Images

For Filipino farmers, President Rodrigo Duterte brings death. (Photo by R.V. Olea)

“Not one area of any successful bungkalan did not go through harassment from soldiers, goons, policemen.”

Ronalyn V. Olea, Bulatlat.com
October 20, 2018

MANILA — Eden Gualberto practically raised her three children through farming. She earns P1,000 a week from selling banana, cassava and vegetables.

Gualberto, 42, and most of the farmers in sitio Compra, San Mateo, Norzagaray, Bulacan do not own the land they have tilled for decades. This September, Gualberto and her fellow farmers weeded out tall grass from a portion of a 75-hectare land and planted palay, vegetables, root crops and banana.

A few days later, security guards and personnel of the Royalty Moluccan Realty Holdings destroyed the makeshift hut of their organization and pulled out some of their crops. Just this Wednesday, Oct. 17, the guards fell a hundred banana trees.

Rice paddies destroyed by security guards of a real estate company last Sept. 6 in sitio Compra, Barangay, San Mateo, Norzagaray, Bulacan. (Photo courtesy of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas)

Still, Gualberto and the other members of the Samahan ng Magsasaka sa Sitio Compra (SMC) are resolved to maintain their collective farm. Most of the farmers in their small village have settled there for decades, the first ones arriving in the 1960s.

“We only wanted to put food on our table,” Gualberto told Bulatlat in an interview.

Means of survival

In other parts of the country, thousands of farmers under the banner of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) have done bungkalan — occupying lands to plant food crops.

In Negros region, more than 5,000 agricultural workers have cultivated 3,000 hectares of land since 2009. According to John Milton Lozande, secretary general of Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), the collective farms have staved off hunger of at least 5,000 farm workers especially during tiempo muerto (dead season) in sugar plantations.

Tiempo muerto, which happens from May to September, is the worst for sugar plantation workers. “Pakyawan” rate or the wholesale payment for 10 to 15 workers is as low as P200 to P300 per day. Each worker takes home P20 to P30 after a day’s work.

But even during peak season, agricultural workers still get “slave” wages. Although the Regional Wages and Productivity Board pegged the minimum wage to P295 in agricultural sector and P323 in non-agricultural sector, Lozande said agricultural workers receive P1,500 to P2,000 for 15 days of work. That’s P100 to P133 wage per day, an amount not enough to feed a family of six.

With the rising prices of food and other basic commodities, Lozande said the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) will expand their bungkalan campaign to cover more than 5,000 hectares of land in five different towns. Most of the areas targeted were covered by the government’s land reform but were either not distributed to the farm workers or had been reconcentrated in the hands of the landlords.

Just like in Negros, farmers from KMP chapters in other regions have also resorted to bungkalan.

DEADLY ATTACK. This makeshift shelter was peppered with bullets by some 40 armed men, killing 9 farmers in Sagay City, Negros Occidental, on October 20, 2018. Photo courtesy of Bombo Radyo Bacolod

(Raymund B. Villanueva)
October 21, 2018

Nine farmers, including two minors and four women, were massacred in Sagay City, Negros Occidental last night, Saturday.

In a flash report posted this morning, Aksyon Radyo Bacolod said nine were killed in a strafing incident at Hacienda Nene, Purok Fire Tree, Barangay Bulanon, Sagay City.

The victims were National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) members who were staying in a hut at the place of the incident.
Four others survived the attack, NFSW said.

Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) in an urgent alert said the victims were engaged in a Land Cultivation Area (bungkalan) activity.

Sagay chief of police, Chief Inspector Robert Mansueto said the killings happened around 9:30 p.m.

He added that some of the victims were from different villages while the rest were from Bulanon but not from the hamlet where the plantation is located.

NFSW immediately accused “goons,” a euphemism for private security personnel, and members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army, an armed band that had broken away from the communist New People’s Army for the incident in Hacienda Nene, Barangay Bulanon, Sagay City, close to 90 kilometers from here.

Sagay Mayor Alfredo Maranon III, son of Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Maranon Jr., expressed “shock” and condemned the killings “in the strongest possible terms” as he ordered police to “do everything possible to bring justice to the nine families that lost loved ones” and promised to extend all possible assistance to the victims’ kin.

NFSW officer Danilo Tabora confirmed that some 75 members of the union had occupied the land Saturday morning, a day after the harvest on the sugarcane plantation, as part of a “bungkalan” campaign to till lands covered by the government’s agrarian reform program.

