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 IMPACT December 2007 / Vol 41 • No 12

CONTENTS
GROWING up in a predominantly Christian nation,
it never occurred to me that Christmas is not EDITORIAL
everybody’s business—until lately when inter-reli-
gious concern became a contemporary issue as the Truth, Justice, Change ........................................... 27
environment and gender sensitivity are. Celebrating
Christmas came as naturally as the changing of the COVER STORY
seasons that are remarkably studded with various
Christian observances.
This issue opens with Carolyn Moynihan’s Merry
Christmas and Happy Holidays, too, just to cover the bases.
Interestingly, she posits that the present global village

Cover photo courtesy of Roy Lagarde / CBCP Media

with multi-religious sentiments and convictions, in
fact, may just do well with Christmas around. For,
how could one imagine a year without it—despite
Christmas having been defrocked, but understand-
ingly enough among those of different religious back-
grounds and those in the business and entertainment
community, of its real Christian significance.
Like it was originally in Bethlehem, the birth of the
Son was intended not only for the children of Israel,
but also—and especially so—for those who closed
their doors in the faces of Joseph and Mary which led THEOTOKOS: The Love, Veneration, and
them ultimately to the simplicity and poverty of the
manger. Imitation of Mary, the Mother of God ............. 16
By reason of its intention, Christmas indeed is univer- ARTICLES
sal. Which is why, it is not very missionary to keep
saying that people are removing Christ from Christ- Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, too, just
mas. It is just that Christians are rather slow in their
mission “of giving birth to Christ” among their com-
to cover the bases ................................................ 4
munities and in their circle of influence. Demystifying Biofuels ............................................ 6
This issue hastened to add the story about the Sumilao
Farmers who have been trekking on foot for almost
Love to Feed, Feed to Love ..................................... 9
two months now all the way from Bukidnon in Walk for Sumilao.Walk for Justice ...................... 12
Mindanao to Manila. They did this in order to push
their claim of a 144-hectare land that has been awarded The corruption of power ........................................ 23
to them under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program. It is good to note that the original conversion Why a National Rural Congress II? .................... 24
of the land, was approved by Malacañang in 1996
and upheld by the Supreme Court in 1999.
But by sudden twist of fate which anyway unfolded DEPARTMENTS
through legal—or was it illegal?—machinations of
the rich and influential, the land landed on the soiled Quote in the Act ...................................................... 2
hands of San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI) that bought
this land in bad faith, if not really in the ambit of
News Features ......................................................... 14
deception, despite their due diligence of the property
in question. What happened to the social responsibil-
Statements ................................................................ 20
ity that San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI) has been mouth- From the Blogs ......................................................... 26
ing all these years?
From the Inbox ........................................................ 28
Contemplating on Mary this Christmas is the lead of
our cover story. Tarlac priest, Fr. Melvin Castro, who Book Reviews .......................................................... 29
is the Executive Secretary of the Episcopal Commis-
sion on Family and Life, writes, “Theotokos: the Love, CINEMA Review .................................................... 30
Veneration, and Imitation of Mary, the Mother of God.”
Mary is the perfect icon of Christmas. It is in this sense Quotes in Quiz ........................................................ 30
that every Christian is to be a “theotokos”, not in the
way of “divine maternity”, but as an itinerary of faith News Briefs .............................................................. 31
by giving birth to Jesus in every one’s life. Read on.
Volume 41 • Number 12 3
ARTICLES
Merry Christmas and
Happy Holidays, too,
just to cover the bases
By Carolyn Moynihan
Can the West celebrate Christmas without
offending its non-Christian minorities, or
do we have to settle for mere holiday spirit?
And what will happen if we do?
4 IMPACT • December 2007
A
ll my life I have looked on Christmas
as a celebration that united people.
Even if it only amounted to a lighted
tree in a window, presents and a family
dinner, it was something that made every-
one happy. The fact that, in my part of the
world, it was the start of the long summer
holidays certainly helped to put people in
a relaxed and expansive mood, but it was
the magic of Christmas itself that seemed
to make people smile and greet perfect
strangers.
Of course, there were exceptions: lon-
ers and drifters always stood out more at
Christmas, and still do, disturbing any
feelings of smug well-being and reminding
us to open the family circle to the elderly
neighbor or the new immigrant and give of
ourselves. But there was no sign that people
of other faiths were offended by the Chris-
tian character of the festival. I never heard
that the Jewish community might be un-
happy or that Chinese and Indian shop-
keepers might regard the holiday as an
imposition.
Until recently. Distant rumblings of a
culture war over Christmas finally reached
our shores early this month as a clear salvo
in the form of a card to householders from
the New Zealand postal service wishing
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, too, just to cover the bases
us “Happy holidays”. Perhaps they have
done it before and I didn’t notice, but I was
alerted this year by the sparks flying in the
United States over this substitute for
“Merry Christmas”, which has featured
prominently in news bulletins from my
usual sources.
Generic “Seasons greetings” and the
like are not new. Apparently President
Kennedy started it for a portion of his
Christmas card list at the White House in
1962 and in recent years even President
George W Bush has been wishing every-
one “Happy Holidays”. This was contro-
versial. But with national retail chains like
Wal-Mart and Target following the trend,
some Christian groups believe they are
witnessing a veritable “war on Christmas”
and have been returning fire. Boycotts
have proved an effective weapon, bring-
ing Target and Sears stores back to “Merry
Christmas”.
“This is a nation where surveys show
96 per cent of the population celebrates
Christmas,” says Robert Knight, director
of the Culture and Family Institute of Con-
cerned Women for America. “There is no
survey showing that people of other faiths
are insulted when the majority celebrate
Christmas or wish anyone a ‘Merry Christ-
mas’.”
Yet there is no denying that things
have changed in countries of the once-
Christian West. Globalization and large-
scale immigration from non-Christian parts
of the world do constitute a challenge in
view of the long-term secularization of
Europe, North America and Australasia.
Where Christmas often seems at best a
family get-together, and at worst an ex-
cuse for a spending spree, excessive feast-
ing and subsequent torpor, who really
minds if no longer masquerades in public
as a Christian festival?
After all, there would be nothing to
stop Christians privately making as much
ado as they wish about the birth of the
Savior. They could celebrate their feasts in
their communities just like Jews and Mus-
lims and Hindus and all the others. They
might even be given some public space in
which to do so, like the others, and the
media could write nice feature articles on
the interesting rituals of the Christian com-
munity around December 25, or Easter or
any other time. A totally secular public
establishment could bestow tolerant at-
tention on all alike.
But some questions arise about this
secular utopia.
In the first place, what other culture
has followed this path or is likely to? The
religious minorities for whose sake we are Someone motivates us to live well, re-
to abandon Christmas can all look to parts specting others, even though we do not
of the world where their religion is an always live up to his demands.
integral part of public life. Some even come Nothing is as persuasive in this re-
from theocracies where other religions, gard as Christmas—the festival of God
and secularism to boot, have few or no who became a baby and was born in a cave
rights. This is not what Christians in the in order to win the love of his creatures. It
West want, but are they to be the only may be true that many in the West no
ones with no country, only toleration? longer appreciate that the light on their
Secondly, what would a Western na- Christmas tree comes originally from the
tion celebrate apart from religion? The stable, or that the joy and hope it stirs in
American Thanksgiving Day would be out them could not exist without Christ. But
because it was instigated by Christians then again, many do still have an inkling
(thanksgiving to whom?) and so would that is the case, precisely because the
anything similar. That leaves indepen- celebration still publicly bears his name.
dence days, royal anniversaries, war me- Take that away and soon the celebration
morials and labor days—none of which itself will go, along with the special light-
are entirely free from controversy these ness and human warmth that it brings.
days. In my country we struggle to make In that case, people of other religions
our national day—marking the signing of and none would have more and not less
a treaty between the British Crown and the reason to resent the dominant culture of
indigenous Maori tribes—a celebration of the West. If they think Christians behave
unity. It is hard to agree on what it repre- badly now, when they still celebrate their
sents apart from an extra day at the beach. religious roots to some degree, that be-
Which brings me to a third question: havior is nothing to what they will see in
Can holidays themselves unite us happily a future where all public reminders of the
as a nation? Everyone enjoys a holiday, so Christian Lord and his gospel are wiped
perhaps the “Happy Holidays” people are out. The rest of society needs Christmas
onto something. It’s true that not every- as much as Christians do. I
one has the same amount of holidays Carolyn Moynihan is Deputy Editor of MercatorNet.
around Christmas and some have to work She writes from Auckland, New Zealand. This is
right through, but hey, everyone can enter reprinted with permission.
into the holiday spirit.
Hmmm. The holiday spirit:
rest, relaxation, family together-
ness, friendship. These are all
good and necessary things
which can bring pleasure and
dispose people towards greater
solidarity with their countrymen.
But enough people already de-
pend on the “holiday spirit”—
more or less living for the next
holiday—for us to see what ef-
fect it has on individual happi-
ness and social cohesion, and
the signs are not positive. Na-
tions are less united than for-
merly and individuals suffer
more mental illness than ever.
The truth is that we human
beings need more than holidays
to make us happy. We need a
sense of purpose in life which
can only come from a sense of its
meaning. This is what religions
do. The monotheistic religions,
© Jose Luis Pelaez, Inc./CORBIS
at least, teach us that our lives
are not an endless cycle of work
and holidays, but that they are
going somewhere—and, what
is more, to Someone. And that
Volume 41 • Number 12 5
ARTICLES
Demystifying Biofuels
By Teodoro C. Mendoza, PhD
T
he rising demand for oil due to the
winters in the North, the double
digit growth in China and also the
booming economy of India and other coun-
tries have altogether propelled the increase
in oil consumption. (An increase of aver-
age world GDP by 0.1% leads to an in-
crease in final energy demand of about
0.2%). The reduction in Nigerian oil output
and the disturbance in the Middle East are
further fueling oil supply uncertainties. In
turn, this has led to an oil price spike of $92/
barrel as of the 3rd week of October 2007.
The inflation–adjusted price of crude oil in
April 1980 at $101.70/barrel may be reached
soon (PDI, 22:324). As the era of cheap oil
is gone, the whole world is now experienc-
ing difficulties on how to adjust to the
huge mismatch between the soaring de-
mand for oil (at 29 billion barrels/year) and
its declining supply. Peak oil has been
6 IMPACT • December 2007
reached last year (2006) (Campbell, Colin J.
and Jean H. Laherrère. The End of Cheap
Oil. Scientific American, March 1998. http:/
/www.dieoff.org/page140.htm )
Briefly, how important is oil to human-
ity? Oil accounts for 98% of the global
energy used for transportation and 11% of
generated electricity. It is the energy form
used in the manufacture of many products
(plastics, chemicals, road asphalt, cement,
fertilizers, pesticides, to name a few)
(Rodolfo, 2007. “Peak Oil”: The global
crisis of diminishing petroleum supply,
and its implications for the Philippines).
It is no surprise that any increase in oil
price is triggering a chain reaction in the
prices of various commodities and ser-
vices. The great importance of oil in every-
day life pushes both public and private
industry leaders into frenzied search for
alternative energy sources .
President’s Bush State of the Union
address (2007) pronounced that “biofuel
is a silver-bullet solution to global warm-
ing, the savior of depressed rural econo-
mies and the key to reducing dependence
on foreign oil”. Globally, biofuel as renew-
able energy source, is considered as
humanity’s salvation to the energy prob-
lem. From a practical point of view, any
conceived solution by human beings will
also mean problems. This paper is an at-
tempt to demystify the general perception
that biofuels are good for humanity. A
critical analyses of the more complex and
interrelated problems is necessary as the
world suddenly jumped into this band-
wagon-like initiative—the biofuel fad. The
public needs to be properly informed on
what to expect should the world enter into
a break-neck pace of biofuel production.
To initiate the analysis, it must be

