if we can
do this simultaneously in the
AFTERNOONOFDECEMBER
15, 2006, FRIDAY, close to sun-
set, the EVE of the SIMBANG
GABI. It will be about the same
YES TO CONSTITU-
TIONAL CONVENTION
NO POSTPONMENT OF
MAY 2007 ELECTIONS
The message shall be com-
municated in prayer and songs.
No rowdy speeches. As PCP-
II #240 has it, we are doing this
as Church responding collec-
tively to our country’s social
problems, in particular the cri-
sis-laden prospect of a hasty
Charter Change.
The gravity of Charter
Change and its perceived con-
sequences for our country, the
shift in the form of government
demand rational discernment,
discussion and debate, not in
turbulence but in serenity,
peace and unity.
In this Advent Season,
may we the Filipino people be
ready—at any time—to wel-
come into our hearts, our
homes, our government insti-
tutions as well as Christian
communities, JESUS CHRIST,

P
remised on the above
PCP-II Statements, in cel
ebration of the Year of
Social Concern within the Ad-
vent Season, we issue this Pas-
toral Exhortation: “Watch and
Pray: Magmalasakit Para sa
Bayan.” Asked and challenged
by concerned people on how
to respond to a perceived de-
velopment of a “constitutional
crisis, there is need to respond
more collectively to the present
crisis produced by the pros-
pect of Charter Change by
Administration Congressmen
desperately bent on creating
themselves into a Constituent
time the activity will be held in
the Archdiocese of Manila in
Luneta. As suggested, there
should be no streamers or flags
of any group allowed except
streamers with the following
message:
NO TO CONSTITUENT
ASSEMBLY
THE RETURNING KING.
For the Catholic Bishops’ Con-
ference of the Philippines,
+ANGEL N. LAGDAMEO
Archbishop of Jaro
President, CBCP
December 8, 2006

Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines we do not also change our char-
acter? A constitution may be
the fundamental law of the land,
CharACter more than but if we do not also follow the
fundamental promptings of our
Charter Change conscience, what will we really
have changed?
making itself the Constituent
Assembly. We can grant that
our legislators may have good
intentions. But the impression
given by their act is simply arro-
gance of power and lack of
delicadeza. We commend them

T
he Catholic Educa-
tional Association of
the Philippines
(CEAP) is against the present
moves to change the Philip-
pine constitution.
We would have been
open to a Constitutional Con-
vention. But with the recent
acts in the House of Repre-
sentatives—making itself a
Constituent Assembly with-
out regard for the Senate or
the nation as a whole—even
if the decision is now to have
a Constitutional Convention
instead, we feel that the better
move is to postpone the chang-
ing of the Constitution. It is not
that we think the Constitution is
perfect. It is not. It needs
changes. But the way things
are going, we believe that sus-
picions of vested interests of
our legislators would be mini-
mized or avoided if, for now, we
just bracket off these moves on
Charter change.
CHARACTER, more than
Charter, change is needed.
Change our charter, and
what would we really achieve if
To be sure, character de-
velopment is a lifetime task and
challenge. And if that is all we
do, it may be argued, then we
may never get to change our
Constitution at all. We agree.
But if there is also no desired
change in what we believe and
how we behave, then Charter
Change no matter how beauti-
ful it may seem to be, will not
really lead to the betterment of
our nation.
We decry the act of the
House of Representatives in
if, having realized not just the
political consequences of their
decision but also its moral impli-
cations, they now call for a con-
stitutional convention. But we
suggest that they and, indeed,
we—all lay aside even the
thought of changing our Char-
ter now.
