LAST week I was in Cambodia as part of the Philippine delegation to the “Phnom Penh Dialogue 2008 on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace and Harmony.” Along with some government officials, we were religious leaders representing several faith traditions—two Protestant bishops, a Muslim scholar from the Ulama League of the Philippines, a Muslim woman officer of the provincial government of Sulu, and myself as a Catholic archbishop. We were all there to share our experiences on interreligious dialogue for peace and development in Mindanao and other parts of the country.
This was part of a larger effort started four years ago to engage the 15 countries in the Southeast Asia–Pacific region in interfaith dialogue and cooperation. The convening countries of Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand have by now each hosted a conference–the first in Jogjakarta in 2004, followed by Cebu in 2006, Waitangi in 2007, and the most recent one, with the support of Australia, in Phnom Penh.
The cultural and historical setting of Cambodia for this fourth dialogue-conference was to me a highly significant choice. For perhaps nowhere else in this part of the world can we find such stark contrast between the lowest depths and the sublimest heights that the human spirit can reach.

Genocide Museum
While in Phnom Penh, a number of us, delegates, had a chance to visit the Genocide Museum, named Tuol Sleng, which was the most secretive prison of the Khmer Rouge regime during its reign of terror in 1975-78. This was located ironically in the downtown area of the city. The prison compound was the original site of a high school. Its four three-story buildings with their classrooms were converted into a high-security detention and interrogation center, complete with barbed wire fencing and torture chambers. The classrooms were partitioned into individual cells or dormitories where detainees were chained and isolated for two to four months before being executed.
From accounts of a few survivors, everything was taken away from the prisoners. They were stripped to their underwear and slept directly on the cement floors without any mat, blanket or mosquito net. There was little food, less water, and no medicine. Among the ten regulations posted on each cell were instructions like:
“Do not try to hide the facts by making pretexts of this or that. You are strictly prohibited to contest me.” “While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all.” “Do nothing. Sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no order, keep quiet.”
A distinctive feature of Tuol Sleng prison was its documentation office which photographed all prisoners and kept detailed biographies of each one from childhood to the date of arrest. It is these ID photos that have now been enlarged and displayed on the walls – blank faces of men and women, including some children, who for the most part were innocent of any crime except for their protests against the excesses of an abusive regime. Interviews and confessions of some of the prison staff, with pictures of their family background, only reinforce the horror of how the spiral of evil can reach down to the humblest of rural households.
At any time, the prison held from 1,200 to 1,500 prisoners. During the three years of its existence, records indicate that there were about 10,500 prisoners, not including another 2,000 children, who were killed in the same place. The numbers themselves are but a microcosm of the estimated one to two million Cambodians—a fourth of the population—who lost their lives under the harsh conditions of the Pol Pot regime. The Khmer Rouge cadres targeted the educated and bourgeois class and “anyone with eyeglasses.” They forced all city residents, young and elderly, to go out and work in the countryside. This was the case of an ideologically-blinded regime that wanted to turn the clock back to an idyllic past where everyone was treated equally—but without human rights nor the freedom of the human spirit.

Symbols of religious faith
In contrast, this idyllic past and the achievements of the human spirit were perhaps best enshrined in the northwestern region of Cambodia. Instead of a third day of conference proceedings, all the delegates traveled to Siem Reap, 300 kilometers away from Phnom Penh. Upon arrival, we visited and walked through the largest outdoor religious monument in the world—Angkor Wat and its surrounding complex of temples constructed from the 9th to the 13th centuries. Built by a successive line of Hindu and Buddhist kings over five centuries, Angkor Wat and the nearby temples of Ta Prohm and Angkor Thom represented sacred space and the symbolisms of religious faith.
With its awe-inspiring landscape, Angkor Wat itself is a microcosm of the Hindu universe. Its surrounding moat and outer walls lead inwards onto three levels of concentric galleries and towers. The towers represent the mountain ranges that surround Mount Meru, the mythical home of the gods. The pilgrim’s upward climb over the massive laterite and sandstone blocks and brick walls is virtually an ascent to the sacred mountain.
In all, Angkor Wat with its intricately-carved figures of gods, warrior-kings, apsaras, and Buddha statues evokes an atmosphere of contemplative prayer, detachment from worldly pursuits, and longing of the human spirit for the divine. These are perhaps best portrayed in the four faces of the Buddha pointed towards the cardinal directions of the compass, and carved repeatedly on the towers of the nearby Bayon temple. These represent the human-divine qualities of Charity, Compassion, Sympathy, and Equanimity.

Multifaith dialogue and cooperation
In many ways, these are the same qualities that our interfaith dialogue hoped to evoke for the Asia-Pacific region. For our troubled world today, the final statement of the Phnom Penh Dialogue stressed the urgency of multifaith dialogue and cooperation, peace as a sacred priority, increased participation of women and youth, and interfaith cooperation addressing community concerns in our region—such as poverty, human rights, and environmental issues.
For the political prisoners of the Khmer Rouge, Tuol Sleng literally meant a “poisonous mound.” But for the builders of Angkor Wat, the temple-mountain represented man’s ascent to God. And for all of us today, pilgrims in interfaith dialogue for peace and harmony, the same invitation to climb the Lord’s mountain is perhaps best echoed in the prophet Isaiah’s summons:
“In days to come,
The mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established as the highest mountain
And raised above the hills.

