Let De Lima Participate

('Tapat News)

THERE is  a Drilon-Lacson resolution allowing Sen. Leila de Lima to participate in plenary sessions of the senate through video conferencing. This is supported by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto.

The resolution makes sense.  Leila De Lima is an incumbent senator and she was elected by 14.1 million Filipino citizens. The people has given her this mandate. It is an injustice to the people not respect their will, especially now this can be done by the modern ways of communication. She may be behind bars but she has not been convicted on the charges levelled against her. Through modern technology, by video conferencing, she can perform her duty in participating in the discussions during plenary sessions even remotely. There are only 24 senators. The voice of each one is needed to enrich the discussions – and the decisions – that are done in this august hall. If ordinary workers can now work from home, thanks of the Telecommuting Law which Duterte signed into law last December, then Senator de Lima can certainly do it from her prison cell. The good Senator is doing her work as an elected official from her cell, crafting laws and commenting on pieces of legislations and sending them to the senate. This is tedious but she does it. Her participation in the deliberations on the senate floor itself can be further enhanced by being there in the plenary sessions, though remotely.

The senate is open to ideas coming from the public to enlighten them on the laws they are making. They even invite resource persons to speak. Why not allow one who is in their rolls, elected by the people as all the 23 of them are, to participate in their discussions? Sen De Lima has the experience and the brilliance to add to the wisdom of the senate discussions. Allow her to participate. This is part of the democratic space that is accorded to her as an elected lawmaker.

I hope it is not the fear of the administration – and the other senators - of her fiery character and independent ideas that is keeping her from the participation in the floor of the senate.

Broderick Pabillo

August 28, 2019

Concern for the Amazon

Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest (Wikipedia)

IN one youth forum in Adamson University five days ago, the young students were asked, “What social issue concerns you most at the present moment?” One raided up his hand and said: “The burning of the Amazon.” I admire the student. His answer shows that he is in touch with global issues. His concern for the on-going wild fires in the Amazon reflects the alarm of many people all over the world.

The Amazon is one of the greatest reserves of biodiversity on earth as it has 30 to 50% of the world’s flora and fauna, and 20% of the unfrozen fresh water of the whole planet. Moreover, over a third of the planet’s primary forests are concentrated there, so that its capacity to capture carbon and to breathe out oxygen in the planet is significant. Rightly then is it called the “lungs” of the earth. Its extent is enormous, covering over seven and a half million kilometers. It encompasses nine countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Surinam, Venezuela, and French Guyana.

The fires currently ingulfing the region is very alarming. As of August 14, the number of fires rose to 32,728 – 60% more than the average for the past three years. Drought, a common factor in this destruction, does not explain the fires on this occasion, as the current dry season is less severe than in previous years.

 Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil since January of this year, is under fire because of these fires. “Bolsonaro Out!” is the cry heard in the streets of Barcelona, London, Paris and other European cities and in Brazilian cities as well. Brazil’s Amazon jungle covers 3.3 million square kilometers, accounting for around 60% of the entire rainforest. Bolsonaro and his Environment Minister Ricardo Salles have denigrated the environmental movement and dismantled the system of environmental protection, reviving the appetite of landholders, especially cattle ranchers, for clearing land. Many of these fires are the result of clearing the land for deforestation to reclaim more lands from the forest for agribusiness and ranchers. Bolsonaro’s right-wing government has cut in half of the budget of the Prev-Fire, a system for preventing and fighting forest fires. Moreover, the presidential attacks on the government agencies that monitor and combat deforestation “encouraged” the sectors that destroy forests illegally. The international press has widely condemned the government’s anti-environmentalist attitudes, making Brazil the new climate change villain.

The Church is also very much concerned about these fires. The Latin American Bishops in their statement on August 22, 2019 stressed the seriousness of this tragedy, which is not only of local nor regional impact, but of planetary proportions. The international community is also speaking about this. It considers the uncontrolled fires as an “international crisis” and it was talked about at the August 24-26 summit of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies in Biarritz, in southern France. Unfortunately, Brazil has turned down the 20M USD the G7 pledged as foreign aid to fight the fires. Politics, and personal pride of world leaders, are taking over instead of the care of the earth!

In this world, we are all related to each other. Disasters in one part affects the whole world. Irresponsible behavior of leaders in one country affects all. Rightly then did that young man say that he was concerned about the forest fires in the Amazon. Each one of us should indeed be concerned.

Silence is not an option

WHEN Pope Francis was being maligned by some church people in September of 2018, he remained silent. Silence and prayer were his answer for that time. (He spoke out 9 months later.) He knew that the accusations were baseless but he preferred to suffer silently at that moment. It was heroic on his part. He was the one being accused. He preferred to suffer in silence.

This is a good way to respond to personal attacks, but when the attacks are being done against others unjustly, silence is not an option. To keep silent is to allow the aggressor to bully the innocent victims. The victims needed to be protected and defended against unjust attacks by others. If we keep silent we side with the aggressors. We give them the liberty to continue with their assault and their lies. Since we allow them the liberty to do wrong to this one, they would not hesitate do it again to another one, and then to another. Our silence has emboldened them. But if people immediately react at the first instance of aggression, and  strongly denounce it, they will think twice to continue it and  to do it again.