made clear that biofuel production is a
typical agricultural crop production. It
starts from the field. It is on this basis that
the term biofuel is deemed inappropriate.
The word bio is so encompassing. It is
clearer and more specific if the term agrifuel
is used since the feedstock sources are
agricultural crops. Agreeing on this basic
framework sets the tone of the discus-
sions. To begin with, agrifuel production
is influenced by the common resources
and factors affecting agricultural food crop
production. The immediate effect is that
agricultural crop production dichotomizes
into two major ends: food and fuel. Any
agricultural crop production venture ei-
ther for food (or feed for livestocks) or
agrifuel will rely on land, water and agricul-
tural crop production technologies. To
produce the current supply of food, all the
prime agricultural lands (1.7 billion ha.
world agricultural land) have been culti-
vated or developed. In the Philippines, as
early as the 1970s, all the prime agricultural
lands (10 Mha) have already been culti-
vated. On a good yielding year, the world
is producing more than enough food for all
(20 to 30% excess of the RDA require-
ments). But producing this food also en-
tails the use of large amount of resources
(notably water) and oil-based energy for
cultivation, fertilizer, harvesting, process-
ing/storage and transport; and also in-
vestments in infrastructure (roads, bridges,
factories and irrigation facilities to provide
irrigation water).
Water is a basic resource input re-
quirement for agrifuel production. For in-
stance, India and China use 60% of their
potential usable water for human purposes
including food agriculture; 75% is their
threshold water scarcity. By 2030, it is
estimated that Indian cereal demand will
increase by 60% (equivalent to a require-
ment of 80 billion tonnes of water). By
then, they will need 9 B li of ethanol to meet
10% of their country’s ethanol + gasoline
mix, thus, increasing their water needs by
26%. Their water needs would then be
11% higher than their water threshold.
They will now decide where to use water:
for the production of sufficient food for 1.3
billion people or ethanol for their cars?
Depending on the feedstock source,
1 li of ethanol consumes about 2,000-10,000
li of water. (Producing 1kg of rice con-
sumes up to 5,000 li of water). Agrifuel
crops currently consume just 1% of the
total water used globally. If agrifuel pro-
duction will increase as projected, it will be
using 80% more water by 2030. David
Molden (Sri Lanka-based International
Water Management Institute) asked
“Where shall we get all the water we need
?” It is obvious that agrifuels would worsen
water shortages (Alister Doyle (2006) http:/
/today.reuters.com/News/
CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L18850725 8/
24/2006 ). At present, 1 in 3 people is
already experiencing water shortage
(IWMI).
Agrifuel and Energy Security
A US government-sponsored study
revealed that global energy consumption
shall increase 71% by 2030. Including
agrifuel, the contribution of renewable
energy shall only be 9%. Agrifuel contri-
bution to energy supply is miniscule, yet
its impact on water as pointed out earlier is
so severe and on food supply is so enor-
mous as will be discussed below.
In the US, even if the entire corn
harvest will be converted into ethanol, it
can only provide 12% of all their gasoline
needs while their entire soybean harvest
can only provide 6% of their diesel fuels
requirements. Even if the entire UK will be
planted to agrifuel crops, the fuel energy
produced could still not run all its cars. If
60% of all arable lands in the European
domain will be devoted to agrifuels, it
could only replace 20% of the fossil fuels
used in transport. In the Philippines, fer-
menting all sugarcane produced in the
380,000ha of land into ethanol will only
provide 17% of the gasoline requirement
of the country by 2011.
Depending on feedstock sources,
producing agrifuel from crops does not
necessarily lead to more energy. For in-
stance, producing ethanol from corn con-
sumes 25% more energy than it yields as
estimated by Pimentel and his group. They
estimated an energy balance of only 0.75.
Other scientists refuted the low energy
balance estimated by Pimentel. Comput-
ing the average energy balance given by
different researchers led to an energy bal-
ance of 1.12. It means only that 12% more
Demystifying Biofuels
energy is produced for every 1 unit of oil
energy spent. Sugarcane though produces
more energy than it consumes as the en-
ergy balance is 3.0 (in the Philippines) to as
high as 8.0 (in Brazil)
Agrifuel and the Environment
As claimed by the proponents, pro-
ducing and using agrifuel for transport is
environment-friendly. This should, how-
ever, be examined further. In Brazil, more
sugarcane and soybean for agrifuel will
mean growing these by burning and clear-
ing large forested areas of the Amazon
Jungle as shown in the picture below.
More oil palms will have to be planted in
Indonesia by clearing the forest and dry-
ing/burning their peat soils. It was esti-
mated that 1 tonne palm oil emits 2-8 tonnes
of CO2in Borneo and Sumatra.
As revealed by
Friends of the Earth,
production of palm
oil is the biggest
cause of rainforest
devastation. Grow-
ing crops for
agrifuel follows the
industrial planta-
tion agricultural
technology now
proven to be the
main factor behind
global warming. For
instance, ethanol production from corn
uses oil at every stage. The largest source
of greenhouse gas, are the chemical fertil-
izers used in growing corn. First, huge
amount of oil is consumed in the manufac-
ture of Nitrogen fertilizer (1.8-2.04 li of oil
per kg nitrogen). Second, once applied in
the soil, 3-5% of it escapes as nitrogen
oxides (NOx). NOx has 350X global warm-
ing potential (GWP). For every 1 kg nitro-
gen, more than 10 kg CO2 equivalent is
emitted in the atmosphere. Also, growing
maize leaves eroded soils, pollutes both
surface and ground waters (due to fertil-
izer run-off and deep percolation).
The greenhouse gas contribution of
agriculture and land use change has been
summed up to 32% (IPCC, 2006). Primary
agriculture contributes 14% while land use
change/ deforestation, 18%. As more
agricrops will be grown, more fertilizers will
be used and large land clearing/deforesta-
tion will be done. In turn, this shall lead to
more GHG emission. The FAO World Food
Summit (2006) Report revealed that con-
ventional agriculture, together with defor-
estation and rangeland burning, are re-
sponsible for 30% CO2 and 90% of nitrous
Volume 41 • Number 12 7
Demystifying
ARTICLES Biofuels
oxide emissions worldwide. Large scale
cultivation of crops for agrifuel will, thus,
add more greenhouse gases (GHG) in the
atmosphere which will aggravate further
global warming and global climate change
Likewise, producing agrifuels like etha-
nol is accompanied by the generation of
huge liquid wastes called distillery slops, at
12-18 li per li of ethanol. While ethanol
contains considerable amount of potash
and many other nutrients and has fertilizer
value, it is highly acidic, high in biological
oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen
demand (COD), and is foul smelling. It is a
highly pollutive waste if not properly treated
and disposed. The production target of 120
billion li of ethanol would yield about 1.68
trillion li of slops. The waste from biodiesel
is 3x more pollutive than ethanol waste; 1 li
of biodiesel produces 3-5 li of wastes. This
means that 9-15 li of slop waste equivalent
per li of biodiesel is produced. About 12
billion liters of biodiesel is the production
target by 2030. This will produce 1.2-1.8
trillion liters of liquid wastes equivalent to
slops. A total of about 3 trillion liters of
liquid wastes will be generated. Where shall
all these liquid wastes be thrown? Is etha-
nol the answer to the world’s oil problems,
or just a green pipe dream? Asked by Mike
McCarthy (June 29, 2006).
Agrifuel and Food Security
As the agrifuel industry competes
with the food industry for raw materials, it
is causing cost pressure to the food indus-
try and is pushing crop prices for wheat,
corn, sugar and practically all commodi-
ties (Goldman, 2006). In China, pork prices
are up by 20%, eggs by 16%, while the
overall food price index in India (Jan. 2007)
increased by 10%. In the United States,
the wholesale price of chicken is up by
10%, eggs by 21% and milk by 14%. In
Mexico, the price of tortillas increased up
to 70%, pushing thousands of angry Mexi-
cans to launch massive streets protest,
thus, forcing the Mexican government to
institute price controls on tortillas (Brown,
8 IMPACT • December 2007
Lester.March, 2007).
Filling up a 25 gallon tank of SUV with
pure ethanol consumed about 204 kg corn.
This is more than enough to feed 1 person
in a year. 1 SUV fueled by ethanol con-
sumes the food of 30 persons/year (1 SUV
= 30 persons). By next year (2008), the
ethanol production target in US is 11.4
billon gallons. This is equivalent to the
food caloric requirements of 450 million
people. By 2017, their ethanol production
target is about 35 billion gallons per year
(based on Pres. Bush’ SONA, 2007). This
production level of ethanol is equivalent
to the food requirements of 1.4 billion
people. (The production target of 120 bil-
lion li of ethanol by 2020 if processed from
corn only could supply the food caloric
RDA of 3 billion people).
People of the world cannot dictate
how the US should dispose or use their
corn but what they do to their corn shall
practically affect everybody. Why? The
US produces 40% of world corn and sup-
plies more than 50% of all corn exports.
(What about Europe and Canada or China
who are also producing ethanol from corn)?
Their use of corn as feedstocks for ethanol
is creating unintended consequences
throughout the global food chain. Adding
salt to injury, the U.S. government is
subsidizing corn
farmers and ethanol
producers at $8.9
billion and has
granted an ethanol
tax allowance of 51
cents per gallon of
ethanol (in 2005) to
make ethanol pro-
duction from corn
financially viable.
This is like subsi-
dizing hunger of the
many poor people
of the world as discussed by Ford Runge
and Benjamin Senaue in their paper “How
biofuels could starve the poor ?” pub-
lished in Foreign Affairs, May/June 2007,
pp. 41-53.
The increase in demand for corn for
ethanol directly contributes to more hun-
gry people. This year (2007), US purchased
less than half of corn for aid than it was in
2000 (Celia W. Dugger. PDI A23, Sept. 30,
2007). The political rush to produce etha-
nol, just because it is believed to be green
and people have heard of it, is a mistake
said Dr. Venter. (http://
www.economist.com/science/
displaystory.cfm?story_id=9861379 )
Agrifuels could starve an enormous
number of people considering its effects on
food prices and the low food purchasing
capacity of many people in the world (OECD
Rprt. http://www.spiegel.de/international/
europe/0,1518,508089,00.html). There are 2.7
billion people in the world living on less
than $2 a day (World Bank, 2001). In the
Philippines, about 85% of all Filipinos live
on less than $2 per day (CIA, 2007).
In Conclusion
Agrifuels, in general, are the greatest
burden to humanity from hereon if pur-
sued unabated and without checks and
balances. It is the single greatest threat to
food security especially for the low in-
come groups in view of its influence on the
prices of staple foods.
As a whole, agrifuel does not contrib-
ute to energy security especially if corn
and other energy-intensive crops are used
as feedstocks for agrifuel production .The
tipping point could be seen on its effect in
propelling water scarcity into crisis pro-
portion in 2 ways: a) feedstock production
shall use tremendous amounts of water
putting severe pressure on water alloca-
tion for food or for agrifuel crop produc-
tion, b) processing shall produce volumi-
nous liquid wastes polluting both surface
and ground waters, thus, reducing further
the supply of clean and potable water
which in turn, shall heighten the need for
expensive bottled water that only mon-
eyed people could afford.
Agrifuel production shall further in-
crease environmental degradation in the
following ways: a) more land clearing/de-
forestation to grow the feedstock source
which in turn shall lead to more soil erosion
due to tillage; b) drying of peat soils to grow
more palm oil which will release more CO2 in
the atmosphere; c) the industrial plantation
technology that will be used in feedstock
production will lead to greater use of fertil-
izers particularly nitrogen which shall re-
lease more NOx and CO2 due to N-fertilizer
manufacture, and greater use of oil in the
various stages of feedstock production
and processing; and d) as an agri-industrial
production set-up, agrifuel production
thrives on large scale monoculture planta-
tion. This will trigger land concentration
which shall displace agrarian reform benefi-
ciaries, thus, reversing the gains of redis-
tributive agrarian reform achievements of
many Third World countries. I
Teodoro C. Mendoza, PhD., is a Professor of Crop
Science, U.P. Los Baños, Laguna and a scientist
awardee of the University of the Philippines Systems
Science Productivity Award Programme. He teaches
courses in farming, systems and ecological agriculture,
an advocate, and practitioner of Organic Agriculture.
 ARTICLES

F “For he satisfies the longing soul,

ood is any substance that a person
partakes for nutrition or pleasure.
God created food with the intention
to bless us. Just as God poured Himself
into incarnation and dying on the cross, he and fills the hungry soul with
goodness. (Ps. 107: 9)”
also pours Himself into His creation. The
recognition of God’s presence in every
food we eat can give us not only a sense
of being nourished in body but also being
nourished in spirit.
Since Bread and Body are both ex-
pressions of God’s Love, it is not surpris-
ing that it is in eating together or breaking
bread that we feel nurtured, comforted and
fulfilled. It is in eating and the relation-
ships cultivated at the dining table that we
learn to accept and share God’s abundant
love, that is, that we become in “commun-
ion” with Him and with others.
But what happens when people do
not get by enough to partake of the won-
ders of food? What if eating merely be-
comes a mechanical biological imperative
in order to not feel pain and survive? What
if, in order to get food for the day, parents
and even children are forced to work long
hours or just steal? What happens when

© Diana Jean V. Moraleda

even if people do eat, they remain under-
nourished because of inadequate nutri-
tion?
The evils of hunger
In the Philippines, we only have to

Love to Feed,
look around to see faces of hunger. Street
children dot our side streets and main
thoroughfares begging for alms. We hear
stories of people having to live on just
kaninbaw daily—a mixture of rice and
soup made from scrap meat and bones. At

night, we see people scavenging for left-
over food from the garbage dumps near
fast food chains in the metro. In the rural
areas, we meet people who eat just salt or
soy sauce with their rice. We are so used
to seeing hungry people that we have
become desensitized of them. To most of
us, the hungry are but permanent fixtures
in our national landscape.
According to The Bread of the World
Institute’s 2004 Hunger Report, 854 mil-
lion people across the world are hungry.
Hunger incidence is most high in South
Asia, Africa and East Asia and the Pacific
and parts of Latin America.
If you’ve experienced being truly
physically hungry, you would know that
hunger is a serious matter as it can be a
great source of evil. When one is hungry,
one becomes irritable, angry, lethargic,
unproductive and even violent. More that
that, hunger is fatal and children are the
most susceptible. Every day, almost 16,000
Feed to Love
By Diana Jean V. Moraleda
children die from hunger-related causes.
That’s one child every five seconds!
When we read these facts, we imag-
ine extremely skinny children unable to
move due to disease or absurdly low food
intake. Unfortunately, those scenarios
do happen. But hunger also manifests
itself in ways other than starvation and
famine. Most poor people who battle
hunger deal with chronic undernourish-
ment.
UNICEF defines the term undernutri-
tion, as “the outcome of insufficient food
intake (hunger) and repeated infectious
diseases. Undernutrition includes being
underweight for one’s age, too short for
one’s age (stunted), dangerously thin
(wasted), and deficient in vitamins and
minerals (micronutrient malnutrition).” In
the Philippines, the 6th National Nutrition
Survey shows that 30.6 percent of the
children aged ten below are underweight
and 31.4 percent are underheight. In raw
numbers, this means that there are 7.5
million undernourished children here. Of
these, 1.5 million are wasting.

Volume 41 • Number 12 9
Love to Feed, Feed to Love
Because lack of food can stunt
growth, slow thinking, sap energy, hinder
fetal development and contribute to men-
tal retardation, these 7.5 million under-
nourished children will grow up to be
unproductive and lacking a sense of
hope and overall well-being. This will
have alarming economic implications in
the future. In addition, persistent secur-
ing of food depletes valuable time and
energy of poor people, allowing less
time for work and earning income.
Third world countries like the Phil-
ippines often lack social safety nets that
first world countries enjoy, such as soup
kitchens and food stamps. When a fam-
ily that lives in a poor country cannot
earn enough in one day to buy food,
there is nowhere to turn for help. So-
cially, the lack of food feeds shame so
that those most in need of support are
often least able to cry for it. Occasion-
ally, the daily news tells of stories of
mothers going crazy and killing their
own children because of extreme hun-
ger.
No to extreme hunger and
malnutrition
Brad Pitt and other Hollywood stars
have put extreme poverty in the lime-
light. By establishing The One Cam-
paign, they aim to make hunger and
poverty history one by one by raising
public awareness, discussing issues re-
lating to poverty, and affecting policy
formation in the process (www.one.org).
In our country, we don’t have a Brad Pitt
to do this but we do have many NGOs
and parish-based groups trying to end
hunger and poverty one community at a
time.
One example is The John J. Carroll
Institute on Church and Social Issues’
(ICSI) Sagip-Bata Feeding program.
Sagip Bata Feeding Program, for-
merly known as the Payatas Supple-
mental Milk Feeding Program, started
in 1990 as part Fr. John J. Carroll’s per-
sonal apostolate. Fr. Jack, as Fr. Carroll
is more commonly known, may very well
be the Brad Pitt of Payatas, albeit a more
hands-on one. Fr. Jack was able to gather
financial assistance from friends and,
after some time, through word of mouth,
news of the program spread and it began
receiving contributions of people from
different parts of the world.
With Ms. Marcelina Concepcion, a
resident there, Fr. Jack oversaw the
weighing of the children and the distri-
bution of milk to the mothers. In 2005, a
10 IMPACT • December 2007
new strategy was
implemented: from
merely distributing
the milk to running
a daily supplemen-
tal feeding pro-
gram. The staff
grew from one to
four with some of
the children’s
mothers volun-
teering daily to
help prepare food
for the partici-
pants of the pro-
gram.
Sagip-Bata is
currently assisting
36 children ages
one and a half to
six years old. The
children are pro-
vided morning
snacks of milk and
biscuits around
© http://flickr.com/photos/7993462@N05/sets/72157600143940650/
9.30 a.m. and lunch
at 11.30 a.m. from
Mondays to Fri-
days. In between
meals, they are
taught to pray,
sing, write, draw
and dance. The
children are also
given vitamins and
undergo regular
medical check-ups
at the Payatas
Health Center. They are dewormed ev- activities.
ery six months. After Pabasa sa Nutrisyon, moth-
Most of the children in the program ers are gathered to join the program’s
stay about three to six months depend- annual cooking contest to practice what
ing on when they are able to achieve they have learned. Contestants are
normal body weight based on their age. grouped and tasked to come up with
Some stay longer than the others be- delicious, nutritious and affordable
cause they are treated for diseases like dishes for the whole family. This is
primary complex (tuberculosis) which is indeed a fun way to engage the mothers
very prevalent in the area because it is in friendly competition while learning
very near the garbage dumpsite. more. The winning team then competes
To really help the undernourished, in the annual Inter-feeding Program
feeding them is not enough. Certain ac- Cooking Contest to represent the Sagip-
tivities must also be done to empower Bata Feeding Program.
families to improve their health and Last October 11 and 20, parents of
childcare practices. Since 2006, the Sagip Sagip-Bata kids were also invited to
Bata Feeding Program has been using attend the Children’s Rights and Posi-
the Pabasa sa Nutrisyon modules tive Discipline Workshop. The seminar
drafted by the National Nutrition Coun- was facilitated by Ms. Melanie Ramos-
cil to train mothers on health and proper Llana of ICSI and is a part of the cam-
nutrition. The Pabasa sa Nutrisyon semi- paign against the use of corporal pun-
nars have already trained two batches of ishment at home. Instead, parents were
mothers and have inspired other feeding taught more positive methods in disci-
programs in Payatas to conduct similar plining their children.