Mayor Maranon confirmed that the land was under a “notice of coverage” from the Department of Agrarian Reform but explained that this meant this was still an early stage in the process of distributing the land to beneficiaries.

Sagay police named the victims as:
• Eglicerio Villegas, 36 – Bulanon
• Angelipe Arsenal – Bulanon
• Alias Pater – Barangay Plaridel
• Dodong Laurencio – Plaridel
• Morena Mendoza (female) – Bulanon
• Neknek Dumaguit, female
• Bingbing Bantigue – Plaridel
• Joemarie Ughayon Jr., 17 – Barangay Rafaela Barrera
• Marchtel Sumicad, 17 – Bulanon

According to sources, Hacienda Nene is owned by a certain Atty. Barbara Tolentino and is leased by Bacolod City-based Conpinco Trading.

Reporting from the funeral parlor where the victims had been taken, radio station dyHB said most of them bore headshots and at least three of the bodies were burned.

“We hold the military and the [Rodrigo] Duterte government responsible for said incident,” KMP and UMA said in its alert.

Other sources from the KMP said that they have been other killings at Hacienda Nene prior to the incident.

In December 21, 2017, NFSW-Sagay City chairperson Flora A. Jemola died from 13 stab wounds inflicted by suspected Civilian Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) forces under the 12th IB of the Philippine Army.

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
EPISCOPAL COMMISSION ON YOUTH

Message

Dear young people,

“Do not be afraid… for you have found favor with God!” [cf. Lk 1:30]

It is very fitting that the theme of this National Youth Day 2018, taken from the words of the archangel Gabriel to the young Mary, conveys the spirit that the Church desires to impart to you, young people, in every NYD that you celebrate. You are favored and loved by God! You are a precious gift to the Church! Thus, you have nothing to worry or be afraid of.

The Episcopal Commission on Youth of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines offers you this NYD2018 Formation Program. Prepared in collaboration with the diocesan youth ministries in the Bicol Region, it hopes to be a helpful resource towards a truly spirit-filled celebration of the NYD2018 in the dioceses, parishes, BEC’s, organizations and other settings, especially since this NYD opens our 2019 Year of the Youth!

Let our celebration of the NYD2018, accompanied and led by our youth ministers— clergy, religious and lay—ignite all the more our excitement for greater things to come for the youth of our Church, as we also welcome the 2019 Year of the Youth, our next pastoral theme in the ongoing nine-year novena towards 2021.

It is my prayer that through your dedication and commitment in your respective youth ministries, the NYD2018 Formation Program will be able to bless more young people, affirming them that they are BELOVED, GIFTED and EMPOWERED; thus, enabling them to courageously respond to God’s call to MISSION (cf. Theme of the Year of the Youth 2019: Filipino Youth in Mission: Beloved. Gifted. Empowered).

May the NYD2018 theme deepen your devotion to Mary: she, whom our Lord gave to us as our mother [cf. Jn 19:27] and whom our dear Pope Francis continues to offer to us as our model in listening to and following God’s call. Allow her to be your motherly companion and guide in your journey of faith. Let the great trust that the Lord has given to Mary be your assurance that He also places His trust in you as you accept and embrace His wonderful plan in your life.

From the experience of recognizing the many great things that the Mighty One has done for us last NYD2017, may the NYD2018 celebration be a moment of affirmation and encouragement for you, preparing you to offer your joyful and humble FIAT to Him.
Your ka-lakbay in Christ,

+ LEOPOLDO C. JAUCIAN, SVD, DD
Bishop of Bangued
Chairman of the CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Youth
2018 October 12 Memorial of Our Lady of the Pillar

Dear fellow youth ministers,
Greetings in our Lord, who has found favor in us!
With the joy of this Good News, we are able to share with you the National Youth Day (NYD) 2018 Formation Program!
This is prepared especially for the NYD2018, our local celebration of the NYD within the 2019 Year of the Youth, this December 16 in our respective settings (in dioceses and parishes, as well as in youth organizations, campuses, etc.).
The CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Youth acknowledges our partnership with the Bicol Regional Youth Coordinating Council which bore fruit through this program!
With Mary of Nazareth, our Mother and Guide, may we gather our young people in earnest celebration not only of the NYD2018, but of the wider occasion of the 2019 Year of the Youth. May the NYD2018 celebrations across the archipelago be an affirming milestone in our ongoing journey in youth ministry, enabling our Filipino youth in mission: beloved, gifted, empowered.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Rev. Fr. CONEGUNDO B. GARGANTA
Executive Secretary

Our Actions are our Future. This year’s theme of the World Food Day Celebration couldn’t articulate more the significance and urgency of the need to address the increasing magnitude of poverty and hunger worldwide.