“Many peoples shall come and say:
‘Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain,
That he may instruct us in his ways,
And we may walk in his paths.’

“He shall judge between the nations,
And impose terms on many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
Nor shall they train for war again.”
(Isaiah 2:2-4)

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“The over-riding social concern of the Church in the Philippines has been all these years centered on the inequitable distribution of the nation’s wealth and the endemic social injustices that underpin that evil.”

In its pastoral statement on “The Dignity of the Rural Poor – A Gospel Concern,” (28 January 2007), the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines summed up our social situation. It then issued a call to hold a second National Rural Congress to commemorate the first one convened forty years ago in 1967. It noted that “the greater number of our poor are in the rural areas” and that urban poverty is a consequence of rural poverty.

The pastoral statement also provides a framework on how the process of the rural congress should be carried out.

1) Social Teaching of the Church

First, it expresses “the hope that we would be able to educate ourselves more intensively in what the social teaching of the Church is all about.” The recently-published Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church enables us to examine more closely the moral principles that should guide us in our quest for a just and prosperous society. In this light, the CBCP statement urges that we “focus our attention on the greatest victim of our unjust economic order, the rural poor, and the diminishment of their dignity as people and as citizens.”

2) Constitutionality

This phrase, “as people and as citizens,” connotes the second guideline in the NRC framework – to review the social justice provisions of the Philippine Constitution. Article XIII, in particular, enunciates the spirit of social legislation that should give “the highest priority” to measures that: protect and enhance the right of all people to human dignity; reduce social, economic, and political inequality; remove cultural inequalities; and diffuse wealth and political power for the common good.

The CBCP pastoral statement notes that “the one big effort of the government at alleviating rural poverty has been its ongoing comprehensive agrarian reform program.” Despite deficiencies in the drafting of the law by a landlord-dominated Congress, government must see to it that social justice programs like CARP should be reviewed and improved through consultations, and properly implemented towards its completion. This is for the common good of small farmers and landless workers.

This review also extends to other social justice measures affecting small fishermen, indigenous people communities, rural women, etc. Environmental issues as consequences of irresponsible mining and logging, as well as of climate change, have also become major concerns today.

3) Non-violent and democratic means

A third guideline for the NRC process mentioned in the CBCP statement is engagement with government and the various sectors of society through non-violent and genuinely democratic means – by first listening to the rural poor themselves; by decrying “the shameful ‘extra-judicial’ killings of unarmed crusaders for justice and equality”; and by calling on government to act. “The responsibility to act,” further notes the CBCP statement, “is just as much ours as those who have the official responsibility.” Demands for good governance, transparency and accountability are thus essential factors in this call for social transformation.

“Today we see only too clearly,” the CBCP statement concludes, “the need for the reform not only of our national institutions but of our very moral fiber as a people.” Thus, through the social teaching of the Church, through the social justice provisions of the Philippine Constitution, and through our active, non-violent engagement with government, we are confident and hopeful that this second National Rural Congress can indeed provide the renewed steps towards the social transformation of Philippine rural society today.

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Reclaiming human dignity and abject poverty drives the 54 Sumilao farmers to pursue a historic “Walk for Sumilao Land, Walk for Justice”. Unlike the Israelites journey in Moses’ time, a ‘promised land flowing with milk and honey’ awaits them as Yahweh guaranteed. For the Sumilao farmers, however, there is nothing sweet or similar that they can look forward to when they reach Manila. Their long and arduous walk is a leap of faith with no assurance of any possible fulfillment of their claims. Unquestionably, the indomitable spirit they showed to the rest of the Filipino people in pursuing their struggle could only come from their strong faith and complete trust to God our Creator.

The Central Committee of the Second National Rural Congress (NRC-II) is one with you in spirit and in prayers in putting forward your pressing issues, in reclaiming the 144-hectare ancestral land that once belong to your people. As shepherds of God’s flock we extend our hands in in spiritual guidance, until your dignity as a people shall be restored and work with you in overcoming privation.

We urge our government officials at Malacanang and the Department of Agrarian Reform to sincerely listen to the Sumilao farmers’ aspirations. We don’t demand for special favor for our Sumilao brothers and sisters. We only pray that the social justice spirit of the law be given utmost regard. Let this be a positive signal to the government’s call of transforming agrarian reform beneficiaries as agribusiness men and women, of putting agrarian reform at the center of rural development.

The Sumilao farmers’ journey for land and justice is an inspiration to many people worth emulating – to the landless tenants in large haciendas and farmworkers in agribusiness plantations asserting their rights under the agrarian law, to our indigenous brothers and sisters claiming their ancestral lands and to agrarian reform advocates supporting the just cause of farmers, farmworkers and indigenous peoples.