Spreading Hope
After seventeen years, it is amaz-
ing how the Sagip-Bata Feeding Pro-
gram keeps running and improving each
day. Now, Sagip-Bata has evolved
from being a stand-alone project to being
part of a whole family program in Payatas
called the Pag-Asa ng Pamilya (PnP)
Program. Aside from feeding the chil-
dren, PnP also has the Tahanan Natural
Family Planning program that teaches
parents to plan their families using
modern natural family planning and the
Landas ng Pag-asa Scholarship pro-
gram which provides educational as-
sistance to poor and deserving stu-
dents.
For the most part, the program is
made possible because of generous
people who are kind enough to share
their time, effort and money. People
send donations, and some even do so
monthly. Last October, for example, the
grade four class of St. Aloysius College
Junior School in New South Wales,
Australia chose Sagip-Bata to be their
pet project for their school’s Arrupe
Outreach Program. The students walked
around their neighborhoods to look for
rubbish which were not disposed cor-
rectly. They raised $900 in the process.
These children a continent away simply
hoped that the money they have raised
will be able to help the Payatas kids get
a delicious and healthy meal.
Aside from donors, the program is
also sustained by the volunteer moth-
ers and staff in Payatas who never tire
of working each day to feed the chil-
dren. For them, seeing the children get
better and happier is enough to keep
them going. Aside from increase in
weight, volunteers and staff report in-
creased stamina, attentiveness and live-
liness among children who are enrolled
in the program.
The Sagip-Bata program is only one
of the many programs that help under-
nourished children in our country. If we
put the number of children it helps to
the statistic on world hunger and un-
dernutrition, it would seem that our ef-
forts are but a drop in a vast area of
parched land. But every drop of water
counts. If many people or groups are
stirred into contributing tiny drops of
water too, then perhaps, life can actu-
ally bloom and be able to sustain itself.
As Jingle Mira, a Sagip-Bata volunteer
once said, “If people outside of Payatas
can help us, why can’t we in Payatas
help each other?” Indeed, goodness
ARTICLES
inspires goodness and love grows ex- References:
ponentially. Bread for the World. June 2007 Hunger
Facts: International; World Hunger
Eating with Jesus and Poverty: How They Fit Together.
At this point we are reminded of a Available at http://www.bread.org/
painting by Joey Velasco called Hapag learn/hunger-basics/hunger-facts-
ng Pag-asa where he portrays Jesus international.html
sharing the last supper with very hungry Food and Agriculture Organization of
children. In a corresponding book that the United Nations. The Food Insecu-
features the painter’s search for his mod- rity of the World 2006: Eradicating
els and his subsequent healing and trans- World Hunger, taking stock ten years
formation, he shares an anecdote wherein after the World Food Summit. 2006
he was talking with a mentally deranged Available at http://www.fao.org/
woman who took a photo of the painting docrep/009/a0750e/a0750e00.htm
from him and observed, “You know my Food and Nutrition Research Institute.
friend, they are actually not poor… they The 6th National Nutrition Survey.
have Jesus.” 2003
Indeed, food does not only feed the Joey A. Velasco. They Have Jesus: The
body. It also feeds the spirit. Sharing Stories of the Children of Hapag.
God’s blessings, in effect, introduces Kenosis Publications. 2006
Jesus to those whose faith is the least of UNICEF. May 2006. Progress for Chil-
their priorities because they have to dren: A Report Card on Nutrition No.
struggle daily to survive. Sharing God’s 4. Available at http://www.unicef.org/
blessings also makes Jesus known to the progressforchildren/2006n4/
giver who is stirred enough to be able to index.html
share himself in love and humbled
enough by the outpouring of support Diana Jean V. Moraleda is a research assistant of
Church and Family life desk of John J. Carroll
from his fellow men to be able to sustain Institute on Church and Social Issues of the Ateneo
that love. de Manila University, Quezon City.
For the Sagip-
Bata Program staff
and volunteers,
and countless oth-
ers who are in-
volved in the same
activity the world
over, it is in loving
that they are able
to feed, and feed-
ing that they are
able to love like
Jesus does.
(The Sagip
Bata Feeding Pro-
gram accepts cash,
milk or rice dona-
tions. You may
send these to the
John J. Carroll In-
stitute on Church
and Social Issues,
2/F Benigno Mayo
Hall, Ateneo de
Manila University,
Loyola Heights.
Q.C. Cash dona-
tions may also be
sent to John J.
© Diana Jean V. Moraleda
Carroll, S.J.
through BPI Ac-
count no. 3085-
8066-36.) I
Volume 41 • Number 12 11
ARTICLES

T
he Sumilao farmers are presently
walking their 60-day journey from
Barangay San Vicente, Sumilao,
Bukidnon to Manila. They began their
march on October 10, 2007 and have al-
ready crossed Mindanao and Visayas by
walking everyday beginning at 3:00 or 4:00
in the morning. At the moment, they are
traversing the highway from Tabugon to
Gumaca, Quezon amid the impending ty-
phoon Mina. They covered today what
they would have walked for two days
because of fear that they would be stranded
in a venue that is not fit for flood and heavy
rains. They are determined to walk for 52
kilometers just so they could be in Gumaca
before 5:00 pm, approximately two hours
before the center of “Mina” is expected to
hit the Quezon province.
The Sumilao farmers, who are mostly
Higaonon indigenous peoples, are taking
this long and tiresome form of campaign
because they are determined to reclaim
what is truly theirs: the 144-hectare agri-
cultural land in Bukidnon. This property
was part of their ancestral land until they
were forcefully evicted in the 1940s. In the
1970s, the land was owned by Norberto

Walk for Sumilao.

Quisumbing Jr.
In 1988, when the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) was passed,
the 144-hectare land was covered for dis-

Walk for Justice

tribution to the 137 farmers of the
Mapadayonong Panaghiusa sa mga
Lumad Alang sa Damlag (MAPALAD), all
of Higaonon lineage. They were issued
Certificates of Land Ownership Award
(CLOAs) in recognition of their ownership
of the awarded land.
In a move to circumvent agrarian re-
form, Quisumbing applied for the conver-
sion of the 144-hectare land into “indus-
trial/institutional area.” It connived with
the local government of Sumilao in order to
remove the property from the ambit of
asset reform. Quisumbing presented his
Bukidnon Agro-Industrial Development
Association (BAIDA) project which con-
tains the following:
Development Academy of Mindanao,
which constitutes the establishment of an
Institute for Continuing Higher Educa-
tion, Institute for Livelihood Science, In-
stitute for Agribusiness Research, mu-
seum, library, and a cultural center;
Mindanao Sports Development Com-
plex including facilities that would be used
for international competitions such as a
track and field oval, baseball, softball,
basketball, and tennis courts, swimming
pools, equestrian court, and games of
chances;
By Jane
By Jane Lynn
Lynn D.
D. Capacio
Capacio
Bukidnon Agro-Industrial Park that
consists of corn processing for corn oil,
starch, and other corn products, rice pro-
cessing for wine, snacks, and exportable
rice, cassava processing for starch, alco-
hol, and food delicacies, processing plants
for vegetables, cold storage and ice plant,
cannery system, commercial stores and
public market;
Forest Development including the
development of open spaces and parks for
recreation, horseback riding, and mini zoo;
Support Facilities including the con-
struction of a 360-room hotel restaurants,
dormitories, and housing facilities; and
Commercial Mall
The BAIDA project was not approved
by the Department of Agrarian Reform
(DAR) under Secretary Ernesto Garilao in
1994 by stating that the land is agricultur-
ally productive and irrigated. As provided
under the DAR’s administrative orders on
conversion, irrigated lands are considered
as “prime agricultural lands” and cannot be
converted to non-agricultural uses. In 1995,
instead of filing an appeal to the DAR or the
Office of the President, Quisumbing filed a
petition at the Court of Appeals while then
Bukidnon Governor Carlos Fortich, never a
party to the case, sent a protest letter to
President Fidel Ramos. In the same year, the
CLOAs were issued to the 137 farmers.
In March 1996, the Office of the Presi-
dent through Executive Secretary Ruben
Torres treated Governor Fortich’s letter as
an Appeal and set aside the decision of
DAR Secretary Garilao. The “Torres Deci-
sion” stated that “converting the land in
question would open great opportunities
for employment and bring about real de-
velopment in the area towards a sustained

12 IMPACT • December 2007

 Walk for Sumilao.Walk for Justice

economic growth in the municipality. On dismissed the said petition by saying that medicines, water, and food on a daily basis.
the other hand, distributing the land to the conversion order was issued by the But it is also a very touching walk. The
would-be beneficiaries do not guarantee Office of the President and not the DAR Sumilao farmers were fed and accommo-
such benefits.” secretary. The title of the Order inadvert- dated everyday by parishes beginning in
To protest such injustice, the ently states, “Application for Land Use Mindanao up until Luzon. In Manila, par-
MAPALAD farmers staged a 28-day hun- Conversion Involving 144 Hectares from ishes and Social Action Centers have com-
ger strike in front of the DAR compound in Agricultural Lands to Industrial Uses…” mitted to extend the same assistance that
Quezon City. The hunger strike solicited indicating the DAR’s perspective that the was given by their counterparts in
the support of local governments, the House petition was a continuation of the previ- Mindanao and Visayas. The marchers were
of Representatives, and the public. At the ous Supreme Court case, instead of a sepa- also provided with financial and medical
height of the Hunger Strike, Cardinal Sin rate and noble petition for the revocation assistance, fetched at night by priests,
and Bishop Rosales visited the farmers. or cancellation of the conversion order. brought to the next venue by parishioners,
This pressured President Ramos to issue a The farmers filed an Appeal before the prayed for, and faithfully encouraged. More
“win-win” solution by dividing the 144 land Office of the President. They also decided importantly, the bishops, priests, and the
into two: Forty four (44) hectares would be to launch a campaign knowing that they are faithful of each and every town and Diocese
converted to agro-industrial purposes while up against a powerful opponent: San Miguel offered their solidarity for the cause of the
the remaining 100 hectares would be dis- Corporation owner Eduardo “Danding” Sumilao marchers. The Catholic Church
tributed to the farmers. Cojuangco, Jr. They know that their fight is provided the farmers not only their daily
Quisumbing protested against the not purely legal; as in the case of struggles needs but their support for the return of the
“win-win” solution at the Supreme Court. for social justice, theirs is also political. 144-hectare land to its true owners.
Eventually, the Supreme Pastoral messages were
Court ruled on technicalities also issued. Bishop Honesto
over substance against the "Their main issue is valid: the Pacana of Malaybalay sent a
MAPALAD farmers and it letter to President Gloria
declared that the latter were converted 144-hectare land remains Macapagal-Arroyo asking
merely “recommendee her to take heed of the Sumilao
farmer beneficiaries” and to be prime agricultural land. The farmers’ calls. Archbishop
therefore are not real parties
in interest. This is in spite of
promises of industrialization and Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan
de Oro, Archbishop Jose
the fact that the farmers are wealth did not materialize. It is only Palma of Palo, Bishop Isabelo
already CLOA holders. Abarquez of Calbayog, and
The farmers respected imperative that the land be Bishop Arturo Bastes of
the decision of the Supreme
Court, which upheld
redistributed to the Sumilao farmers Sorsogon all gave strong and
inspiring statements. The
Quisumbing’s application under the Comprehensive Agrarian Diocese of Legaspi wrote a
for conversion. However, letter of support for the farm-
ten years have already Reform Program." ers and their families. The
passed and Quisumbing’s Dioceses of Butuan, Maasin,
promises of agro-industrialization never ma- Hence, they decided to walk their way and Catarman also mobilized the parishes to
terialized. There was nothing in the BAIDA to Manila on foot. They called their cam- welcome the marchers.
project that was implemented. Worse, paign “Walk for Sumilao Land, Walk for For these efforts that warmed their
Quisumbing sold the 144-land to San Miguel Justice.” They began marching on 10 hearts and boosted their morale, the Church
Foods, Inc. which intended to put up a October 2007 from Barangay San Vicente, has become indeed a Church of the Rural
piggery in the area. This is clearly a viola- Sumilao, Bukidnon and they have crossed Poor, one that restores their dignity and
tion of the DAR’s strict rules on conversion towards Southern Leyte, Visayas on 24 actively works towards addressing funda-
which states that within a year, the imple- October. They reached the tip of Luzon on mental social justice issues in the country.
mentation of the conversion plan should 9 November and they are expected to ar- They chose to walk from Sumilao,
have begun and within five years, the plan rive in Muntinlupa City on 3 December. Bukidnon to Manila as their most peaceful
should have been fully completed. What It is never an easy walk. I coordinated and most painful form of struggle. In the
adds insult to injury is the fact that the the Visayas leg of the march and joined process, they gained companions, primary
Higaonon farmers’ ancestral land, consid- them in parts of Luzon. The weather could of which is the Church.
ered as a sacred land, would be used as a big be very hot and humid or rainy. There are Their main issue is valid: the converted
boar house. security risks as the marchers are prone to 144-hectare land remains to be prime agri-
In 2004, the Sumilao farmers be used by groups that are in conflict with cultural land. The promises of industrializa-
(MAPALAD and 90 landless farmers) filed each other. In Leyte and Samar, two to four tion and wealth did not materialize. It is only
a “Petition for cancellation and/or revoca- farmers fainted everyday and had to be imperative that the land be redistributed to
tion of the Conversion Order covering the lifted by fellow marchers in a makeshift the Sumilao farmers under the Comprehen-
144 hectares of land at San Vicente, carrier made of malong tied to bamboo sive Agrarian Reform Program. I
Sumilao, Bukidnon, with prayer for the poles. There were instances where an am-
Jane Lynn D. Capacio is the Executive Director of
issuance of cease and desist order” at the bulance had to be requested to bring march- KAISAHAN tungo sa Kaunlaran ng Kanayunan at
Office of the DAR Secretary. The DAR ers to the hospital. They were physically Repormang Pansakahan and Co-Convenor of Lakaw
through Secretary Nasser Pangandaman tired and they needed accommodation, para sa Sumilao. Walk for Justice Coalition