Charter Change now is be-
ing presented—wrongly—as
the equivalent of institutional
reform. It is not. And those who
are against charter Change now
are being portrayed as against

26 IMPACT • December 2006

 S T
Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference
Office of Social Communication
11th Bishops’ Meet - Taytay, Rizal, Philippines
November 20-25, 2006
STATEMENT
T
th
he 11 annual FABC-OSC
Bishops’ Meet on “Man
aging Communication for
Bishops’ Conferences” was held
in Taytay, Rizal (Manila/Philip-
pines) from November 20 to 25,
2006. The representatives from
Bishops’ Conferences of 12 dif-
ferent Asian countries based their
considerations on important
Church documents. Already the
Vatican II Document Inter
Mirifica (1963, nos. 19-20; 21)
and the following Pastoral In-
structions Communio et
Progressio (1971, nos. 170, 171-
176) and Aetatis Novae (1992,
nos. 19-23) demanded that na-
tional Communication offices for
Bishops’ Conferences be orga-
nized and maintained. These Na-
tional Communication offices
should provide beside others
both personal care for communi-
cators as well as communication
training and planning to secure a
well organized program for their
countries. They should have a
spokesperson and provide an on-
going two way information flow
reform. We are not. We are FOR
reform—but the right ones at
the right time. We are for re-
forms that really help the poor;
changes that strengthen de-
mocracy; moves that improve
politics as it is practiced today.
If those rushing Charter Change
are really sincere about reforms,
then let them first reform the
electoral system and restore its
trustworthiness—starting with
a thorough revamp of the Com-
mission on elections
(COMELEC).Makethe2007elec-
tions truly credible. Then, when
the necessary safeguards
against self-interest shall have
been set, and after a massive
education campaign, maybe we
can resurrect the plan to change
the Constitution. Until then, let
A T E M
within and outside their respec-
tive Conferences.
The bishops and partici-
pants further reflected and stud-
ied in more detail the roles, func-
tions and needs of these Com-
munication Offices. A wake up
call was made to be aware of the
onslaught, influence and de-
mands of new emerging commu-
nication cultures in Asia. The
participants felt a pressing need
to enable the Churches in Asia
to meet these challenges.
The participants committed
themselves to fully implement
the demands of the Church docu-
ments and to effectively avail
themselves of the opportunities
created by new media and the
rapid communication revolution,
utilizing relevant Strategic Man-
agement Principles for Commu-
nications and Corporate Com-
munication Systems.
The bishops also reflected
on and studied the inputs from
media and management experts
who emphasized the need for
“strategic conversation and for
the present Charter stay.
In the schools, colleges, and
universities that we run we will
continue teaching our students,
aside from the curricula they
come to us to follow and learn,
love for our country, respect for
our laws, and willingness to give
our best for God and others,
beyond interests of self.
We accept that the call for
CHARACTER change must
start with us and must always
continue. As we do this, to the
nation we pledge our coopera-
tion in everything that is for the
good of our people, and we vow
vigilance in preventing what
may lead to the nation’s ills.
We watch and pray, as
Jesus in the Agony in the Gar-
den told his disciples, so we do
E N T S
benchmarking outcome” rather
than just output. The old para-
digm of one-way, top-down com-
munications has no relevance
anymore today in a world which
is increasingly interactive, hori-
zontal and flat rather than hierar-
chical. Communications today is
also research driven and scien-
tific, rather than intuitive. Hence,
social communications instead
of being message-driven, should
seek to understand the needs,
expectations and priorities of dif-
ferent “stakeholders” such as the
bishops, priests, religious, lay-
persons and those of other faiths
and civil authorities. This calls for
effective networking at various
Church levels, using the Internet
and tools like email, webchat,
webinars, SMS/texting,
Podcasting and other means of
social communication.
The 11th annual meeting of
Asian Communication Bishops
(Bishops’ Meet 06) made the fol-
lowing recommendations:
1. All bishops’ conferences and
dioceses should prepare a
pastoral plan for communi-
cationwithapropertimeframe
and a clear vision and mis-
sion statement relevant to
their region.