Ang among panalangin sa atong Langitnong Amahan maga-uban kaninyo sa tibuok ninyong paglakaw ug ilayo kamo sa sakit o katalagman ug ampingan hangtud sa inyong malampusong pag-abot sa Maynila. Lakip niini ang among pangamuyo nga malamdagan ang atong mga opisyales sa gobyerno ug ipatuman kaninyo ang hustisya human sa lisud ug hatass nga biyahe ug pakigbisug. Kining tanan atong idangup kang Kristo Hesus lamang nga atong bugtong manluluwas uban sa giya sa Espiritu Santo, Amen!

In solidarity,

Signed:
+ ARCHBISHOP ANTONIO J. LEDESMA, S.J., D.D.
Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro
NRC II Executive Committee Chairperson
Second National Rural Congress

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PASTORAL COMPANION

DURING the past year 2008, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Diocese of Cagayan de Oro. In 1933, Cagayan de Oro became the second diocese in Mindanao (next to Zamboanga) and included the northern provinces of Surigao, Agusan, Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, Lanao, Misamis Occidental, and the island of Camiguin.

Today the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro is only one of the 21 ecclesiastical units in Mindanao, which include five archdioceses, 12 dioceses, three prelatures, and one apostolic vicariate. Its territory has been reduced to the two provinces of Misamis Oriental and Camiguin and one municipality in Bukidnon. Nonetheless, with its 50 parishes and 8 chaplaincies, two seminaries, and 115 diocesan priests, the archdiocese remains among the larger ecclesiastical units in Mindanao.

Most Rev. James Hayes, S.J., became the first bishop of Cagayan de Oro. The city street that now bears his name connects all the major institutions that he started—Lourdes College run by the RVM sisters, Ateneo de Cagayan (now Xavier University) under the Jesuits, Maria Reyna Hospital administered by the St. Paul of Chartres sisters, and on Seminary Hill San Jose de Mindanao Seminary and the Discalced Carmelite Sisters’ Convent.

When Cagayan de Oro was elevated as the first archdiocese of Mindanao in 1951, Archbishop Hayes continued to serve until his retirement in 1970—a span of 37 years that included his incarceration during the Japanese occupation and the painstaking period of reconstruction after the war.

He was succeeded by Archbishop Patrick Cronin, a Columban, who served from 1970-1988. During this period, the parishes administered earlier by American and Filipino Jesuits were for the most part turned over to the Irish Columban priests and some diocesan priests. This enabled the Jesuits in turn to take care of the newly–opened parishes in Bukidnon.

Archbishop Jesus Tuquib became the third archbishop of Cagayan de Oro in 1988-2006, duplicating his predecessor’s term of 18 years of service. During this period, the diocesan clergy increased notably in numbers and gradually took over the running of the parishes. Today only three parishes and a chaplaincy are run by priests of religious congregations.

Archbishop Tuquib was instrumental in the construction of the St. John Vianney Theological Seminary buildings on Seminary Hill. SJVTS had earlier been established by a consortium of bishops of the CABUSTAM (Cagayan, Butuan, Surigao, Tandag, Malaybalay) subregion to serve the growing needs of the Church in Mindanao for the formation of its clergy.

It is with this historical context that we celebrated the diamond jubilee of the archdiocese. The Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, was the main celebrant of our fiesta Mass in honor of St. Augustine on August 28th. Earlier he visited some of our older parishes like Sagay in Camiguin and Jasaan.

During the last quarter of this year, six district assemblies were held to follow up the archdiocese’s pastoral plan and get feedback from the lay delegates. This process culminated with an Archdiocesan Pastoral Assembly in mid-December attended by about 400 delegates from all the parishes. We reviewed our ad intra ministries focused on Catholics and ad extra ministries directed towards any one in need.

At the closing Mass, plaques of appreciation were given to three religious congregations—the Jesuits, Columbans, and RVM Sisters—for their collective contribution in building up the local church of Cagayan de Oro over the past 75 years. (We should not forget however that the Augustinian Recollects were the early evangelizers of Cagayan de Oro and surrounding areas from the 17th until the mid-19th century.)

Other highlights of this jubilee year were the creation of two shrines. The first shrine was dedicated on August 2nd to the Holy Eucharist in a city parish run by the Blessed Sacrament Fathers. The second shrine was dedicated to the Divine Mercy in Brgy. Ulaliman, El Salvador, on September 8th. With its imposing 50-foot statue overlooking Macajalar Bay and surrounding areas, the Divine Mercy Shrine has become a popular site for pilgrimages from all over Mindanao.

The most recent signs of the growth of our local church were the ordinations of four deacons and of a priest in the past two months. May the threefold blessing then of the yuletide season—Light, Love, and fullness of Life—be with the archdiocese throughout its next seventy-five years.

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by Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, SJ

I. Mindanao Context

Since the Spanish colonial period, Mindanao has been a theatre of intermittent conflicts between Muslim and Christian communities. In 1996, a peace agreement was signed between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). However, another militant group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) continued the armed struggle for self-determination.

After more than three years of negotiations, a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was about to be signed by both panels representing the MILF and the Philippine Government in Kuala Lumpur on August 5, 2008. However, the Supreme Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order one day before the signing. This was due to the widespread outcry raised against the proposed MOA-AD whose contents were made public only a few days before the signing.