Volume 41 • Number 12 13
N E W S
FEATURES
World Day against
Aids: progress in Asia
NEW DELHI, India,
December 1, 2007—
The battle against
AIDS is gaining
ground in Asia.
Particularly in
the South West
where there were
“only” 340 thou-
sand new cases re-
ported compared to
the 140 thousand
of 2001 (but it is on
the rise in Indone-
sia and Vietnam
where the number
of those infected
has doubled in 5 years), even if there are still 4 million people
sufferers (out of the 33.2 million worldwide) and 270 thousand
dead in one year (2.1 million worldwide).
According to the United Nations report published on the
eve of today’s World Day Against Aids, the situation is stable
in the Middle East while it has worsened in Eastern Asia with
over 92 new cases of infection compared to 77 thousand in 2001,
and above all in central Asia where drug dependency is on the
increase. Infection rates among Asian women are also on the
rise, now 29% are carriers (only 26% in 2001).
In India, although there are 2.5 million people living with
AIDS, infection rates is less widespread than feared and there
are frequent initiatives and information campaigns on preven-
tion, promoted both by the government and private groups.
Today Christ Church in Bangalore, is hosting over 5
thousand young people to witness, as Archbishop Bernard
Moras recalls, their will to “stop AIDS and promote life,” by
living the Christian values and virtues on a daily basis.
In Mumbai the diocesan committee Human Fie and the
Ghandi centre of studies have organized a meeting on “the value
of human life”.
The United Nation’s agency for the prevention of AIDS
estimated that there are over 50 million people at risk of infection
in China and have urged the government to decisively inter-
vene. But according to Health Minister Chen Zhu, the spread-
ing of the virus is falling, with “only” 39.866 new cases of HIV
registered between January and October. Yesterday President
Hu Jintao visited those dying of AIDS, shaking their hands and
speaking with them. He reiterated the need for “prevention and
a collective commitment on a national level” against its spread.
In Thailand infection rates are falling, also thanks to the
public programs for safe sex and for the distribution of
antiretroviral drugs; but it remains a major problem among drug
addicts. In the last 20 years, between 40 and 60% of them have
contracted HIV, according to data Human Rights Watch. The
country is criticized because it treats drug addicts as criminals,
without having adequate prevention and care programs.
(AsiaNews)
14 IMPACT • December 2007
Wombs for rent, foreign demand increases
NEW DELHI, India,
December 1, 2007—
In November a gay
Israeli couple “had”
twins in India, born
of one of the two
fertilized eggs do-
nated by one woman
donor and brought
to term by another.
The news has re-ig-
nited debate over
so-called “wombs
for rent”: thousands
of women who, in exchange for money allow themselves to be
implanted with fertilized eggs and give birth to other people’s
children.
Akanksha Fertility Clinic, run by Doctor Nayana Patel in
Anand (Gujarat), is famous: she currently has 50 pregnant Indian
women cloistered in secret locations.
They “rent” their wombs in exchange for food, healthcare and
compensation in cash amounting to 250 thousand rupees (6.308
dollars).
Far more than poor women in India would earn in a lifetime,
enough to buy a small home or to pay for her children’s education.
But the price is advantageous for foreign couples, above all from
Britain and the USA, who pay between 30 and 40 thousand dollars.
Christina Khajur, 38, who gave birth to a girl last year for an
American couple explains “I’ve put the money in a fixed deposit.
With the interest, I can pay my two boys’ school fees and have a
bit of security.”
Khajur said she was well looked after during her pregnancy.
“The only difficulty was being totally cut off. But it was necessary.
If the people in my village knew, they would disapprove.”
Many of these women are married with their own children; for
those who are single, during their isolation, Patel arranges for them
to have computer and English classes so that they can enjoy better
prospects after the birth.
Patel admits money is a consideration, but claims she also
wants to help “couples who cannot have children.” Indians
generally tend to accept a woman bearing a child for an infertile
relative, where infertile couples are estimated to reach 19 million,
but are somewhat uncomfortable when strangers are involved
often resulting in protests. In Gujarat over 40% of cases are
estimated to involve foreigners.
Many observe that this practice could damage relations
between wives and husbands and fear that some husbands may
force Indian women into accepting it in order to earn easy money.
There are few laws regulating the phenomenon, despite its
being widespread for over 5 years. Only this October Renuka
Choudhury, Minister of Women and Child Development, said that
guidelines would eventually be formulated to protect the rights of
both parties observing. Without rules, this will become a commer-
cial industry, and we run the risk that women will be exploited by
unscrupulous elements.”
The news is greeted with approval by Patel, who expects more
and more childless couples to resort to surrogate mothers as a
solution, so “the sooner we clarify rights and responsibilities, the
better.” (AsiaNews / Agencies)

Religions back
Russian elections
MOSCOW, Russia, December 1,
2007—The appeal is always the same:
“Turn up to vote!” But this time it is
being launched by Members of the
Russian Presidential Council for inter-
action with religious organizations—
from Russian orthodox to Muslims—
taking part in the national campaign
ahead of tomorrow’s parliamentary
elections.
In an official document issued this
morning, the Council, which also
groups Buddhists, Jews, Orthodox,
Muslims and Protestants, invites “all
believers and compatriots to express
their maturity and to take part in the
elections”, underscoring the impor-
tance of thus “defending the Mother-
land”.
Mobilization across various sec-
tors of society to urge voters to the
polls has been massive, with religious
representatives doing their part. Met-
ropolitan Kirill, number two of the
Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian
Orthodox Church, and head of the De-
partment for External Church Relations,
stressed “Forthcoming elections will
be ‘key event’ that is why the duty of
each believer is to come and to vote”.
Tomorrow’s elections are for the
parliament or Duma, but the results
from the vote will certainly influence
the nation’s entire political makeup
ahead of the crucial March 2008 presi-
dential vote.
A landslide win by the “United
Russia” Party of President Vladimir
Putin is being cited as a given.
The only real doubt surrounds
the percentage of seats he will gain in
the Chamber. If United Russia suc-
ceeds in gaining the constitutional
majority—two thirds of Parliament—
it could change the constitution by
itself.
In practical terms this means that
it could modify the law banning a third
consecutive presidential mandate leav-
ing Putin eligible to be candidate him-
self for March 2nd.
According to recent sociological
data just four of eleven parties still
have a chance to overcome 7-percent
barrier during the parliament elections
of December the 2nd. There are
“Edinaya Rossia” (United Russia)
which could obtain approximately 62%
of votes, Communist party (KPRF)—
12%, Liberal Democratic party (LDPR)
– 9%, and “Fair Russia”—7%. (Maria
Anikina / AsiaNews)
N E W S
FEATURES
CBCP head
appeals for
Labayen, lauds
media
MANILA, 30 November 2007—Arch-
bishop Angel Lagdameo, President of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference has ap-
pealed for the immediate release of emeri-
tus Infanta bishop Julio Labayen.
“I am appealing to the military that he
be released on account of his age,” he
said.
Bishop Julio Labayen was one of the
civilians nabbed yesterday following a
six-hour stand-off at a hotel in Makati
City.
The CBCP head and Jaro Archbishop
said he is concerned with the health con-
dition of Labayen, who is already 81years
old; if he will be further detained by the
authorities.
According to Lagdameo, the retired
bishop was also very active in his fight
against socio-political issues during the
Martial law years but he was never impris-
oned.
“The advocacy that Bishop Labayen
had been doing is for the country to be
restored to genuine democracy and jus-
tice which is worth fighting for,” he said.
Thankful for release from detention
of media people in what he calls a “fore-
taste of Martial Law”, Lagdameo lauded
the hardworking journalists.
“Thank God, our hardworking media
men have been released; were it not for
them the nation would be in the dark as to
what our country is undergoing at this
point in time,” said Lagdameo.
“In this moment of national crisis,
may there be sobriety, calmness, mutual
understanding among the people in op-
posite camps. Let us pray for our coun-
try,” he added.
CBCP Media Director Msgr. Pedro
Quitorio said the work of the media is
paramount, adding that even in war jour-
nalists are respected in view of their mis-
sion to inform the public.
“They are like missionaries, who
should be in the thick of things for the
sake of people’s inherent right to infor-
mation,” said Quitorio. (Roy Lagarde /
CBCPNews)
Volume 41 • Number 12 15
C O V E R
S T O R Y
THEOTOKOS:
The Love, Veneration, and Imitation of
Mary, the Mother of God
By Fr. Melvin Castro
W
ith the worldwide revelry of ush-
ering in the New Year every Janu-
ary 1st, the Church, as it were,
silently but gloriously celebrates the So-
lemnity of the Divine Maternity of Mary.
The other privileges of Our Lady derive
from this singular grace granted to her by
God, that of being the Mother of Our Lord
Jesus Christ who is God-Man at the same
time.
Her being called Mother of God stems
from the basic truth that she is the Mother
of Jesus Christ whose divine and human
natures cannot be separated and are abso-
lutely united in his one Person. Hence,
rather than being a mere Marian privilege
16 IMPACT • December 2007
it is actually a Christological truth.
Let us take a look, albeit briefly, on
Sacred Scriptures, the Fathers of the
Church, and the Church’s Teaching on the
dogma of the Divine Maternity, and in the
final part, let us take a look into our hearts
and see what this Marian privilege chal-
lenges us to be and to become.
Come and see, the Bearer-of-God,
Theotokos, as she was and is continued to
be loved, venerated, and imitated, down
though the ages…
I. The Sacred Scripture
The Protoevangelium, Genesis 3, 15: I
will put enmity between you and the
THEOTO
woman, between your seed and her seed:
he shall crush your head, has been tradi-
tionally pointed out as the most basic of
Old Testament text referring to Mary.
It was also made as the basis for the
dogmatic bull Ineffabilis Deus (Pope Pius
IX, 08 December 1854) defining the dogma
of the Immaculate Conception: taught that
by this divine prophecy the merciful Re-
deemer of mankind, Jesus Christ, the only
begotten Son of God, was clearly foretold:
That his most Blessed Mother, the Virgin
Mary, was prophetically indicated; and, at
the same time, the very enmity of both
against the evil one was significantly ex-
pressed. Hence, just as Christ, the Media-
OKOS: The Love, Veneration, and Imitation of Mary, the Mother of God

tor between God and man, assumed human Mary in the way of birth and growth, and ing the good tidings to Mary. The Virgin
nature, blotted the handwriting of the de- the manner of his life and conversation Mother of God bears witness”
cree that stood against us, and fastened it with men, and his manifestation by bap- (Catechetical Lectures 10:19 [A.D. 350]).
triumphantly to the cross, so the most holy tism, and the new birth that was to be to all
Virgin, united with him by a most intimate men, and the regeneration by the laver [of Ephraim the Syrian
and indissoluble bond, was, with him and baptism]” (Discourse on the End of the “Though still a virgin she carried a
through him, eternally at enmity with the World 1 [A.D. 217]). child in her womb, and the handmaid and
evil serpent, and most completely tri- work of his wisdom became the Mother of
umphed over him, and thus crushed his Cyril of Jerusalem God” (Songs of Praise 1:20 [A.D. 351]).
head with her immaculate foot.[i] “The Father bears witness from heaven
Here we see even the union between to his Son. The Holy Spirit bears witness, Athanasius
Christ and Mary, the Redeemer and the coming down bodily in the form of a dove. “The Word begotten of the Father
Mother of the Redeemer, the Mediator and The archangel Gabriel bears witness, bring- from on high, inexpressibly, inexplicably,
the Mediatrix.
Behold a Virgin shall conceive and
bear a Son, and His Name shall be called
Emmanuel (God with us), Isaiah 7,14.[ii]
Later in the New Testament, both St.
Matthew and St. Luke will cite this same
Biblical passage as having come true in the
Annunciation of the Angel to Mary that
she would conceive a Son.
Consistently, this particular proph-
ecy by Isaiah has been interpreted as in
direct reference to Christ and to Mary, the
Virgin-Mother.
There are many women in the Old
Testament that are considered to be fig-
ures of Mary, let us just take a look on one
figure, among many others. She is Esther.
This young Hebrew girl was noted above
all for her beauty, for which she found
favor in King Ahasuerus’ sight, such that
he chose her to be queen. Moreover, Esther
was the sole person excluded from the
decree of death passed against her people.
Esther’s most glorious deed was that of
having saved her people by the wicked
scheming of an enemy. [iii]
And once again, we see how a woman,
and the Queen at that, acts as Mediatrix on
behalf of the people so that they would be
forgiven.
II. The Church Fathers
Let us take a few words from the
Church Fathers—these holy men who were
so full of wisdom and holiness:

Irenaeus
“The Virgin Mary, being obedient to
his word, received from an angel the glad
tidings that she would bear God” (Against
Heresies, 5:19:1 [A.D. 189]).