2. All bishops’ conferences and
dioceses must set up a com-
munication office and appoint
not fall into temptation. We
urge our members to pray
that we, our legislators, and
our nation as a whole may
have the humility to ask to be
guided by the Holy Spirit and
the strength of will to follow
His lead. May we not yield to
the temptation to make an-
other Constitution for our
country but forget to remake
the constitution of our hearts.
What we more urgently
need to do now is to watch,
pray, and work to change—
not our Charter but our
CHARACTER.
For and on behalf of the As-
sociation,
Fr. Roderick Salazar, Jr., SVD
President
Volume 40 • Number 12
a full time media professional
as director/ spokesperson.
3. Bishops should ensure that
the personnel appointed for
communication offices and
activities should be profes-
sional, academically trained
and with commitment to as-
surethecontinuityofthework.
4. Media workshops should be
organized to sensitize and
equip bishops, Church lead-
ers, seminarians and religious
on media relations, crisis com-
munication (including am-
bush interviews), and other
media related issues and ap-
proaches.
5. Proper Networking with me-
diapractitionersthroughsemi-
nars, workshops, get-
togethers should be provided
on a regular basis and not just
in the time of need or crisis.
6. Programs for pastoral sup-
port of professionals in main-
stream media should be pro-
vided.
7. Traditional media such as
folk arts, performing arts,
dance, music and drama
should not be neglected and
seen and developed as alter-
native means of social com-
munication.
8. Communication education
for parents, pastoral work-
ers, religious and laity, espe-
cially children and youth
should be promoted.
9. World Communication Day
should be seen as an oppor-
tunity to build up awareness
of media developments to
sensitize people on the im-
portance of social communi-
cations and to use media in
general.
10. An effective network of
Christian communicators of
Asia should be promoted to
share valuable information
and facilitate the recounting
of Jesus stories.
11. Bishops, Church leaders
and communicators at na-
tional and international con-
ferences need to communi-
cate their inspiring experi-
ences, insights and stories
with their people and dio-
ceses at home and beyond.
27

© Royalty-Free/CORBIS
The paradox of our times
T
HE paradox of our time in
history is that we have
taller buildings but
shorter tempers, wider high-
ways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less,
we buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and
smaller families, more conve-
niences, but less time. We have
more degrees but less sense,
more knowledge, but less judg-
ment, more experts, yet more
problems, more medicine, but
less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke
too much, spend too reck-
lessly, laugh too little, drive
too fast, get too angry, stay up
too late, get up too tired, read
too little, watch TV too much,
and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our
possessions, but reduced our
values. We talk too much, love
too seldom, and hate too often.
We’ve learned how to
make a living, but not a life.
We’ve added years to life not
life to years. We’ve been all the
way to the moon and back, but
have trouble crossing the street
28
28 IMPACT •• December
IMPACT
F R O M T H
unemployed
to meet a new neighbor. We
conquered outer space but not
inner space. We’ve done larger
things, but not better things.
We’ve cleaned up the air,
but polluted the soul. We’ve
conquered the atom, but not
our prejudice. We write more,
but learn less. We plan more,
but accomplish less. We’ve
learned to rush, but not to wait.
We build more computers to
hold more information, to pro-
duce more copies than ever,
but we communicate less and
less.
These are the times of fast
foods and slow digestion, big
men and small character, steep
profits and shallow relation-
ships. These are the days of
two incomes but more divorce,
fancier houses, but broken
homes. These are days of quick
trips, disposable diapers,
throwaway morality, one night
stands, overweight bodies, and
pills that do everything from
cheer, to quiet, to kill.
Oh what times, oh what
manners!
rowena.dalanon@cbcpworld.net
December 2006
2006
E I N B
The
A
n unemployed
graduate woke up
one morning and
checked his pocket. All he
had left was $10. He decided
to use it to buy food and
then wait for death as he
was too proud to go beg-
ging. He was frustrated as
he could find no job, and
nobody was ready to help
him.