In the following weeks, in Central Mindanao, two MILF commanders instigated armed incursions against the civilian population. On Aug. 18, violence broke out in the town of Kolambugan and in some outlying barangays of Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte. Military operations in the Lanao provinces and in Central Mindanao have been carried out and are still ongoing. These are said to be limited to efforts to locate and neutralize the three commanders.

However, Christian communities and Muslim communities have been forced to evacuate from the areas of conflict. Relief operations have been undertaken by government agencies and non-government organizations. The Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro and Xavier University have sent several truckloads of relief goods to evacuation centers in Iligan, Linamon, Munai, and Marawi. In particular, volunteers of the archdiocese have accompanied the shipment of relief goods on Aug. 28 to the town of Munai, which is wholly Muslim. They have also sent goods to the Catholic bishop in Marawi for allocation to Muslim evacuees who prefer to stay with their relatives rather than in an evacuation center.

On Aug. 28 at Xavier University, a Forum on the proposed MOA-AD between the MILF and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines was held. The clarifications presented by two members of the government’s negotiating panel and a member of the MILF’s technical working group enabled the audience, composed mostly of academic and civil society groups, to have a more balanced view of the MOA-AD.

On Sept. 15, three women humanitarian workers were held hostage on Basilan island, purportedly by the Abu Sayyaf, an extremist rebel group. Up to the present, negotiations for the release of these humanitarian workers are still being conducted.

On Sept. 24, Catholic bishops came together in Davao to follow up earlier consultations with government representatives and other sectors of society. They agreed to reaffirm the common sentiment that the peace process in Mindanao should continue and even be strengthened vis-à-vis the outbursts of violence reported in a few areas. Specifically, government officials requested the religious leaders in Mindanao—including bishops and ulama—to take the lead in holding consultations with local communities with regard to their aspirations and recommendations for lasting peace on the island. In the meantime the Supreme Court ruled that certain provisions of the MOA-AD went against the Philippine Constitution. Earlier, the administration of President Gloria Arroyo had already stated that they would not pursue the signing of the memo with the MILF.

II. Promoting a Culture of Peace
It is in this light that we can examine six dimensions for building a culture of peace in Mindanao—i.e., for healing the past and building the future of present and coming generations of Mindanaoans.

Since the mid–90’s, culture of peace seminars have been conducted by peace centers in various parts of Mindanao. Much attention has been given to the need for intercultural understanding and interfaith dialogue. In the course of these seminars, peace advocacy groups have identified six dimensions for building a culture of peace in Mindanao.

1. Personal and Family Integrity
“Peace of the heart,” notes Pope John Paul II, “is the heart of peace.” One cannot be a peacemaker if there is no peace in his heart. Likewise, building peace in every home is a first step in building peace for the community. “Integrity of mind and heart” is included in this year’s theme for the Mindanao Week of Peace—which starts on the last Thursday of November.

In several localities, activities during the observance of the Mindanao Week of Peace focus on promoting a Culture of Life vis-à-vis an incipient “culture of death.” Drug awareness and a campaign against corruption are two examples of how personal integrity and the fullness of life are intertwined. To attain these, values formation and the living out of one’s spirituality are seen as constituting a major operative value.

2. Promotion of Human Right and Democracy
The language of the modern world is increasingly articulated in terms of human rights. The Holy Fathers have praised the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights as “a common standard of morality.” Increasingly too, modern nations have evolved their political systems towards the principles and goals of democratic rule—e.g., in terms of electoral contests; freedom of association and participation, etc. Over-all, the operative value of justice pervades the efforts of individuals as well as of civil society organizations in countering any violations of human rights.

In particular the rights of minority communities like those of indigenous people are to be respected. The articulation of new rights and operationalizing these through legislation has been pointed out. Some of these newly-accepted rights include: the rights of the unborn fetus in the mother’s womb; the right of minorities to their own culture; and the right of communities to a healthful environment. The prophet Isaiah points out that the work of justice is peace (Opus justitiae pax.) Pope John Paul II adds another dimension: that the fruit of solidarity is peace (Opus solidaritatis pax.)

3. Poverty Eradication
Extreme poverty can drive people to carry arms. At the outbreak of violence in Lanao del Norte two months ago, a group of indigenous people combatants surrendered their firearms to the military. Their story was that they had been enticed to join the rebel group by the offer of a monthly salary that was much higher than what they would usually be able to earn. Indeed, unemployment especially among the restless youth provides a ripe condition for rebellion or criminal acts like kidnapping for ransom. Government statistics reveal that the Muslim- dominated provinces such as Jolo, Basilan, and Lanao del Sur rank among the ten poorest provinces in terms of provision of basic services such as health, housing and education.

But there have been success stories too of rebel-returnees who have been given productive employment and turned away from the resort of bearing arms. Economic development generally needs to accompany peacemaking efforts. There will be no peace without development—but, in a cyclical manner, there can be no development either without peace.