Hippolytus
“[T]o all generations they [the proph-
ets] have pictured forth the grandest sub-
jects for contemplation and for action.
Thus, too, they preached of the advent of
God in the flesh to the world, his advent by
the spotless and God-bearing (theotokos)

Volume 41 • Number 12 17
C O V E R
S T O R Y
incomprehensibly, and eternally, is he that
is born in time here below of the Virgin
Mary, the Mother of God” (The Incarna-
tion of the Word of God 8 [A.D. 365]).
Ambrose of Milan
“The first thing which kindles ardor in
learning is the greatness of the teacher.
What is greater than the Mother of God?
What more glorious than she whom Glory
Itself chose?” (The Virgins 2:2[7] [A.D.
377]).
Gregory of Nazianz
“If anyone does not agree that holy
Mary is Mother of God, he is at odds with
the Godhead” (Letter to Cledonius the
Priest 101 [A.D. 382]).
Theodore of Mopsuestia
“When, therefore, they ask, ‘Is Mary
mother of man or Mother of God?’ we
answer, ‘Both!’ The one by the very na-
ture of what was done and the other by
relation” (The Incarnation 15 [A.D. 405]).
18 IMPACT • December 2007
THEOTO
Cyril of Alexandria man Jesus; this Council emphasized the
“I have been amazed that some are essential meaning of the motherhood of
utterly in doubt as to whether or not the the Virgin Mary.
holy Virgin is able to be called the Mother
of God. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, Council of Ephesus
how should the holy Virgin who bore him “We confess, then, our Lord Jesus
not be the Mother of God?” (Letter to the Christ, the only begotten Son of God,
Monks of Egypt 1 [A.D. 427]). perfect God and perfect man, of a rational
“This expression, however, ‘the Word soul and a body, begotten before all ages
was made flesh’ [John 1:14], can mean from the Father in his Godhead, the same
nothing else but that he partook of flesh in the last days, for us and for our salva-
and blood like to us; he made our body his tion, born of Mary the Virgin according to
own, and came forth man from a woman, his humanity, one and the same consub-
not casting off his existence as God, or his stantial with the Father in Godhead and
generation of God the Father, but even in consubstantial with us in humanity, for a
taking to himself flesh remaining what he union of two natures took place. Therefore
was. This, the declaration of the correct we confess one Christ, one Son, one Lord.
faith proclaims everywhere. This was the According to this understanding of the
sentiment of the holy Fathers; therefore unconfused union, we confess the holy
they ventured to call the holy Virgin ‘the Virgin to be the Mother of God because
Mother of God,’ not as if the nature of the God the Word took flesh and became man
Word or his divinity had its beginning and from his very conception united to
from the holy Virgin, but because of her himself the temple he took from her” (For-
was born that holy body with a rational mula of Union [A.D. 431]).
soul, to which the Word, being personally And to commemorate this dogmatic
united, is said to be definition, the first Basilica in the West
born according to dedicated to Mary was constructed, the
the flesh” (First Let- Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.
ter to Nestorius Hence, we should never forget that
[A.D. 430]). just as the very first Marian dogma is
“And since the rooted in a Christological truth, true devo-
holy Virgin corpo- tion to Mary is also rooted in and leading
really brought forth to Christ.
God made one with
flesh according to IV. Devotion to Mary
nature, for this rea- From what we have learned from Sa-
son we also call her cred Scripture, the Church Fathers, and
Mother of God, not the Church Magisterium, what springs
as if the nature of forth from our heart is true love and ven-
the Word had the eration of Mary. And of this, St. Louis
beginning of its ex- Grignon di Montfort has these wonderful
istence from the words:
flesh” (Third Letter Jesus, our Savior, true God and true
to Nestorius [A.D. man must be the ultimate end of all our
430]). other devotions; otherwise they would be
false and misleading… If then we are es-
III. The Church tablishing sound devotion to our Blessed
Teaching: The Lady, it is only in order to establish devo-
Dogma Defined tion to Our Lord more perfectly, by provid-
And it was at ing smooth but certain way of reaching
the Council of Jesus Christ. [iv]
Ephesus that the Probably for us Filipinos, this descrip-
Church finally and tion of true devotion to Mary by St. Louis
definitively defined is all the more challenging. Our being Pueblo
the dogma of the Amante de Maria is unquestionable yet at
Divine Maternity of the same time, such devotion to Mary
Mary. It was de- should lead us closer and into deeper
fined in opposition intimacy with Christ, her Son. That is the
to the opinion of ultimate goal of authentic Marian devo-
Nestorius, who held tion: to be with Christ.
that Mary was only St. Louis lists for us the marks of True
the mother of the Devotion to Mary: [v]
OKOS: The Love, Veneration, and Imitation of Mary, the Mother of God
First, true devotion to our Lady is
interior, that is, it comes from within the
mind and heart and follows from the es-
teem in which we hold her, the high regard
we have for her greatness, and the love
we bear her.
Second, it is trustful, that is, it fills us
with confidence in the Blessed Virgin, the
confidence that a child has for its loving
Mother. It prompts us to go to her in
every need of body and soul with great
simplicity, trust, and affection.
Third, true devotion to our Lady is
holy, that is, it leads us to avoid sin and
to imitate the virtues of Mary.
Fourth, true devotion to Our Lady is
constant. It strengthens us in our desire
to do good and prevents us from giving
up our devotional practices easily. It gives
us courage to oppose the fashions and
maxims of the world, the vexations and
unruly inclinations of the flesh and the
temptations of the devil.
Fifth, true devotion to Mary is disin-
terested. It inspires human being. But this entrusting con-
us to seek God cerns women in a special way¯precisely
alone in his Blessed by reason of their femininity¯and this in
Mother and not a particular way determines their voca-
ourselves… He tion. A woman is strong because of her
does not serve her awareness of this entrusting, strong be-
for temporal or eter- cause of the fact that God “entrusts the
nal well-being but human being to her,” always and in every
simply and solely way, even in the situations of social dis-
because she has crimination in which she may find herself.
the right to be This awareness and this fundamental
served and God vocation speak to women of the dignity
alone in her. which they receive from God himself, and
this makes them “strong” and strength-
V. Mary and the ens their vocation. [vii]
Dignity of the
Woman VI. Ad Jesum Per Mariam
From this true In conclusion, we ask ourselves how
devotion to Mary “mature” really is our love, veneration,
comes our true love and devotion to Mary. It is certainly a
of neighbor as well. matter of the heart, so to speak, but a
From this true de- matter of the mind as well. Rooted in
votion as well we Scripture and in sound doctrine, our
realize the great Marian devotion will be very strong. And
dignity accorded equally as well, our devotion to Mary
by God to the leads to true love of neighbor, and even
women. However, true love of ourselves.
in this time and age Mary leads us to Jesus. In Jesus, we
of ours when it is love. I
politically correct ———————————
to ride on the issue [i] Let us also take a note that recent
of gender equality, Biblical studies show that the one to
the Church gives crush the head of the serpent is the
us the true face of He, which refers to the seed of the
feminism: Woman. Nonetheless, it should not
Thus the “full- be viewed as contradictory to tradi-
ness of time” mani- tional belief that it is the foot of the
fests the extraordi- Immaculate that will crush the head of
nary dignity of the “woman”. On the one the serpent. The Woman and her
hand, this dignity consists in the super- seed are intimately bound, always
natural elevation to union with God in and forever.
Jesus Christ, which determines the ulti- [ii] The person in question is ‘almah,
mate finality of the existence of every that is a young girl, a girl of marriage-
person both on earth and in eternity. able age, maiden, virgin. The Hebrew
From this point of view, the “woman” is term, however, directly connoting
the representative and the archetype of sexual integrity is betullah (Fr. Stefano
the whole human race: she represents the M. Manelli, FFI, All Generations Shall
humanity which belongs to all human Call Me Blessed, p. 34)
beings, both men and women. On the [iii] Ibid., p. 58
other hand, however, the event at Nazareth [iv] St. Louis Grignon di Montfort, (True
highlights a form of union with the living Devotion to Mary, nos. 61-62)
God which can only belong to the [v] Ibid., nos. 105-110
“woman”, Mary: the union between [vi] Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter,
mother and son. The Virgin of Nazareth Mulieris Dignatatem, 15 August 1988,
truly becomes the Mother of God.[vi] no. 4
The Servant of God, the Great John [vii] Ibid. no. 30
Paul II, states further:
The moral and spiritual strength of a Fr. Melvin Castro is a priest of the Diocese of Tarlac
woman is joined to her awareness that and the President-Founder of the Confraternity of
God entrusts the human being to her in a Mary Mediatrix of All Grace. He is also a member
special way. Of course, God entrusts ev- of the Pueblo Amante de Maria Mariological Society
ery human being to each and every other of the Philippines.
Volume 41 • Number 12 19
STATEMENTS

Thank God, It’s over Moral Revolution?

THANK God, the curfew is over. Thank God, our
hardworking media men have been released; were it not for
Do It
them the nation would be in the dark as to what our country
is undergoing at this point in time. Yesterday and last night, GOD help us! God have mercy “social volcano” (Heaven help
the people holed-in at Peninsula Hotel had a “foretaste” of on the Filipino people. The list us!), we support the ideal of a
what Martial Law could be. God save us from the worse! of unresolved cases of social, “moral revolution”—moral
Bishop Julio Labayen, Bishop-Emeritus of Infanta, economic and political con- transformation, moral renewal,
experienced in the hands of the military what he did not cerns keeps piling up. Suicides moral reform. The CBCP has
undergo even in the time of Marcos dictatorship. Bishop and homicides have been com- proposed it before in many ways
Labayen is already 81 years old. I am appealing to the mitted because of extreme un- through the years. And we
military that he be released on account of his age. The resolved poverty—and these would like to say it again. Noth-
advocacy that Bishop Labayen had been doing is for the at a time when the peso is ing new, but the resolve may be.
country to be restored to genuine democracy and justice claimed to be gaining ground. We are consoled by the
which is worth fighting for. How long have the poor to fact that some of our public
In this moment of national crisis, may there be sobri- wait? And then, the murder of officials and different sectors
ety, calmness, mutual understanding among the people in a COMELEC official—at a time of civil society are seeing such
opposite camps. Let us pray for our country. when COMELEC is facing re- a need for “moral revolution”.
newal of its institution. Sana magpatuloy ito… sana
+ANGEL N. LAGDAMEO, DD The alleged bribery of dumami pa ang bilang nila.
Archbishop of Jaro government officials, the May this attitude prevail… may
CBCP President deaths resulting from the ex- the number of good-willed
November 30, 2007 plosion at the Glorietta and more people increase. Not only in-
recently the bomb explosion at vestigations one after another.
the Batasan Pambansa: these In our country where 57%
are the social concerns and are not affected by the gained
Statement nagging issues that are crying
our for solution and closure.
power of the peso, where graft
and corruption by the mighty
Add to this list the multi- in power and influence still hold
Committee on Women, Justice, Peace and Integrity of million peso projects sprawl- sway, we are in search for
Creation. Philippine Province of the Good Shepherd ing like white elephants be- people who would be humble,
cause of substandard qualities courageous and decided
GATHERED in our Province good and well being and and questionable arrange- enough to do a Zacchaeus,
Assembly in Quezon City security of the Filipino people ments. “Here and now I give half of my
from November 12-14, 2007, should be a great concern of These are not purely socio- possession to the poor, and if
we, the undersigned Good the national leadership. The economic issues. The Church’s I have cheated anybody out of
Shepherd Sisters, coming fact is the majority of Filipi- social doctrine (Compendium anything, I will pay back four
from different parts of the nos are insecure and fearful 330-331) insists on their moral times the amount.” (Lk. 19:8).
country decry the recent in the face of grinding pov- connotations. The relationship This is the only violent revolu-
bombing of Batasan erty they suffer from. between morality and econom- tion worthy of the name—it
Pambansa causing the loss Who will deny that the ics and poverty is necessary, “kills” selfishness.
of lives and severe injury to national government has intrinsic and reciprocal. On the Let us do it. “To start this
many. This recent event, lost the moral ascendancy to one hand, it will be unfair to the moral revolution, I must cease
added to the long list of govern this country? We victims if the real and ultimate to be dishonest, unjust and
suspicious events and scan- don’t! Therefore, we culprits are not investigated and unfair to my fellow Filipinos. I
dalous deals and scams al- strongly ask the Chief Ex- made to answer for their ac- will tell and act on the truth that
legedly attributed to the ecutive Gloria Macapagal- tions. On the other hand, each I confess or affirm. I will return
present national administra- Arroyo to step down. case carries a strong statement what I have unjustly and de-
tion. about the different levels of lead- ceitfully acquired. Only then
Inspired and challenged Signatories: Eighty Two ership as well as about the na- can I ask pardon from God and
by our mission to continue (82) Good Shepherd Sisters tional state of affairs. the people I have wronged.”
to be “Life-bearers with and As a response to the state Speaking of reconciliation?
for the Poor” and called to of moral bankruptcy in public This is!
(For Reference: Sr. Maureen life, of probably irremediable loss
heed Micah 6:8 “to act justly, Catabian, RGS – Chairperson of the
to love tenderly and to walk W-JPIC Committee of the Sisters of credibility and trust, a call has +ANGEL N. LAGDAMEO
of the Good Shepherd (Philippines. been made for “moral revolu- Archbishop of Jaro
humbly with our God”, we Telephone: 913 64 07 Email :
believe that the common maurgs@yahoo.com) tion”. If only to stop our coun- CBCP President
try from continuing to become a November 20, 2007