Victims have been killed in the War on Drugs at the mere suspicion of being addicts. This was done in Manila, Caloocan, Pasay and other Metro Manila cities. There was no general outcry from the public and even from the Church and civic authorities except from some bishops and religious whose flock were directly affected. So the killings continued, now in Bulacan and in some neighboring provinces. Then the killings jumped in Cebu, and still the people kept silent. If from the beginning the denunciations had happened from all quarters, since injustice in some areas is injustice to all, many lives could have been spared.

In the name of quelling rebellion from the left, lumad leaders had been red-tagged and killed in Mindanao. Not much reaction from the people. It has spread to Negros island. Since Duterte had come to power three years ago around 90 people – farmer leaders, human rights advocates, lawyers and even from the police – have been killed. There are outcries from the four Catholic bishops and other bishops of other Christian groups in Negros to stop this endless shedding of blood. But why are bishops of other dioceses silent? Is it just the problem of Negros? Do we have to wait for the killings to spread to other dioceses?  Injustice in one area is injustice to all, like a wound in a part of the body makes the whole body sick.

Four Catholic bishops, three priests and 31 perceived critics of the government are wrongfully accused of sedition. We all know that the accusation is without basis. We all know that it is a legal harassment. We all know that it is a ploy to frighten the critics of the government. Why the silence of other church leaders, the academe, and the lay faithful in general. Do we have to wait till those same harassment come to us? Silence is not an option. We have to speak – and now! Defend the innocent. Denounce the aggression. Call the accusations for what they are – lies!

Malaynilay

In 2015, during the Year of the Poor, the DASAL RETREAT TEAM, a group of lay people who work with me to organize the Silent Bible Retreats twice a year for the past 5 years then, reflected on what program we can do for the poor. “Since our group has come together to organize retreats, why don’t we organize a retreat for the poor?” we thought. Further reflection led us to the words of Pope Francis: “The worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care. The great majority of the poor have a special openness to the faith; they need God and we must not fail to offer them his friendship, his blessing, his word, the celebration of the sacraments and a journey of growth and maturity in the faith…. Our preferential option    for the poor must mainly translate into a privileged and preferential religious care.” (Evangelii Gaudium 200)

The poor are not only poor materially. They also do not have the opportunities that the non-poor have to grow in the faith. For instance, they cannot attend retreats because of the cost. So we decided to do something in this regard. Since we cannot just get anyone, we decided to target the poor who are leaders in their communities. Hopefully they can cascade what they learn to their members. There are many groups who organize the poor – for various reasons. Some to fight for their homes, others to defend their jobs, while still others to form their Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs). Many trainings are given to the leaders of these groups, like trainings to negotiate, to hold meetings, to make proposals, to learn the compelling issues of society, etc. Rarely however, do they have trainings to grow spiritually and to have the resilience and the energy that come from deep faith and trust in God. Yet we believe what Pope Benedict XVI said: “Development of individuals and peoples depends partly on the resolution of problems of a spiritual nature. Development must include not just material growth but also spiritual growth, since the human person is a unity of body and soul, born of God’s creative love and destined for eternal life. (Caritas in Veritate 76) Indeed, “awareness of God’s undying love sustains us in our laborious and stimulating work for justice and the development of peoples.” (Caritas in Veritate 79)

So we embarked on a program to offer MALAYNILAY to leaders of the poor. Malaynilay comes from two words: malay, which means awareness and nilay, which comes from pagninilay, that is, reflection. One comes to new awareness through reflection and prayer. In this retreat we give reflections on basic spiritual truths, like the great love of God for each one, the call to holiness for all, motivation offered by love and faith, the true meaning of progress, the encounter with God through the sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance, the dignity and sanctifying effect of daily work, and ecological conversion. The participants are grouped into smaller groups of 6 where a facilitator would lead them in their reflections and sharing. All are given a chance to confess to a priest and mass is celebrated for them everyday. Some are even taught how to pray.

To finance this 3-day retreat in Tagaytay we ask donations from friends and look for sponsors. We also give free Bibles to each participant, a Malaynilay t-shirt, a prayer book, a rosary, and some toiletries. We provide free transportation to Tagaytay. In order that they may have their own contribution we ask 200 pesos as registration fee from each one.

That all started in 2015. From then on, the experience was so fulfilling and enriching, both to the participants and the organizers and facilitators that we have been doing it yearly, with 60 to more than a hundred participants per batch. We get the participants from Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), People’s Organizations (Pos) and BECs.

We found out that Malaynilay answers a great need among the poor. For most this was their first, and maybe only, experience of a spiritual retreat. It is a great awakening for many of an important aspect of their life which they did not pay attention to before. Hopefully we always have the resources to offer this “privileged and preferential religious care” for the poor.