He bought food and as
he sat down to eat, an old
man and two little children
came along and asked him
to help them with food as
they had not eaten for al-
most a week. He looked at
them. They were so lean that
he could see their bones
coming out. Their eyes had
gone into the socket.
With the last bit of com-
passion he had, he gave
them the food. The old man
and children prayed that
God would bless and pros-
per him and then gave him a
very old coin.
The young graduate
said to them “you need the
prayer more than I do”.
With no money, no job,
no food, the young gradu-
ate went under the bridge to
rest and wait for death. As
he was about to sleep, he
saw an old newspaper on
O X
© Royalty-Free/CORBIS
the ground. He picked it up,
and suddenly he saw an ad-
vertisement for people with
old coins to come to a cer-
tain address.
He decided to go there
with the old coin the old
man gave him. On getting to
the place, he gave the pro-
prietor the coin. The propri-
etor screamed, brought out
a big book and showed the
young graduate a photo-
graph. This same old coin
was worth 3 million dollars.
The young graduate was
overjoyed as the proprietor
gave him a bank draft for 3
million dollars within an
hour. He collected the Bank
Draft and went in search of
the old man and little chil-
dren.
By the time he got to
where he left them eating,
they had gone. He asked
the owner of the canteen if
he knew them. He said no
but they left a note for you.
He quickly opened the note
thinking it would lead him to
find them.
This is what the note
said: “You gave us your all
and we have rewarded you
back with the coin.” Signed:
God the Father, The Son and
The Holy Spirit.
rowena.dalanon@cbcpworld.net

The author’s earlier painting,
“Hapag ng Pag-asa” (a 2005 Oil
on Canvas, 48" x 96"), which
reaped phenomenal success
among secular and ecclesiastical
circles, inspiringly spawned the
making of this book. From a paint-
ing on canvas to a 200 pages of
script, the artist-turned-writer—
without assuming the authority of
a theologian, without waving a li-
cense of authenticity from the art
world—yet powerfully unravels
the even more flinching real-life
stories of his art subjects, the
extremely impoverished 12 chil-
dren sitting at Jesus’ last supper,
and each revealing a story of
more hunger than a plate of rice
could satisfy. Onse, for instance,
sits at the Hapag with his plate
cleaned to the last crumb, but he
listens still to feed his other hun-
ger as a cart-pushing scavenger
whose father is a drug addict and
the mama is a club strip dancer.
Itok, the eleven-year old bread-
winner , another cart pushing
scavenger, whispers that he has
gone number of times to jail after
having been caught in a number
of thieveries. Much misery is hid-
den behind the faces of the
Hapag children whose lives are
further shrouded in the destitu-
tion of cemetery shack-dwellers
and pushcart lodgers. They Have
Jesus is unmistakably as capti-
vating as powerfully challenging
to the reader. “Is the Hapag still
waiting for food, or are the poor
young diners announcing a dif-
ferent hunger that makes young
Still Preaching After
All These Years…
40 More
Seasonal
Homilies
Fr. William J. Bausch
For over twenty years now,
Father Bill Bausch, a retired priest
of the Diocese of Trenton, New
Jersey (USA), has been guiding
and inspiring preachers and
teachers as they proclaim the
Scriptures. “The Lord spoke to
Samuel. Samuel listened. Then
Samuel spoke to the people. The
double rhythm of these words
resonates with every preacher
who beseeches the Lord to speak
and then listens carefully and
prayerfully before rising up to
share that divine Word—as
Samuel did—with others. Is not
R E V I
THEY HAVE
JESUS
The Stories of the
Children of Hapag
Joey A. Velasco
and old, rich and poor, the edu-
cated and the ignorant famished
for nourishment that only love
could satisfy?”, ponders Manila
archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal
Rosales in its foreword.
this the dynamic of a homily?”
prefaces Fr. Bausch in this book,
his latest take on homiletics. A
modern-day “Samuel” he is, his
forty new homilies demonstrate
that he has lost none of his wit
and wisdom; nor has he lost his
ability to break open the Word in
surprising and inspiring ways.