20 IMPACT • December 2007


Military Operations
Threaten Lumad
Communities
SINCE the start of this month,
around 500 military men, some
belonging to the 58th IB PA
have arrived in Lumad com-
munities in Diatagon, Lianga
and San Agustin, Surigao del
Sur. They brought with them
two 6x6 military trucks, one of
A Fraternal Statement in which was loaded with rice
Support of the Sumilao Farmers’ and other food stuff, two ar-
mored personnel carriers
March for Land and Justice (APCs) and two 105 howitzer
cannons. The military men
ON behalf of my brother priests and the faithful of the stayed in the houses of civil-
Diocese of Calbayog, I welcome you, dear brothers and ians, and occupied Lumad Lit-
sisters from San Vicente, Sumilao, Bukidnon, to Samar. I am eracy Schools. They also put
a witness to your journey and I saw how tired and hungry up makeshift tents near the
you are, not only for food and rest but more importantly for houses of the residents.
social justice. Checkpoints to monitor the
I join you in prayer so that you will achieve the cause activities of the residents were
for which you marched: to reclaim the 144-hectare land that set up. When passing these
is yours in the first place. You were once robbed of your checkpoints, residents are
land for which your life and future depend on, and deprived asked to present their IDs or
of the comfort of your families, homes, and livelihood, so cedulas, their names and mo-
you march for land and justice. You remind me of the bile phone numbers are listed,
injustice, oppression, toil, and friendlessness in Ecclesiastes and their belongings are in-
4:1-4, “Then I looked again at all the injustice that goes on spected. The military men in-
in this world. The oppressed were crying, and no one would terrogated teachers and stu-
help them. No one would help them because their oppres- dents of tribal community
sors had power on their side.” schools, telling them that if
I therefore hope that there will be a favorable end to they have relatives who joined
your long walk. I pray that the conversion order on the the NPA, they must surrender.
Sumilao land be revoked and the land be returned to you. The ongoing military op-
May the Lord give you a fresh supply of strength to do your erations have greatly affected
tasks, anoint your works, and bless your plans so that even the lives of residents in 12
your smallest accomplishments will glorify God and sanc- Lumad communities. They
tify yourselves. have stopped going about with
The Lord will be with you in your walk for land and their normal daily activities for
justice. Take comfort for the Lord upholds the cause of the fear of their safety. Classes in
oppressed. He gives sight to the blind and sets prisoners 7 Lumad Primary Literacy
free. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, watches Schools with more than 500
over the strangers and sustains the fatherless and the pupils, and a Lumad High
widow. But He frustrates the ways of the wicked (Psalm School with 177 students have
146:7-9). been disrupted as the military
We keep you all in our prayers. Kaming tanan sa also stayed in these schools.
Diocesis sa Calbayog usa ug uban kaninyo, among More than 200 families have
igsoong mag-uuma, sa kawsa nga inyong gibarugan. already fled their homes, and
Abante Bukidnon! Sulong Igsoon! Ang Dios magauban are now staying in evacuation
kanunay kaninyo! centers set up by Karapatan in
the town proper of Lianga,
Most Rev. Isabelo C. Abarquez, DD some 15 kilometers away from
Bishop of Calbayog the Lumad communities. Ac-
cording to Karapatan, 1,512
Volume 41 • Number 12
STATEMENTS
persons mostly women and
children who braved the heavy
rains, and endured the long
walk to the town proper, are
now housed in the evacuation
centers. No action has been
taken by the local government
units up to this time, while Col.
Jose Vizcarra, commander of
the Army’s 401st Infantry Bri-
gade, has declared that opera-
tions allegedly in pursuit of
NPAs will continue until nec-
essary.
The Rural Missionaries of
the Philippines (RMP) strongly
denounce this unwanted in-
trusion to the once peaceful
communities of our indigenous
brothers and sisters, and calls
for the immediate withdrawal
of military troops in the above-
mentioned areas. Military op-
erations have always posed
great danger to the lives of
helpless civilians. We must not
wait until someone is hurt or
even killed in the course of
these operations before con-
crete actions are taken to nor-
malize the situation. We call on
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as
Commander-in-Chief of the
Armed Forces to immediately
look into the plight of the af-
fected residents, and to order
that the military operations be
stopped. The safety of civil-
ians is already at risk, and turn-
ing a deaf ear will surely aggra-
vate the situation. The RMP
also calls on all church people
to voice out their concern in
the light of these develop-
ments, and hold GMA and the
military accountable for any and
all violations of human rights.
Sr. Elenita Belardo, RGS
RMP National Coordinator
Fr. Jesus Malit, SSS
AMRSP Co-chairperson
21
STATEMENTS

“Peace, Prosperity and Respect for Human

Rights Are Inseparably Linked”
Address of Pope Benedict XVI to the members of the U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization (Nov. 22, 2007)

Mr. President,
Mr. Director General,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you gather for the Thirty-fourth

Conference of the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, I am
pleased to welcome you to the Vatican.
Our meeting today is part of a tradition
reaching back to the time when your Orga-
nization first set up its headquarters in
Rome. I am happy to have yet another
occasion to express appreciation for your
work to eliminate the scourge of global
hunger.
As you know, the Holy See has al-
ways maintained a keen interest in every
effort made to rid the human family of
famine and malnutrition, in the awareness
that resolving these problems requires not
only extraordinary dedication and highly
refined technical training, but above all a
genuine spirit of cooperation uniting all
men and women of good will.
This noble goal calls for unwavering
acknowledgement of the inherent dignity
of the human person at every stage of life.
All forms of discrimination, and particu-
larly those that thwart agricultural devel-
opment, must be rejected since they con-
stitute a violation of the basic right of
every person to be “free from hunger”.
These convictions are in fact demanded
by the very nature of your work on behalf
of the common good of humanity, as ex-
pressed so eloquently by your motto—
fiat panis—words that are also at the heart
of the Gospel which the Church is called to
proclaim.
The data gathered through your re-
search and the extent of your programmes
for supporting the global endeavor to de-
velop the world’s natural resources clearly
testify to one of the most troubling para-
doxes of our time: the relentless spread of
poverty in a world that is also experiencing
unprecedented prosperity, not only in the
economic sphere but also in the rapidly
developing fields of science and technol-
ogy.
The obstacles standing in the way of
overcoming this tragic situation can at times
be discouraging. Armed conflicts, out-
breaks of disease, adverse atmospheric and
environmental conditions and the massive
forced displacement of peoples: all these
obstacles should serve as a motivation to
redouble our efforts to provide each person
with his or her daily bread. For her part, the
Church is convinced that the quest for more
effective technical solutions in an ever-
changing and expanding world calls for far-
sighted programmes embodying enduring
values grounded in the inalienable dignity
and rights of the human person.
FAO continues to play an essential
role in relieving world hunger, while remind-
ing the international community of the press-
ing need constantly to update methods and
to design strategies adequate to today’s
challenges. I express my appreciation for
the generous efforts made in this regard by
all associated with your Organization. The
Holy See has closely followed the activities
of FAO over the last sixty years and is
confident that the significant results al-
ready achieved will continue. FAO was one
of the first international organizations with
which the Holy See established regular
diplomatic relations. On 23 November 1948,
during the Fourth Session of your Confer-
ence, the Holy See was granted the unique
status of “Permanent Observer”, thus en-
suring its right to participate in the activities
of FAO’s various departments and affili-
ated agencies in a way consonant with the
Church’s religious and moral mission.
The united effort of the international
community to eliminate malnutrition and
promote genuine development necessarily
calls for clear structures of management
and oversight, and a realistic assessment of
the resources needed to address a wide
range of different situations. It requires the
contribution of every member of society—
individuals, volunteer organizations, busi-
nesses, and local and national govern-
ments—always with due regard for those
ethical and moral principles which are the
common patrimony of all people and the
foundation of all social life. The interna-
tional community must always avail itself of
this precious treasure of common values
since genuine and lasting development can
only be furthered in a spirit of cooperation
and a willingness to share professional and

22 IMPACT • December 2007


technical resources.
Indeed, today more than ever, the hu-
man family needs to find the tools and
strategies capable of overcoming the con-
flicts caused by social differences, ethnic
rivalries, and the gross disparity in levels of
economic development. Mankind is thirst-
ing for true and lasting peace—a peace that
can only come about if individuals, groups
at every level, and government leaders cul-
tivate habits of responsible decision-mak-
ing rooted firmly in the fundamental prin-
ciples of justice.
It is therefore essential that societies
dedicate their energies to educating au-
thentic peacemakers: this is a task which
falls in a particular way to organizations like
your own, which cannot fail to recognize as
the foundation of authentic justice the uni-
versal destination of the goods of creation.
Religion, as a potent spiritual force for
healing the wounds of conflict and divi-
sion, has its own distinctive contribution to
make in this regard, especially through the
work of forming minds and hearts in accor-
dance with a vision of the human person.
Ladies and Gentlemen, technical
progress, important as it is, is not every-
thing. Such progress must be placed within
the wider context of the integral good of the
human person. It must constantly draw
nourishment from the common patrimony
of values which can inspire concrete initia-
tives aimed at a more equitable distribution
of spiritual and material goods. As I wrote
in my encyclical “Deus Caritas Est,” “those
who are in a position to help others will
realize that, in doing so, they themselves
receive help; being able to help others is no
merit or achievement of their own” (No. 35).
This principle has a special application to
the world of agriculture, in which the work
of those who are often considered the “low-
liest” members of society should be duly
acknowledged and esteemed.
FAO’s outstanding activity on behalf
of development and food security clearly
points to the correlation between the spread
of poverty and the denial of basic human
rights, beginning with the fundamental right
to adequate nutrition. Peace, prosperity,
and respect for human rights are insepara-
bly linked. The time has come to ensure, for
the sake of peace, that no man, woman and
child will ever be hungry again!
Dear friends, in renewing my esteem
for your work, I assure you of my prayers
that Almighty God will enlighten and guide
your deliberations, so that the activity of
FAO will respond ever more fully to the
human family’s yearning for solidarity, jus-
tice and peace.
ARTICLES
The
corruption
of power
By Fr. Roy Cimagala
W
E have been amply warned
about this danger. Our Lord
himself said: “You know that
the princes of the Gentiles lord it over
them, and they that are greater, exercise
power upon them. It shall not be so
among you. But whosoever will be the
greater among you, let him be your min-
ister. And he that will be first among you,
shall be your servant.” (Mt 20,25-27)
We have to understand that any
power that we have in this life is always
a participation of God’s power. St. Paul
said so: “There is no power but from
God, and those that are, are ordained of
God.” (Rom 13, 1)
Though we are always free to use
that power as truly our own, it would be
very funny to use it as if it is entirely ours,
without due reference to God, its source
and purpose, and to the others for whom
it is used.
And yet that is what we see around
quite abundantly. Leaders, political and
even ecclesiastical, many times act out
this “lording it over,” eager to dominate
and control others, being bossy and
even arrogant and insolent.
Because of this error, they open
themselves to other irregularities: hypoc-
risy, greed, lust, envy, hatred, etc. Some
even go to the extent of getting detached
from reality and lapsing into insanity.
It’s truly painful to see someone
who at the beginning of a political career
appears meek and then morphs himself
through years of wielding power into an
insufferable monster, tinkering with mo-
rality and getting inured to rational twist-
ing, grand lying, hatching plots and con-
spiracies.
It’s hard to understand why some
leaders act in that ridiculous way. Of
course, there are reasons. Like, they
have been elected or appointed, have
superior qualities, have been born lucky,
etc. Outside pressures and temptations
are never lacking.
But these cannot misrepresent the
truth that any earthly power is from God
and has to be used according to God’s
will. One’s proper attitude toward power
should be that of being a minister, a
servant, not the author or owner, much
less, a tyrant.
We have to find a continuing way of
educating everyone about the nature and
purpose of power. We have to actively
inculcate the proper attitudes and dispo-
sitions, especially rectitude of intention.
We have to be aware that we are
doing God’s work even as we pursue our
earthly activities. These are not purely
earthly as in being strictly politics. They
can and should be part of God’s designs.
Aside from being competent, we
need to be humble always, conscious
that we are mere servants and instru-
ments though vested with the dignity of
being God’s children. We have to be
prudent, more of the spirit than of the
flesh and of the world.
We have to continually practice
detachment, seeing to it that our heart is
fully attuned to God’s will. We should
not allow the many privileges and perks
given to holders of power to spoil us.
We have to learn to distinguish in
the course of using power between what
is of absolute value that has to be upheld
always, and what is of relative value that
can be open to many interpretations and
therefore should be respected even as
we try to make a consensus.
Problems start when people fail to
recognize the source and aim of power,
and then develop the corresponding
inappropriate attitudes and habits.
Worse, without God and on our own, we
tend to weave a web of deceit that even-
tually will incriminate us.
We cannot underestimate the many
dangers that threaten the proper use of
power. First, we have right now an envi-
ronment filled with bad examples of how
power ought to be used.
There also are serious efforts now to
discredit the role of God and of Christian
morality in the use of power. The religious
dimension is often viewed as irrelevant,
an unnecessary burden, a mere luxury
that can be discarded anytime.
That’s why we have many reasons
to embark on a systematic campaign to
clarify the issue on the use of power.
This is an urgent call of our times. I
Volume 41 • Number 12 23
ARTICLES

G
iven the historical background of
the current land issue in the Philip-
pines and the set of specific con-
cerns around land policy, it is important
now to ask the question why celebrate a
Second National Rural Congress? I pro-
pose that some principles from the
Church’s Social Teaching (CST) can be
helpful in providing the framework for our
discussion.
By CST, I mean the body of social
wisdom about the human person in commu-
nity and the structures and practices that
enable the person to come to full human
development. That wisdom is found in our
scriptures, in the reflections of theologians,
in the statements of church organizations
and in the witness of committed men and
women. The CST is not so much a set of
answers or detailed plans as a frame of
questions and guiding principles and norms.
It has been described as “a light for our
paths, not a roadmap for our journeys.”
It is my thesis that this CST does indeed
provide a “value-added element” to public
discussions, debates and decisions such as
those going on now in the Philippines (and

Why a National
elsewhere) over land policy. By that I mean
that this public process is enhanced by
injection of the principles, norms and direc-
tives found in the Social Teaching. The

Rural Congress II?

“value-added element” provides a frame-
work within which to focus on what should
be the policy based on the priorities of hu-
man society.
Selected Principles
Before highlighting some elements in
this CST frame, I want to draw attention to a
list of values set down in the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Programme (CARP) that
still has to be completed. The CARP has
been hailed as a centerpiece programme of
the Philippine Government from the time of
President Corazon Aquino. As a major as-
set-reform programme, the CARP seeks to
address the problem of inequitable distribu-
tion of land. As a poverty-alleviation mea-
sure, CARP seeks to transform agrarian re-
form beneficiaries into more productive mem-
bers of society who can use the land to
generate more income for their families.
After the lapse of almost twenty years
from the passage of the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), however, the
CARP remains an incomplete dream. While
the implementation of the programme has
produced significant gains in terms of distri-
bution of agricultural lands, there remains a
large area that should still be covered under
the CARP. Furthermore, farmer beneficiaries
who now own the land should be given the
Land: A critical Issue for the Philippines
By Fr. Archie Casey, SX
needed support services that will enable
them to make the land productive. It is the
policy of the State to pursue a Comprehen-
sive Agrarian Reform Programme (CARP).
The welfare of the landless farmers, farm
workers and other qualified beneficiaries will
receive the highest consideration to pro-
mote social justice and to move the nation
towards sound rural development and in-
dustrialization, and the establishment of
owner cultivatorship of economic-sized
farms as the basis of Philippine agriculture.
The CARP underlines the following
values:
• Rural poor people’s participation
• Accountability
• Commitment
• Self-reliance
• Equity and fairness
• Justice and human dignity
• Impartiality
I believe that this list is a very good
summary of the CST principles to be
summarised below.
It is important to note, of course, that for
Indigenous Peoples (IPs), the tradition is
that land is something sacred. It is part of the
gracious gift of God who provides for the
people. Thus traditionally the land belonged
to the community, under the guardianship of
the tiller. Individual families could use part of
the communal land, with the expectation that
they would cultivate it and stay there from
one generation to another. Other parts of the
communal land were for the service of all or
a reserve for future needs.
In Judeo-Christian biblical terms, the earth
belongs to God the Creator and people are
only stewards. Leviticus 25:23 reminds the
people that, “Your land must not be sold on
a permanent basis, because you do not own
it; it belongs to God, and you are like foreign-