4. Intercultural Understanding and Solidarity
In Mindanao, religious leaders have formed a Bishops-Ulama Conference. Over the past twelve years, Catholic and Protestant bishops have been meeting in dialogue with their Muslim counterparts, the ulama, to promote intercultural understanding. Both groups declare that their religions are religions of peace. During outbreaks of violence, including the recent ones, bishops and ulama have issued joint statements condemning the destruction and stressing that the peace process should continue. These messages of solidarity have helped restore the peace. They also convey the important point that Mindanao is not engaged in a religious war.

As an operative value, the resort to dialogue instead of arms has been stressed in interfaith gatherings. These dialogue efforts have also been tried in local circles that include pastors, priests, and imams.

5. Disarmament and Cessation of Hostilities
Calls for a ceasefire and a return to the negotiating table during outbreaks of violence are oftentimes spearheaded by religious leaders of both sides. Local monitoring teams which include religious leaders have also been formed in various places to keep the peace.

Local communities have been encouraged to establish “zones of peace,” keeping away armed groups to assert the people’s right to peace. The call for firearms control is also part of these peacekeeping efforts.

6. Environment Protection
Christians and Muslims as well as indigenous people communities have joined advocacy groups against logging and mining. Protection of watershed areas that affect both upland and lowland communities has been pushed. Much still needs to be done—e.g., in cleaning up polluted rivers and safeguarding the living conditions of communities near factories and processing plants.

Stewardship as an operative value is stressed to underline the need for corporate social responsibility. Waste management practices, particularly in congested urban neighborhoods, have been introduced by local government units and non-government organizations.

In many ways, environmental conservation is a common concern among all cultural communities. A case in point are the ongoing efforts to protect the watershed area of Lake Lanao. The lake itself provides a natural habitat for the livelihood of hundreds of Muslim household living along the lakeshore. Moreover, the waters from the lake provide the source of hydroelectric power that is distributed throughout the island of Mindanao.

III. Towards a Threefold Culture

Several observers of the international scene have made dire predictions that a clash of religions and civilizations may be inevitable in our modern world. In Mindanao, for instance, Muslim–dominated and Christian–dominated areas experience occasional outbreaks of violence due to religious or cultural differences.

In this light, the six dimensions for a culture of peace provide constructive areas for healing the past by building the future together. We can summarize these dimensions by means of a threefold Culture of life, of Human Rights, and of Peace. These are all based on the core value of Human Dignity of all human beings—regardless of religion, race, nationality, or social class. Respect for the integrity of human life is translated into promotion of human rights. These in turn are the prerequisites for a just and lasting peace.

The religious traditions of our various faith communities subscribe to the values of this threefold culture. These values in one sense represent what is best in each religious tradition. In another sense, they transcend the boundaries of particular religious beliefs to build a stronger and better world for all.

+ANTONIO J. LEDESMA,S.J.

(* Commission V presentation at the 7th General Assembly of the Asian Conference of Religions for Peace, 17-21 October 2008, Manila.)

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• SOLIDARITY MESSAGE FOR SUMILAO FARMERS

At the same time religious leaders have made repeated calls for promoting a culture of peace wherein warring parties can lay down their arms – and prejudices – to build a brighter future for their children. It is in this light that we can examine six social concerns in promoting a culture of peace, which also constitute the foundations of a Christian ethical framework.
The starting – point and core of these social concerns is Human Dignity – i.e., that every human being is a person endowed with reason and free will and made in the image of God. Thus, as the social teachings of the Catholic Church states, “far from being the object or passive element of social life,” the human person “is rather, and must always remain, its subject, foundation and goal”.

The first social concern is Personal and Family Integrity. Wholeness and fullness of life are goals for every individual as well as for every family. These can be more readily attained through value formation and a deepened spirituality – vis-à-vis the mass media values of materialism and consumerism.

A second social concern for forging a culture of peace is promoting Human Rights and Democracy. Human rights are moral claims to the means needed to protect and promote human dignity. These are concisely articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948. For Pope John Paul II, this Declaration “remains one of the highest expressions of the human conscience of our time.” Some of the these major rights are enunciated in his encyclical, Centesimus Annus – such as the right to life; the right to live in a united family; the right to develop one’s intelligence and freedom in seeking the truth; the right to work; and the right to live in the truth of one’s faith. Respecting these rights is a matter of justice.

A third social concern is Poverty Eradication. Peace in society is illusory if the basic needs of individuals and families are not met. A nation’s economy must be able to utilize its natural and man-made resources in order to create wealth and income for all its citizens. The virtue of compassion and sharing should be inculcated in all citizens.

Complementing personal and family integrity along the social continuum is Intercultural Understanding and Solidarity. In Mindanao, Christian and Muslim religious leaders have engaged in a quarterly bishops-ulama dialogue over the past decade to highlight this need for mutual acceptance and appreciation of cultures. Every November, the Bishops-Ulama Conference has been promoting a Mindanao Week of Peace wherein local communities are encouraged to organize common activities for peace-building – such as multi-cultural programs, peace marches, etc.