And true to his storytelling style,
he weaves story and Scripture
together seamlessly. No question,
Still Preaching After All These
Years…40 More Seasonal Homi-
lies is a ‘soulful’ homiletics com-
panion for priests and preachers.
E W S
Sex matters. Yet even deeper
than the urge for sex is the de-
sire for love. More than sexual,
we are relational: meant for true
and intimate relationship with
each other and with God. Rather
than a casual indoor sport, sex
is sacred. And John Paul II’s radi-
cal perspective on how we view
life, love, and sexuality can
transform our relationships into
profound experiences of com-
munion. In The Theology of the
Body Made Simple, Father An-
thony Percy provides us a map
that marks out guideposts in John
Paul II’s Theology of the Body. It
The indefatigable, prolific
writer and the country’s consum-
mate canon lawyer archbishop
Oscar V. Cruz yet provides us
again another enriching selection
from the Canon Law, this time on
Curia Management. “In common
language, the Diocesan Curia is
in substance the central office
of a diocese. It is the conver-
gence place for pastoral, admin-
istrative and judicial ministries—
a place wherein and wherefrom
persons assigned and entities
established perform their duties
and comply with their obligations
Volume
Volume 40
40 •• Number
THE
THEOLOGY OF
THE BODY
MADE SIMPLE
Discover John Paul
II’s radical teaching
on sex, love, and the
meaning of life.
Fr. Anthony Percy
explains how our bodies are
symbolic, free, meant for love,
and redeemed by Christ. It pre-
sents unambiguous reasons for
the Church’s teaching on pre-
marital sex, contraception, homo-
sexuality, pornography, and
more. And importantly, it gives us
reason to hope that the love we
crave so deeply is, in fact, prom-
ised us by God—from the begin-
ning. No denying, the book is
superbly enriching.
CURIA
MANAGEMENT
Abp. Oscar V. Cruz, JCD
according to their respective at-
tributions and prerogatives. While
it is true that common adminis-
trative sense still rests as a good
practical basis for the delivery
of services and certainty of due
attention given to the different
and manifold concerns in the Dio-
cese, it might be also good to
know what Church Law actu-
ally says, considering that eccle-
siastical norms are but the em-
bodiment of the experience
learned by the Church across the
ages in conjunction with the man-
date she has, the nature of the
agenda she must attend to, the
structures she wherefore estab-
lished precisely to accomplish
her intention and finality,” Abp.
Cruz proffers the gist and ratio-
nale of his work. Curia Manage-
ment is best for Church work-
ers and those who wish to un-
derstand the inner structure of a
diocese.
Number 12
12 29
29
CATHOLIC INITIATIVE
CINEMA
REVIEW
Title: HAPPY FEET
Running Time: 95 mins
Lead Cast: Robin Williams, Hugh
Jackman, Elijah Wood, Nicole
Kidman, Brittany Murphy, Hugo
Weaving
Director: George Miller
Screenwriters: Warren Coleman, John
Collee, George Miller, Judy Morris
Music: John Powell
Genre: Comedy/Fantasy
Distributor: Warner Bros
Technical Assessment: 
Moral Assessment: zzz
CINEMA Rating: For viewers of all ages
M umble (voiced by Elijah Wood) is
a no-penguin penguin chick gifted
with irrepressible tap dancing feet
but cursed with a croaky voice not even
his mother can love. His father Memphis
(Hugh Jackman) is upset beyond belief
while his mother Norma Jean (Nicole
Kidman) tries to accept Mumble as he is.
They are worried that Mumble can't have
his own "heart song"--that which in pen-
guin land is sung to find one's soul mate.
He is therefore an outcast, being the only
one in whole of Antarctica who can't sing.