24 IMPACT • December 2007


ers who are allowed to make use of it.”
Moreover, land and its fruits should be
equally and equitably shared. Hence the
practices such as the redistribution of land
every Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25:28) and the
leaving of some fruits for the poor after
harvest (Deuteronomy 25:19-22). Jesus’ re-
spect and appreciation for land is evident in
his many agricultural-based parables and in
his special concern for the poor, most of
whom were landless.
In the documents of the Church, the
topic of land is usually treated in the discus-
sion of property. To briefly recall the basic
teaching, the CST perspective is that prop-
© Ian aOng - http://flickr.com/photos/ianong/419710280/
erty is subject to the common purpose of all
created things, namely the benefit of all
people. The Second Vatican Council in its
main document, The Church in the Modern
World, stated quite plainly: “God intended
the earth and all that it contains for the use
of every human being and people” (GS 69).
Paul VI followed that up in his The
Development of People (1967) with the re-
affirmation of a long-held principle that large
landed estates that “impede the general
prosperity because they are extensive, un-
used or poorly used, or because they bring
hardships to people or are detrimental to
the interests of the country,” can in the name
of the common good be expropriated by
national authorities (PP 24). John Paul II
clarified that further by stating in his The
Social Concerns of the Church (1987) that
“Private property, in fact, is under a ‘social
mortgage,’ which means that it has an in-
trinsically social function, based upon and
justified precisely by the principle of the
universal destination of goods” (SRS 42).
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of
the Philippines (CBCP) has also advocated
Land Reform. The bishops reiterated the call
for a Comprehensive and Effective Land Re-
form Programme in their exhortation “Thirst-
ing for Justice.” on 14 July 1987, (Eight days
later, President Aquino signed Proclamation
131 and Executive Order No. 229 which dealt
with the implementation of the Comprehen-
sive Agrarian Reform Program):
“This year we celebrate a National
Eucharistic Year. The heart of the Eucha-
rist is sharing - Christ sharing himself with
us totally.
In this celebration God is asking us to do
what we celebrate: to share to the utmost of
ourselves with others, especially with those
with whom Christ himself identifies: the
thirsty, the hungry, the naked, and the home-
less (Mt. 25:35-46). In the Philippines today,
these are the landless, the exploited, the
disadvantaged, and the powerless. These
have the single most urgent claim on the
Why a National Rural Congress II?
conscience of the nation. To opt for them, to
share with them is a requirement of the
Kingdom of God.
Therefore, under this perspective of a
loving faith that does justice, we, your bish-
ops, have no alternative as far as the ques-
tion of agrarian reform is concerned:
We are for as comprehensive a
programme of agrarian reform as possible –
one that will make it possible for all, the 70%
who live below the poverty line especially, to
have more in order to be more (Cf. Paul VI,
Populorum Progressio, 6).
We believe furthermore that a genuine
agrarian reform programme must be realis-
tic. No programme can be successful if it
transcends the capabilities of government to
manage and finance.” (Ricardo J. Cardinal
Vidal, Archbishop of Cebu, CBCP President)
One very clear summary of the CST on
land is found in the 1980 statement of a group
of Bishops from the mid-western part of the
United States. I believe it has great relevance
to the current discussion in the Philippines.
In response to problems raised by land
ownership and use, the Bishops recom-
mended ten principles of land stewardship—
principles clearly biblical and in accord with
statements of the Popes mentioned above:
• The land is God’s.
• People are God’s stewards on the land,
co-creators with God in guiding the
land’s productive power and in con-
serving the land’s natural gifts.
• The land’s benefits are for everyone –
both for the present and future genera-
tions.
• The land should be distributed equita-
bly.
• The land should be conserved and re-
stored.
• Land-use planning must consider social
and environmental impacts.
• Land use should be appropriate to land
quality; for example, prime farmland
should not be used unnecessarily for
urban expansion or highways.
• The land should provide a moderate
livelihood.
• The land’s workers should be able to
become the land’s owners.
• The land’s mineral wealth should be
shared.
Policy Applications
Guided by these principles and by the
biblical and documentary references out-
lined above, there are at least three major
emphases that are relevant when we con-
sider policy land issues of the Philippines.
This is where I return to the “value-added
element” crucial to the discussions, debates
and decisions about public policy.
First, the land policy must be grounded
on the recognition that land is not simply
another economic commodity, but something
very central to the well being of human soci-
ety. It is not to be bought and sold on simple
market principles. It is, indeed, something
sacred since it is so essential to the well being
of every woman and man. This means that
economic reform measures such as globalized
agri-business programmes cannot be the pri-
mary determinant to land policy in a country
like the Philippines. This calls, therefore, for a
thorough review of the 1988 CARP Law with
extension and reform and all its implications.
Second, a primary concern for the poor
in the Philippines (the overwhelming majority
of Filipinos!) must guide the land policies.
Land tenure must always be designed in ways
that do not discriminate against the poor—
either because of cumbersome and expensive
legal and management requirements to fulfil or
because available good CARP-able land is
possessed by landlords or investors who
have access to ready cash. Allocation of titles
to land, whether Customary or State, must
respect the rights and needs of local commu-
nities and especially the rural poor—of whom
the largest number are women.
Third, land policies must be holistic,
that is, they must be integrated into larger
development planning that takes account of
issues like food security, employment, envi-
ronmental concerns, community identity,
regional infrastructure, etc. For example, when
the CARP Law states that “By means of
appropriate incentives, the State shall en-
courage the formation and maintenance of
economic-sized family farms to be consti-
tuted by individual beneficiaries and small
landowners” plans should be designed in
this holistic fashion.
Conclusion
As the Philippine Government now evalu-
ates whether agriculture is the number one
national priority, it is clear that land policy
moves to the forefront in addressing current
burning issues like poverty and hunger. The
Church’s Social Teaching has many signifi-
cant things to say about these issues provid-
ing a framework for making decisions, taking
action and achieving the Common Good.
How men and women appear in the light of
belief in Christ and his love is the root cause
why the NRC II process can help re-awaken
our Gospel Concern for the dignity of the rural
poor and fulfil “the joys and hopes, the griefs
and anxieties” envisioned forty years ago on
February 5th 1967 by the first National Rural
Congress and encapsulated in its slogan
“THE CHURCH GOES TO THE BARRIOS.” I
Volume 41 • Number 12 25
FROM THE
B L O G S

looked at it with reservation, apprehen-

Lessons Learned
sion if not condemnation—especially
those who might suddenly lose their pub-
lic profitable offices or juicy positions. It is
however true that there are definitely big
lessons learned from the sobering if not
The tension in Makati is over. The tear gas that caused the riveting drama remain the chilling episode witnessed here and abroad
is gone. The guns are silent. The soldiers, same. The perceived morally bankrupt and by millions of people in living colors and
police and their tanks are back in the camps. callous government continues to be in real time.
A plush hotel suffered some damage. The power. The same markedly questionable First lesson: The present government
lead personalities are held secure. Makati individuals with busted values system is the problem and the culprit. It is the
appears calm and quiet. But as sure as the remain holding the high critical public of- principal author of corrupt acts and prac-
sun will rise tomorrow, the saga is defi- fices. tices, the fearsome killing machine of cause
nitely not ended, the last chapter of the What thus took place in a key city in oriented men and women, the primary ori-
story is certainly not yet written. The na- the country must mean many things to gin of deceit and injustice. It is a govern-
tional realities behind the event are still many people. Just as there were those who ment that effectively divides people and
alive and about. The fundamental factors welcomed and cheered it, so did others amply gives them strong reasons to dis-
trust and disapprove. It makes money from
even the poorest of the poor while
nonchalantly appropriating huge public
funds to promote its own political interest
Grand Gambling Lord of the Philippines and concerns. With such a government,
reconciliation is an empty word, national
It is not an exaggera- trumpet its alleged social tal Disorders. Gambling development is but a dream, and social
tion much less a fabri- welfare projects presum- wherefore caused the peace remains a moral impossibility, hence
cation to say that the ably all over the land. Re- establishment of “Gam- the long existing unrest on the part of the
present government is cently, it even announced blers Anonymous” in all governed from the left, from the right and
the biggest gambling its glorious and visionary places where the vice from the center as well. It is the present
lord in the country. This intention of putting up a reigns—as there is one government itself that foments continu-
has no reference to the veritable gambling city cum regularly meeting in a ous dissent and big resentment to the
long standing and per- some amusement compo- known Hotel some- point of the Makati attempt.
vasive illegal numbers’ nents for cosmetic pur- where in Roxas Boule- Second lesson: there are more and
game that it poses. Lately, it is staging vard. more people who are alienated by the ex-
nonchalantly tolerates if certain entertainment fea- In addition to its isting government that does as a matter of
not openly promotes. tures with a vague claim medals of dishonor such course what it should not, and avoid doing
Neither has this any- that it intends to embark in as in the area of graft what it is precisely paid for and expected
thing to do with the infa- some kind of a vague cul- and corruption, in the to do. The dissatisfied and downright dis-
mous gambling opera- tural development. sphere of extrajudicial gusted people are numbered among the
tors individually well There are some stand- killings and forced dis- elite and the miserable, the professionals
identified practically by ing facts that remain be- appearances, in the mat- and the unlettered. They are found in the
everybody except the yond debate in the gam- ter of high distrust and academe and the slums, the world of busi-
supposedly competent bling world. Gamblers are disapproval ratings, and ness and labor—even in the ranks of the
and concerned govern- ultimately losers, and gam- similar socio-moral AFP. While most of them do not actually
ment agencies. Needless bling operators are the final handicaps, there is join protest marches and rallies, they are
to say, this is about the winners always. Gamblers wherefore the added neither that happy much less contented
somehow omnipotent as are continuous liabilities to distinct title duly earned with the present administration. But even
well as omnipresent Phil- their work or profession, to by this government, viz., these will not “stand down” forever.
ippine Amusing Gam- their business or employ- “Grand Gambling Lord Third lesson: The great majority of
bling Corporation ment, not to mention their of the Philippines”. the Philippine media persons remain the
(PAGCOR) placed di- families and close friends. Meantime, there is hun- sign of courage and the voice of truth.
rectly under no less than Gamblers resent being ger and misery in the That is why they are hated by people who
the Office of the Presi- called what they are, and land. There is a big exo- wield power simply through weaponry—
dent as a staff entity. thus hide their identities as dus of workers. The Phil- a symbol of brute power and the tool of
In order to some- much as possible. Gambling ippine pesos buys less dictatorial figures. They are a constituent
way disguise its omi- is a vice—a bad habit that and less, and the cost of element of the hope of the country, a
nous reality and camou- dictates thought processes living is becoming much appreciated partner in confronting
flage its deleterious op- and directs action patterns. higher and higher. the abuses of public officials. May their
eration, the same gov- Gambling is addictive to the And this is the tribe increase. May they remain firm and
ernment gambling Cor- extent that it has acquired a “PHILIPPINES, MY stay whole
poration spends no place in the Diagnostic and PHILIPPINES.” Meantime, the crusade for truth, jus-
small money to loudly Statistical Manual of Men- ovc.blogspot.com tice and peace continues.
ovc.blogspot.com

26 IMPACT • December 2007


Truth, Justice, Change
H
OW much lie, injustice and stagnancy can the
adult bear, the young witness, the children inherit?
When will the people say enough is enough and
wherefore act to let the truth out, to make justice reign, to
effect a change for the better? What must the Filipinos do
lest they find themselves already irredeemably buried in
a deep ethical morass the present government keeps
digging for them, from the high pile of moral garbage it has
been heaping on them in the course of time?
How long will they endure their inculturation into
graft and corruption, in the nonchalant waste of human
lives and wanton violation of human rights? What on
earth will bring about a public outrage, a national move,
a concerted action to end a continuously and consis-
tently distrusted and disapproved government? They
have done it peacefully, steadfastly and successfully
before. They can once more surely do it again the same
way, with the same resolve and spirit.
The fundamental law of the land provides that head
of government is given six long years to deliver what the
people clamor for, to actualize what is promised to the
governed. Thereafter, the said national governing figure
EDITORIAL
is categorically barred from aspiring for the same
office. The rationale of this formal and expressed
constitutional provision is rather plain and simple: six
continuous years are long enough for the highest public
official in the country to demonstrate the national good
which it can actualize for the benefit of the people—or
sadly evidence national harm when it has the gall to
inflict upon the country.
It is already tiring and nauseating even to but recall
and list down the long litany of blatant socio-immoral
postures adopted by the present government whereby
money and power are worshipped; ego and loyalty
politics are held supreme. Thus rests the unavoidable
and unpleasant verdict recently rendered by a Church-
man known for his command of moral theology, for his
pastoral prudence and personal goodness. The incum-
bent government is morally bankrupt! Among other
things, such a painful evaluation means that together
with its cohorts, the head has lost the moral authority to
lead, the moral ascendancy to govern. It will take a good
amount of vain amoral gymnastics to arrive at a con-
trary conclusion.
Volume 41 • Number 12 27
FROM THE
I N B O X

her to give to my sister. And he heard my

A Christmas Story prayer. I wanted to ask him for enough to

He looked at me with the saddest eyes
and said “She has gone to be with Jesus”.
My Daddy says that Momma is going to
have to go to be with her. My heart nearly
stopped beating. Then the boy looked at
me again and said, “I told my Daddy to tell
Momma not to go yet. I told him to tell her
to wait till I got back from the store.” Then
he asked me if I wanted to see his picture.
I told him I would love to. He pulled out
some pictures he’d had taken at the front
of the store. He said “I want my Momma to
take this with her so she doesn’t ever
forget me.” “I love my Momma so very
much and I wish she did not have to leave
me.” “But Daddy says she will need to be
with my sister.”
I saw that the little boy had lowered
his head and had grown so very quiet.
While he was not looking I reached into my
purse and pulled out a handful of bills. I
asked the little boy, “Shall we count that
money one more time?” He grew excited
buy my Momma a white rose, but I didn’t
ask him, but he gave me enough to buy the
doll and a rose for my Momma. She loves
white roses so very, very much.”
In a few minutes the aunt came back
and I wheeled my cart away. I could not
keep from thinking about the little boy as
I finished my shopping in a totally differ-
ent spirit than when I had started. And I
kept remembering a story I had seen in the
newspaper several days earlier about a
drunk driver hitting a car and killing a little
girl and the Mother was in serious condi-
tion. The family was deciding on whether
to remove the life support.
Two days later I read in the paper
where the family had disconnected the life
support and the young woman had died. I
could not forget the little boy and just kept
wondering if the two were somehow con-
nected. Later that day, I could not help
myself and I went out and bought some
white roses and took them to the funeral
home where the young woman was. And
there she was holding a lovely white rose,
the beautiful doll, and the picture of the