Disarmament and Cessation of Hostilities are immediate steps to take toward creating a culture of peace. As part of the political continuum, the ending of armed hostilities represents a shift from recourse to force to recourse to reason in a democratic society. As exemplified by Gandhi in India, Mandela in South Africa and the People Power Revolution of 1986 in the Philippines, active non-violence can be a more potent force than recourse to arms in building a culture of peace.

The sixth social concern and part of the economic continuum is Environmental Protection. In a rapidly modernizing and globalizing society, the irreversible destruction of the environment is not a remote possibility. Indeed many countries have learned lately to conserve and manage carefully their watershed areas, fishing preserves, and clean air domains. In Mindanao, local communities have raised outcries against irresponsible logging and mining operations that are usually undertaken by multinational corporations.

Stewardship is an operative value that has been stressed to highlight the responsibility of everyone for the common good and to remind us that we are only caretakers of God’s creation. Conservation of the environment is an imperative for sustainable development for our present and future generations.

These then are six social concerns revolving around the core value of Human Dignity – which are essential in promoting a culture of peace. Although arising from Christian ethical principles, one could also point out that this framework resonates with the human and spiritual values of other faith traditions as well as of secular governments that endeavor to work out a more comprehensive paradigm for human development. There is no peace without development; but neither can there be development without peace.

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Reclaiming human dignity and abject poverty drives the 54 Sumilao farmers to pursue a historic “Walk for Sumilao Land, Walk for Justice”. Unlike the Israelites journey in Moses’ time, a ‘promised land flowing with milk and honey’ awaits them as Yahweh guaranteed. For the Sumilao farmers, however, there is nothing sweet or similar that they can look forward to when they reach Manila. Their long and arduous walk is a leap of faith with no assurance of any possible fulfillment of their claims. Unquestionably, the indomitable spirit they showed to the rest of the Filipino people in pursuing their struggle could only come from their strong faith and complete trust to God our Creator.

The Central Committee of the Second National Rural Congress (NRC-II) is one with you in spirit and in prayers in putting forward your pressing issues, in reclaiming the 144-hectare ancestral land that once belong to your people. As shepherds of God’s flock we extend our hands in in spiritual guidance, until your dignity as a people shall be restored and work with you in overcoming privation.

We urge our government officials at Malacanang and the Department of Agrarian Reform to sincerely listen to the Sumilao farmers’ aspirations. We don’t demand for special favor for our Sumilao brothers and sisters. We only pray that the social justice spirit of the law be given utmost regard. Let this be a positive signal to the government’s call of transforming agrarian reform beneficiaries as agribusiness men and women, of putting agrarian reform at the center of rural development.

The Sumilao farmers’ journey for land and justice is an inspiration to many people worth emulating – to the landless tenants in large haciendas and farmworkers in agribusiness plantations asserting their rights under the agrarian law, to our indigenous brothers and sisters claiming their ancestral lands and to agrarian reform advocates supporting the just cause of farmers, farmworkers and indigenous peoples.

Ang among panalangin sa atong Langitnong Amahan maga-uban kaninyo sa tibuok ninyong paglakaw ug ilayo kamo sa sakit o katalagman ug ampingan hangtud sa inyong malampusong pag-abot sa Maynila. Lakip niini ang among pangamuyo nga malamdagan ang atong mga opisyales sa gobyerno ug ipatuman kaninyo ang hustisya human sa lisud ug hatass nga biyahe ug pakigbisug. Kining tanan atong idangup kang Kristo Hesus lamang nga atong bugtong manluluwas uban sa giya sa Espiritu Santo, Amen!

In solidarity,

Signed:
+ ARCHBISHOP ANTONIO J. LEDESMA, S.J., D.D.
Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro
NRC II Executive Committee Chairperson
Second National Rural Congress

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At the plenary assembly of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in July 2003, two consensus votes were taken with regard to family planning. The first vote was a no to collaboration with the government’s total family planning program. The second vote, however, was a yes to the diocese’s use of the Standard Days Method (SDM) in its own program of natural family planning (NFP) — without any contraceptive component and without collaboration with government.

The first vote maintained the Church’s critical stance against the government’s population program, which was still perceived to be dictated by a contraceptive mentality. This apprehension among bishops persisted even if the present administration of President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo, a devout Catholic, had earlier indicated its preference for natural family planning methods.

Indeed, this preference for the NFP methods by government was heightened by the introduction of a new and simpler NFP method, called the Standard Days Method. Ironically, however, objections to SDM came not from government quarters but from several church-related groups, particularly those who were promoting the earlier-recognized NFP methods such as the Basal Body Temperature method (BBT), the Billings Ovulation Method (BOM), and the Sympto-Thermal Method (STM).

For them, SDM was suspect because it was being promoted by government, presumably with some back-up contraceptive methods; the research for SDM was funded by USAID; the method was not yet fully tested; and it was nothing more than the old calendar-rhythm method that had already been discredited as unreliable. Moreover, SDM could not be considered as NFP because it did not involve the daily examination of bodily signs and symptoms.