He goes off to places where he can be alone
and dance to his heart's content, and soon
comes upon a bunch of Latino penguins
ANSWER TO LAST ISSUE: This entire most beautiful creation of good things is going to pass away after its measure has been exhausted; for both morning
and evening were made in them. -- ST. AUGUSTINE (Qoutes in Quiz book and booklets available at National Book Store and Booksale outlets.)
30 IMPACT • December 2006
FOR ENLIGHTENED MOVIE APPRECIATION
who call themselves Adelie Amigos, led
by Ramon (Robin Williams). The much
smaller Adelie Amigos take a liking for the
outcast Emperor penguin Mumble and
learn to tap dance from him. Feeling
accepted for the first time in his life,
Mumble joins the Amigos in a series of
adventures that lead to his awareness of
environmental abuses.
Happy Feet has its good and bad
moments. It's beautifully animated--the
ice-loving creatures look real down to the
last feather, so that watching Happy Feet
makes it hard for one to imagine if they
can't really and actually dance or sing. The
elephant seals, too, come across as just
too real. Happy Feet is delightful to
watch although in the back of the viewer's
mind the credit goes to the animators, the
computer wizards, those whose names
roll on among the hundred other unknowns
in the credits. Happy Feet is a production
meant to capture the musical ear of the
movie-going public, with tunes like Some-
body to Love, Kiss, Do It Again, I'll Make
Love to You and You Don't Have to be
Rich being performed by the actors them-
selves. Brittany Murphy as Gloria,
Mumble's lady love, is a discovery, a
veritable "Antarctica Idol", although it's
not easy to understand why Kidman as
Mumble's mother must sound like a phone
sex operator--it just isn't cool for a pen-
guin mommy.
The lesson in the story has been told
hundreds of ways before: it's not your
fault that you're different, find your own
giftedness, accept yourself for what you
are, make a go of it and redeem yourself.
There's a conscientisizing message here
about global warming and how humans
have been abusing the environment but it
is not as well-pronounced as the message
of tolerance and acceptance resonating
throughout the whole movie. Perhaps
because the penguin performers catch one's
attention more than anything else. Or
perhaps all that singing and dancing with
but ice in the background mesmerizes the
viewer to sleep, thus missing the other
vital message. Generally, Happy Feet is
wholesome enough for everyone, but cover
the eyes of the small children when the
elephant seals stalk Mumble--that could
be pretty scary for tots.
 N E W S B R I E F S

BETHLEHEM CHINA fluenced by personal opin- respective families deeply

Christ’s native land in China opposes antago-
socio-economic crisis nism in human rights
As Christmas draws
near, the town where Jesus
Christ was born faces seri-
ous economic and social
difficulties, said the mayor
Dr. Victor Batarseh.
In his customary Christ-
mas message, Batarseh
said the “wall of separa-
tion built by Israel has cre-
ated many problems pre-
venting contact with
Jerusalem and other areas,
isolating workers and prac-
tically confiscating 280
hectares of arable land,
turning the town into a
prison.” The number of
Christians migrating to
other countries is rising
because of hard living con-
ditions. “We pray the Star
may once again shine on
Bethlehem”, he said.
NEPAL
HRW to gov’t, rebels: CBCK holds 1 st Sympo-
It is now time for Jus- sium on Churches’ cul-
tice tural heritage preserva-
Government armed
tion
forces and insurgent
Maoist forces should dem-
onstrate their commitment
to respect human rights, as
articulated in their recent
peace agreement, by pro-
viding accountability for
the violations that took
place during the decade-
long civil war, Human
Rights Watch said.
HRW welcomed the No-
vember 21 agreement that, if
implemented, could end a
war that has killed an esti-
mated 13,000 people since it
began in 1996, but cautioned
that an end to impunity must
be at the top of the political
agenda. Nepal government
and the Maoist signed a
comprehensive peace agree-
ment to end more than 10
years of fighting, rewrite the
country’s constitution and
establish an interim govern-
ment.