I
hurried into the local department store
to grab some last minute Christmas
gifts. I looked at all the people and
grumbled to myself. I would be in here
forever and I just had so much to do.
Christmas was beginning to become such
a drag. I kinda wished that I could just
sleep through Christmas. But I hurried the
best I could through all the people to the
toy department.
I found myself in the doll aisle. Out of
the corner of my eye I saw a little boy about
five holding a lovely doll. He kept touch-
ing her hair and he held her so gently. I
and said “Yes, I just know it has to be
enough.” So I slipped my money in with
his and we began to count it.
Of course it was plenty for the doll. He
softly said, “Thank you Jesus for giving
me enough money.” Then the boy said, “I
just asked Jesus to give me enough money
to buy this doll so Momma can take it with
The Mountain
little boy in the store.
I left there in tears, my life changed
forever. The love that little boy had for his
little sister and his mother was overwhelm-
ing. And in a split second a drunk driver
had ripped the life of that little boy to
pieces.
rowena.dalanon@cbcpworld.net
their gear for the descent,
theysawthebaby’smother

T
here were two war
could not seem to help myself. I just kept ring tribes in the
looking over at the little boy and wondered Andes, one that
who the doll was for. I watched him turn to lived in the lowlands and
a woman and he called his aunt by name the other high in the moun-
and said, “Are you sure I don’t have tains.Themountainpeople
enough money” She replied a bit impa- invaded the lowlanders
tiently, “You know that you don’t have one day, and as part of their
enough money for it.” The aunt told the plundering of the people,
little boy not to go anywhere that she had they kidnapped a baby of
to go get some other things and would be one of the lowlander fami-
back in a few minutes. The boy continued lies and took the infant
to hold the doll. with them back up into the
After a bit I asked the boy who the doll mountains.
was for. He said, “It is the doll my sister The lowlanders
wanted so badly for Christmas. She just didn’t know how to climb
knew that Santa would bring it.” I told him the mountain. They didn’t
that maybe Santa was going to bring it. He know any of the trails that
said “No, Santa can’t go where my sister is... the mountain people used,
I have to give the doll to my Momma to take and they didn’t know
to her.” I asked him where his sister was.
where to find the mountain
people or how to track them in
the steep terrain.
Even so, they sent out
their best party of fighting men
toclimbthemountainandbring
the baby home.
The men tried first one
method of climbing and then
another. They tried one trail
and then another. After sev-
eral days of effort, however,
they had climbed only several
hundred feet.
Feeling hopeless and
helpless, the lowlander men
decided that the cause was
lost, and they prepared to re-
turn to their village below.
As they were packing
walkingtowardthem.They
realized that she was com-
ing down the mountain
that they hadn’t figured
out how to climb.
And then they saw
that she had the baby
strapped to her back. How
could that be?
One man greeted her
and said, “We couldn’t
climb this mountain. How
did you do this when we,
the strongest and most able
men in the village, couldn’t
do it?”
She shrugged her
shoulders and said, “It
wasn’t your baby.”
rowena.dalanon@cbcpworld.net

28 IMPACT • December 2007

 B O O K
REVIEWS

Before and Beyond “I do”

Matrimonial Advisories
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz, JCD, DD
Another instructive volume from a
prolific writer, this book is already
the 26th in a roster of publications
written and published by Arch-
bishop Oscar Cruz, DD. As the
subtitle suggests, and the author
acknowledges in his foreword;
what is found inside the pages are
but matrimonial advisories, and
the author does not intend to pass
judgments but merely counsels.
Nonetheless, the counsels and
recommendations found in this
volume are “nuggets of gold,” so
to speak, for anyone who is intend-
ing to get married. And even for
someone who has already tied the
knot, the “words of wisdom” scat-
tered through the pages surely are
effective suggestions to keep
one’s relationship before and af-
ter marriage fruitful and alive. Both
interesting and informative, this
volume is truly a helpful guide to
couples who want to make their
marriages work and achieve a
truly rewarding relationship with
their loved ones.

The Way of Love

Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI’s Encyclical
Deus Caritas Est
Edited by Livio Melina and Carl
Anderson, this book contains the
reflections on Pope Benedict
XVI’s first encyclical Deus Caritas
Est by professors from the Pon-
tifical John Paul II Institute for
Studies on Marriage and the
Family who treated the themes
raised by the encyclical from vari-
ous theological and philosophi-
cal perspectives. It open with the
Pope’s words: “I wish in my first
Encyclical to speak of the love
which God lavishes upon us and
which we in turn must share with
others.” It is from here that the
reflections in the volume depart,
probing into the “eros” and
“agape” in its differentiated and
complex but ultimately unitary
The Gospel of the Cross
Reflections for Lent and Easter
Fr. Gil A. Alinsangan, SSP
The Gospel reflections found in
this volume have been written for
and originally published in differ-
ent times in the liturgical–biblical
diary 365 days with the Lord. This
book, which is the second volume
of a series of reflections written
by Fr. Gil Alinsangan, SSP does
not fail the interest generated by
his first volume which was about
Advent and Christmas. This time,
the gospel reflections cover the
seasons of Lent and Easter aptly
titled “The Gospel of the Cross,”
reality that the Pontiff carefully
crafts so that one realizes that
Christianity does not detach from
human existence, but accepts
the whole person in his search
for love in order to purify it and
reveal its news dimensions.
“These pages offer the theologi-
cal context for some of the in-
sights of the document as well
as the new horizons that the en-
cyclical opens up for Church’s
evangelizing mission. They are in-
tended to be a starting point for a
renewed reflection on human love
that shows how to experience love
and in this way to cause the light
of God to enter into the world,”
writes Camillo Cardinal Ruini at
the book’s introduction.
thus drawing readers reflectively
into the mystery of the cross,
which is the fount of salvation. So
profound in insights and deeply
rooted in biblical exegesis, this
volume indeed “will lead people
to know and love the Gospel of
the Cross, and to mirror it in their
lives.” The author, who holds a
Licentiate in Sacred Scriptures
from the Pontifical Biblical Insti-
tute, is currently the Rector of St.
Paul Seminary Foundation in
Silang, Cavite.
Formative Spirituality
The collected writings of Venancio
Calpotura, SJ
Edited by Virginia
Calpotura, RSCJ, this vol-
ume is the first of two vol-
umes of the writings of Fr.
Venancio Calpotura, SJ,
grouped into “Formative
Spirituality” (Vol. 1) and
“Ignatian Spirituality” (Vol
2). This is a collection of
papers he submitted and
talks he delivered to vari-
ous groups, mostly to
priests and religious
formators who underwent
the learning process at
Emmaus Center, the Insti-
tute of Formation he
founded. All through the
pages of this book run an
interplay of academic
systems of formation and
nuggets of insights that
may have naturally flowed
out of years of profound
spiritual experience of liv-
ing the “Ignatian way”. At
the end pages, one sees
not only the thoughts and
methods of formative spiri-
tuality, but gradually the
witness of a person who
has maximized his years
forming spiritual
formators. At his wake in
May 2005, Fr. Daniel
Huang, SJ, said: “Benny
brought to the Philippine
Church, to seminaries and
religious formation
houses, to lay people en-
gaged in ministry, a new
formative spirituality, that
blended modern psychol-
ogy and classic
spirituality…that brought
profound healing in
psyche and at the same
time, profound closeness
to the God of love and call.
The Church in the Philip-
pines owes much to
Benny. It will take years
for us to understand how
much.”

Volume 41 • Number 12 29
ENTERTAINMENT
CATHOLIC INITIATIVE
FOR ENLIGHTENED
MOVIE APPRECIATION
Title: Lions for Lambs
Running Time: 98 min.
Cast: Meryl Streep, Tom
Cruise, Robert Redford,
Andrew Garfield, Derek
Luke, Michael Peña,
Kevin Dunn Peter Berg
Director: Robert Redford
Producers: Robert Redford,
Matthew Michael
Carnahan, Andrew
Hauptman, Tracy Falco
Screenwriter: Matthew
Michael Carnahan
Three separate events are
going on at the same time. In
Washington D.C., Janine
Roth (Meryl Streep), a vet-
eran journalist has a one-
on-one interview with Sena-
tor Jasper Irving (Tom
Cruise) who wants her to air
an exclusive news material
he is passing on to her.
Around the same time in a
California University, pro-
fessor Dr. Stephen Malley
(Robert Redford) is seri-
ously confronting his stu-
dent Todd Hayes (Andrew
Garfield) about his frequent
absences from his class and
is given a severe reprimand.
Also around this time, a
small band of U.S. soldiers
30 IMPACT • December 2007
talking. The journalist real- ters whatever the cost. The
izes that she had helped the media may thus be used for
government on occasions to that purpose: preserving the
spread its propaganda, be-
fore this meeting, which has
image of power and party
interest. Roth struggles with
been a costly and tragic mis- her conscience, and prag-
take. She is now reluctant to matism: she wants to write
Music: Mark Isham do what Irving wants her to the truth but not at the cost
Editor: Joe Hutshing do. Still she has her editor of losing her job. Arlan and
Genre: Action/ Drama to bring her dilemma to. In Ernest were brave enough
Cinematography: Phillippe Afghanistan, the two bud- to follow their conscience,
Rousselot A/FC/ASC dies, who were Dr. Malley’s while Todd lacked commit-
Distributor: United Artists idealistic students and who ment and does not have a
Location: Washington DC, still had faith in the way direction in his life. Dr.
California, USA; things are in their country, Malley is such a competent
Afganistan became “the sacrificial and conscientious profes-
Technical Assessment: lambs that fed the pride of sor that he could light up
½ the lions”. Political ambition one’s idealism and remove
and pride lead to the idea apathy from his students.
Moral Assessment: zz½
that winning is what mat- Lions for Lambs
CINEMA Rating: For viewers
14 and above
is taken by helicopter to a
strategic point in the Af-
ghanistan mountains to pre-
vent the Talibans from ad-
vancing into the territory.
Among the soldiers in the
air lift are two students of
Dr. Malley: Arlan (Derek
Luke) and Ernest (Michael
Peña) friends and idealistic
students.
The three lead actors
and actress are very con-
vincing in their roles.
Though they handled
mostly talky parts, they
clearly delivered what their
verbal interchange is all
about, that include effective
body language and facial ex-
pressions. The three differ-
ent events are so effectively
paced, edicted and directed
that these could be easily
put ogether in relation to
each other for the viewers
to see and get the central
idea of Lions for Lambs.
In the one-on-one inter-
view Janine sees that she is
to write about the adminis-
tration having a “new plan”
to end the deadlock in Af-
ghanistan by sending small
military groups to secure
ANSWER TO THE LAST ISSUE: WORDS WHICH DO NOT GIVE THE
their positions before a real LIGHT OF CHRIST INCREASE THE DARKNESS -- MOTHER TERESA
battle begins. When would
this “plan” be put into ac- QUOTES IN QUIZ Booklets available at BOOKSALE stores in SM, Robinsons and
selected malls in Manila. For mail order text 0919 2803036.
tion; Irving informs her, “ten
minutes ago” as they were

AFGHANISTAN
MPs stage walkout over Poor mental health side Writer accused of blas- Leader’s guards accused
bombing effect of rising economy phemy
A car loaded with bomb,
aimed at US-led coalition
armed forces exploded in
the Afghan capital early this
month, killing at least two
people. The incident oc-
curred a day after eighty
MPs walked out of parlia-
ment—hitting the govern-
ment of not cooperating in
an inquiry into the nation’s
worst suicide bombing.
BANGLADESH
Aid pours on cyclone
victims
Relief efforts are being
stepped up to bring aid to
thousands of cyclone vic-
tims in southern
Bangladesh, as the US mili-
tary joined aid operations.
A new problem, however,
has emerged in the after-
math of Cyclone Sidr—with
around three million victims
reportedly facing the risk of
food shortages. Add to the
list is over 92-thousand
hectares of crops destroyed
and 350 thousand livestock
lost.
LEBANON
Army chief can be presi- EAST TIMOR
dent Male seeks end to vio- Abortions blamed for ruption
Lebanon’s western- lence vs. women
backed governing majority
announced early this month
that it would accept army
chief Gen. Michel Sleiman
as a compromise candidate
for the vacant presidency,
clearing the way to an end to
a year-old stand-off with the
opposition.
CHINA
This country’s economic
growth is having an unfortu-
nate side effect. Authorities
are concerned at the rise in
the incidence of stress and
depression among the popu-
lation, including children. It’s
adding considerable strain
on a system with an ac-
knowledged poor record in
the treatment of mental
health and serious psychiat-
ric disorders. The situation
is beginning to change as a
national program kicks in.
PAKISTAN
Mutineers face more scholar’s ostracism
Opposition split on charges
Musharraf’s olive Authorities are hunting nizations here criticized the
branch suspects including civilians Religious Affairs Ministry
Pakistan’s President
Pervez Musharraf has of-
fered another olive branch
to his political opponents by
declaring he will end his state
of emergency next month.
But while international lead-
ers have welcomed the an-
nouncement, there has been
a mixed response from
Pakistan’s opposition politi-
cians.
VIETNAM
glut of sons
A UN-led campaign
against domestic violence is
being taken up with enthusi-
asm in East Timor. The UN
Development Fund for
Women has launched a new
media campaign against do-
mestic violence.
INDIA
of handling explosives
Troops have been de-
ployed in the Indian city of
Kolcutta after protests
against controversial
Bangladeshi writer, Taslima
Nasreen, turned into riots.
The demonstrators are call-
ing for Taslima Nasreen to
leave India, for allegedly hurt-
ing Muslim sentiments.
Nasreen has denied making
the comments. It’s not the
first time, however, that she
has angered Islamic radicals.
PHILIPPINES
Muslim groups blast
Two main Islamic orga-
accused of helping a foiled
coup last Nov.29. Renegade
soldiers holed up themselves
inside a Makati City hotel, and
urged other soldiers to join
them in an uprising against
President Gloria Arroyo. The
group had walked out from
court where they were stand-
ing trial over a failed 2003
mutiny. But now it looks like
they’ll be facing more charges
after the government charged
them with rebellion.
PM seeks probe vs. cor-
Malaysia’s Prime Minis-
Authorities here are wor-
ried about a growing imbal-
ance in the ratio of boy to girl
children. There are concerns
Vietnamese parents are re-
sorting to selective abortion
to make sure they have at
least one son.
Volume 41 • Number 12
N E W S
BRIEFS
IRAQ
The Iraqi government
said that seven detained
guards of Sunni leader
Adnan al-Dulaimi have been
tested “positive” for han-
dling explosives after troops
found two car bombs at the
politician’s Baghdad office.
Government spokesman Ali
al-Dabbagh said one guard
also had the key to the car
that was rigged with explo-
sives.
INDONESIA
for “pressuring” a liberal
Egyptian scholar to cancel a
planned address. Nasr
Hamid Abu Zayd was con-
troversially declared a her-
etic by the Egyptian govern-
ment in the 1990s for his
research into Islam. He was
due to speak at an Islamic
seminar in east Java this
week, but has since can-
celled the plan.
MALAYSIA
ter has vowed to form a
Royal Commission to probe
allegations of judicial cor-
ruption. It all centers on an
8-minute video clip showing
a prominent lawyer talking
on his cell phone, telling a
judge he’ll recommend him
for a senior appointment.
31