This then is the significance of the second vote at the CBCP assembly. Notwithstanding these objections, the bishops as a body recognized SDM in itself as a natural family planning method. Provided it is not mixed with contraceptives, is not seen as a government program with its cafeteria approach, and is accompanied with the proper value formation to avoid a contraceptive mentality, the bishops did not voice any objections to the inclusion of SDM in the local church’s program for natural family planning. Indeed, since the CBCP has distanced itself from the government’s NFP program, all the more should the local church promote its own comprehensive NFP program that includes SDM.

What is the Standard Days Method in the first place? SDM is a new calendar-based method of family planning based on fertility awareness. It helps a woman know her fertile days by simply counting the days of her cycle, starting with the first day of menstruation. It identifies days 8-19 of the cycle as the fertile period when pregnancy may occur if there is intercourse. Days 1-7 and the rest of the days after day 19 are identified as non-fertile days.

SDM’s “fertile window” of days 8-19 has been standardized and is applicable only for women whose menstrual cycles range from 26 to 32 days. It is made clear from the outset that SDM is not applicable to all women. In this sense, despite its simplicity, SDM cannot be the exclusive NFP method for the local church to promote; but neither should it be the excluded method.

SDM was developed by the Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH) of Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic university in the United States. It is the result of an extensive research process spanning sic years since the mid-90s, involving pilot sites in Bolivia, Peru and the Philippines. The concept of SDM was first validated through computer simulation of over 7, 600 cycles provided by the World Health Organization from its ovulation method trials. It has since then been clinically tested with a high effectiveness rate of 95.25% in the three countries where almost 500 women were followed up for 13 cycles.

To help women track the days of their menstrual cycle, IRH devised a necklace of cycle beads consisting of 32 colored beads, representing the day of menstruation (red), the fertile days (white), and the infertile days (brown). Hence, couples can easily know the days when they should abstain from intercourse if they wish to avoid pregnancy. Or they may also use the same beads to achieve pregnancy.

Currently, SDM is being introduced in 14 countries, including India, Turkey, and Egypt, and several smaller countries in Africa and Latin America. In the U.S. as well as in other parts of the world, the cycle beads for SDM are being sold over the internet. Following its mandate, IRH-Georgetown continues to test and develop other simplified NFP methods. Earlier, it had developed the Lactational Amennorhea Method (LAM), which is now widely promoted by both government and church agencies. It also continues to streamline teaching aids for BOM and STM promoters.

In October 2003, a training workshop for NFP-SDM providers was hosted by Malaybay Diocese and opened to other dioceses in Mindanao. Five dioceses sent participants. The majority came from seven pilot parishes in Bukidnon, including the parish of Phillips. Spanning three decades since the mid-70’s, Camp Phillips had hosted the interdiocesan training program on the earlier-known NFP methods. This was sponsored periodically by the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life.

In their sharing, the participants saw the usefulness and need for a simplified method like SDM to be included in the church’s NFP program—particularly for those who found it difficult to keep daily records of body temperature or mucus characteristics. This assessment of SDM was reinforced during their field visits to two pilot barangays where SDM had been introduced over the past two years with the help of a non-government organization.

In one site, SDM was found to be widely acceptable not only among Catholics but also among couples of other religious affiliations. A notable number of couples had chosen to shift from the use of contraceptives to SDM. In the other site, a mother described how SDM was now being passed on to the next generation: her own 16-year old daughter was the one reminding her to move the cycle beads everyday.

Moreover, in other parts of Mindanao, Muslim couples have also expressed their interest in SDM as an NFP method. During the first quarter of 2004, two more training workshops for NFP-SDM providers were hosted by the local churches of Basilan and Sulu for their family life workers, including several Muslim women. The participants were enthusiastic about SDM as a practicable method that could easily be taught to both Christian and Muslim communities.

It is in this light that all these participants were perhaps simply reflecting the sentiments of Fr. Vicente San Juan, S.J., former ECFL executive secretary, and prime mover for many years of the NFP training course in Phillips. Although now in semi-retirement, Fr. San Juan had no qualms in endorsing SDM as a new NFP method, remarking that the principal criterion should be “what a method does to a couple’s life.”

In the Prelature of Ipil, we have included SDM as an added option in our natural family planning program under our family life apostolate. Even as we continue to promote the earlier-known methods, we note that the couples themselves have found SDM a much easier method to learn. “Why did you not teach this to us earlier?” has been a common reaction. We have also devised a less expensive string of “vertical beads” to help couples track the days of the menstrual cycle.

However, because the practice of NFP entails a way of life, our family life workers have made sure to include formation life values in the promotion of NFP-SDM. Part of this value formation is to enable couples to choose NFP as a truly human and Christian option, without combining it with other artificial contraceptives. The rule-of-thumb criterion for NFP is made clear: “no DIDO,” i.e. “no drugs, injections, devices, or operations.” Compared to the earlier NFP methods that our family life workers have been teaching over the past two decades, we find that the rate of acceptance of SDM in our pilot parishes over the past two years has increased markedly.