China stands for dia-
logue and is opposed to an-
tagonism in human rights
area, said Zhou Jue, presi-
dent of China Society for
Human Rights Studies. At
the Symposium on Respect-
ing and Promoting Human
Rights and Constructing a
Harmonious World, Zhou
said adherence to dialogue
on an equal footing and
opposition to power poli-
tics and antagonism are be-
coming a unanimous call
from people of all countries
and all individuals who
stand for justice.
China has adhered to an
independent foreign policy
of peace, and has always
stood for resolving all intel-
ligent disputes through
peaceful dialogue.
S. KOREA
The Catholic Church in
South Korea must seek al-
ternative ways of preserv-
ing and managing its cul-
tural heritage, which can
also be a channel of evan-
gelization. This emerged
from a 1st Symposium on
the Preservation and Man-
agement of Cultural Heritage
of the Church organized by
the Committee for Culture
of the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of Korea
(CBCK).
The symposium was a
significant moment for
Catholics from all walks of
life to discuss ways to pre-
serve and enhance shrines
and church buildings. Vari-
ous critical comments were
made: little interest in the
cultural heritage of the
Church in Korea, adminis-
tration and management in-
ions of certain members of
the clergy and specialists.
INDIA
Catholic bishops defend V I E T N A M
Muslim communities Rediscovering the spirit
of St, Francis Javier
Alarmed by a report re-
vealing miserable state of
Muslim minorities here, the
Catholic bishops urged the
government to work on their
socio-economic difficulties
so the country may truly be
a democracy of pluralism,
tolerance and respect for
human rights.
In a statement, the prel-
ates have welcomed Justice
Sachar Committee Report re-
cently tabled in parliament
to study the social, economic
and educational status of the
Muslim minority community
of India. The report states
that the Muslim community
is relatively poor, more illit-
erate, has lower access to
education, lower represen-
tation in public and private
sector jobs and lower avail-
ability of bank credit for self-
employment.
TAJIKISTAN
Missionaries of Charity SRI LANKA
open new professional Rights group hit gov’t
training center for girls forces over abductions
The Missionaries of
Charity has opened a new
professional training center
for girls to promote eco-
nomic and social develop-
ment. The program offers
girls free courses such as
sewing, clothes making and
embroidery.
The community, two In-
dian sisters, one African
from Kenya and one Euro-
pean from Poland, care for
the sick, the terminally ill,
the marginalized and the or-
phans. Tajikistan is mainly
Muslim country. But, the
sisters have made the Mus-
lim girls very welcome in a
spirit of dialogue, coopera-
tion and friendship with the
appreciative of the service
offered by the Catholic mis-
sionaries.
VIETNAM
In Ho Chi Minh City, In-
dian Cardinal Telesphore
Toppo, presided a celebra-
tion for the 5th centenary of
the birth of the Patron Saint
of the Missions. To give
new impulse to evangeliza-
tion in Asia “Catholics must
rediscover the spirit of Saint
Francis Xavier,” Toppo,
Archbishop of Ranchi, said
in a special Mass celebrated
in the Catholic Cathedral in
Ho Chi Minh City to mark
the closing of the 5th cente-
nary of the birth of Saint
Francis Xavier Patron Saint
of the Missions.
The Jesuit saint was 35
years old when he landed in
India with the mission “to carry
the light of the Gospel to
Asia”. “Saint Francis Xavier
spent three years in India
preaching Jesus Christ and
then departed for even more
distant lands in the Far East.”
A human rights group
has accused Sri Lankan se-
curity forces of supporting
and participating in the ab-
ductions and forced recruit-
ment of children as fighters.
The Sri Lankan security
forces must immediately
stop assisting abductions
of boys and young men by
the Karuna group and help
those abducted return
safely to their families, HRW
said. It said Sri Lankan mili-
tary and police are complicit
and, at times, directly coop-
erating with the Karuna
group, an armed faction that
split from the Liberation Ti-
gers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
in 2004.

Volume 40 • Number 12 31