Indeed, couples themselves who have shifted from contraceptives to SDM tell us that the main reason they did so was SDM is natural. In this light, the prelature has included SDM in the array of modern NFP methods that we are making known to couples—first, as an added option for couples in their desire to follow the moral guidelines of the church; and secondly, as a pastoral imperative for the local church, to enable couples to make an informed and responsible choice with regard to family planning. Over all, in our 19 parishes, as of June 2004, our family life workers have tallied 366 current users of natural family planning methods: 261 with SDM, 102 with BOM, and one each with BBT, STM, and LAM.

“The future of humanity,” points of Pope John Paul II, “passes by way of the family.” The same thing can be said of the population issue confronting developing countries like the Philippines today. Population management cannot be done by government alone; ultimately it rests on countless couples exercising responsible parenthood through family planning. For Catholic couples, this means natural family planning. And the more NFP options we can make available to them, the more we can empower them to exercise responsible parenthood.

In commemorating last year the 40th anniversary of the encyclical, Pacem in Terris, Pope John Paul II reminds us his predecessor’s teaching that every human right involves a correspondingly duty. The same reminder can be made with regard to the whole area of family life. Couples should exercise their rights as well as their responsibilities of parenthood.

Going beyond structures to reach out people, the Holy Father invites us to engage in “gestures of peace” in our present-day world. Couples adopting NFP methods, including SDM, are hopefully among those who manifest these gestures of peace—and development—for the good of their families and the common good of their nation.

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“The over-riding social concern of the Church in the Philippines has been all these years centered on the inequitable distribution of the nation’s wealth and the endemic social injustices that underpin that evil.”

In its pastoral statement on “The Dignity of the Rural Poor – A Gospel Concern,” (28 January 2007), the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines summed up our social situation. It then issued a call to hold a second National Rural Congress to commemorate the first one convened forty years ago in 1967. It noted that “the greater number of our poor are in the rural areas” and that urban poverty is a consequence of rural poverty.

The pastoral statement also provides a framework on how the process of the rural congress should be carried out.

1) Social Teaching of the Church

First, it expresses “the hope that we would be able to educate ourselves more intensively in what the social teaching of the Church is all about.” The recently-published Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church enables us to examine more closely the moral principles that should guide us in our quest for a just and prosperous society. In this light, the CBCP statement urges that we “focus our attention on the greatest victim of our unjust economic order, the rural poor, and the diminishment of their dignity as people and as citizens.”

2) Constitutionality

This phrase, “as people and as citizens,” connotes the second guideline in the NRC framework – to review the social justice provisions of the Philippine Constitution. Article XIII, in particular, enunciates the spirit of social legislation that should give “the highest priority” to measures that: protect and enhance the right of all people to human dignity; reduce social, economic, and political inequality; remove cultural inequalities; and diffuse wealth and political power for the common good.

The CBCP pastoral statement notes that “the one big effort of the government at alleviating rural poverty has been its ongoing comprehensive agrarian reform program.” Despite deficiencies in the drafting of the law by a landlord-dominated Congress, government must see to it that social justice programs like CARP should be reviewed and improved through consultations, and properly implemented towards its completion. This is for the common good of small farmers and landless workers.

This review also extends to other social justice measures affecting small fishermen, indigenous people communities, rural women, etc. Environmental issues as consequences of irresponsible mining and logging, as well as of climate change, have also become major concerns today.

3) Non-violent and democratic means

A third guideline for the NRC process mentioned in the CBCP statement is engagement with government and the various sectors of society through non-violent and genuinely democratic means – by first listening to the rural poor themselves; by decrying “the shameful ‘extra-judicial’ killings of unarmed crusaders for justice and equality”; and by calling on government to act. “The responsibility to act,” further notes the CBCP statement, “is just as much ours as those who have the official responsibility.” Demands for good governance, transparency and accountability are thus essential factors in this call for social transformation.

“Today we see only too clearly,” the CBCP statement concludes, “the need for the reform not only of our national institutions but of our very moral fiber as a people.” Thus, through the social teaching of the Church, through the social justice provisions of the Philippine Constitution, and through our active, non-violent engagement with government, we are confident and hopeful that this second National Rural Congress can indeed provide the renewed steps towards the social transformation of Philippine rural society today.

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Multifaith dialogue and cooperation
In many ways, these are the same qualities that our interfaith dialogue hoped to evoke for the Asia-Pacific region. For our troubled world today, the final statement of the Phnom Penh Dialogue stressed the urgency of multifaith dialogue and cooperation, peace as a sacred priority, increased participation of women and youth, and interfaith cooperation addressing community concerns in our region—such as poverty, human rights, and environmental issues.
For the political prisoners of the Khmer Rouge, Tuol Sleng literally meant a “poisonous mound.” But for the builders of Angkor Wat, the temple-mountain represented man’s ascent to God. And for all of us today, pilgrims in interfaith dialogue for peace and harmony, the same invitation to climb the Lord’s mountain is perhaps best echoed in the prophet Isaiah’s summons:
“In days to come,
The mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established as the highest mountain
And raised above the hills.

“Many peoples shall come and say:
‘Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain,
That he may instruct us in his ways,
And we may walk in his paths.’

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