We, from the Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc., a network of civil society organizations, rights groups, peace and faith-based institutions hope that the 2018 World Food Day celebration manifest the very essence of it, particularly to effect change to the lives of Filipino people living in extreme poverty and hunger.

Our country is an agricultural country and as ironic as it gets, the people who are providing us food, our farmers and fisherfolks are among the poorest of the poor according to Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). PSA record shows that these sectors have the highest poverty incidence in 2015 at 34.3 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

The survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) from September 15-23, 2018 revealed that 13.3% or an estimated 3.1 million families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months. While 821 million people or one in nine of the world’s population faced food shortage in 2017 according to a UN report.

These numbers are alarming and warrant urgent and strategic actions. However, our government either put aside the issue or address it in depraved way.

In the Philippines, farmers have been struggling to keep their livelihoods afloat because of debts they cannot repay for seeds and chemical inputs owned by business companies. This is on top of the concerns on the impact of climate change to agriculture, the emergence of genetically modified organisms (GMO) that threatens the very ecosystem, the lack of new farmer practitioners and thus further threatening food security. Likewise, the enactment of Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN) exacerbates the condition of the lives of people especially those who are living in below poverty line.

Living a dignified life means having access to food, including the other basic needs like shelter and clothing. Unfortunately, not all people enjoy this opportunity thus, some poor people struggle more just to survive by collecting and eating leftover food. The food waste produced globally is so staggering that each year, 1.6 billion tons of food worth about $1.2 trillion are lost or go to waste, one-third of the total amount of food produced globally.

On this celebration of World Food Day, we highlight our grave concern on the emergence of GMOs. PMPI strongly opposes the looming field trials of golden rice in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija and San Mateo, Isabela. Golden rice variety poses a threat to environment, public health, and farmers’ livelihood. It is just another scheme by the agrochemical transnational corporations (TNCs) to control the sector of food and agriculture, which would later on making the farmers dependent on their patented genetically modified seeds and expensive chemical inputs.

We also want to highlight the threat on food security brought by large-scale, destructive mining. Below are some of the experiences of PMPI’s Sites-Of-Struggle (SOS)* Communities, incidentally, are also food producing areas, namely:

‘All these saints, in different contexts, put today’s word into practice in their lives, without lukewarmness, without calculation, with the passion to risk everything and to leave it all’

October 14, 2018 11:49
Deborah Castellano Lubov

This morning in St. Peter’s Square, before a crowd of about 70,000 people, Pope Francis presided over Holy Mass for the canonization of the saints while the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment is underway in the Vatican, Oct. 3-28, 2018.
He also proclaimed canonized saints Francesco Spinelli, Vincenzo Romano, Maria Caterina Kasper, Nazaria Ignazia of Saint Teresa of Jesus, and Nunzio Sulprizio.

Pope Francis began recalling that today’s second reading tells us that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two- edged sword (Heb 4:12).

“It really is: God’s word is not merely a set of truths or an edifying spiritual account; no – it is a living word that touches our lives, that transforms our lives. There, Jesus in person, the living Word of God, speaks to our hearts.”
The Gospel, he continued, invites us to an encounter with the Lord, after the example of the “man” who “ran up to him” (cf. Mk 10:17). The Pope pointed out that we can recognize ourselves in that man, as he asks Jesus how “to inherit eternal life” (v. 17).

“He is seeking life without end, life in its fullness: who of us would not want this? Yet we notice that he asks for it as an inheritance, as a good to be obtained, to be won by his own efforts. In fact, in order to possess this good, he has observed the commandments from his youth and to achieve this he is prepared to follow others; and so he asks: “What must I do to have eternal life?”

Jesus’ answer catches him off guard, the Pope said, reminding Jesus told him:“Sell what you have and give to the poor…and come, follow me” (v. 21). To you, too, the Pope noted, Jesus says: “Come, follow me!”

Seek Him Every Day, God as Meaning of Your Life

“Follow me: do not walk behind Jesus only when you want to, but seek him out every day; do not be content to keep the commandments, to give a little alms and say a few prayers: find in Him the God who always loves you; seek in Jesus the God who is the meaning of your life, the God who gives you the strength to give of yourself.”

“We cannot truly follow Jesus when we are laden down with things. Because if our hearts are crowded with goods, there will not be room for the Lord, who will become just one thing among the others.” The Pope noted that where money is at the center, there is no room for God nor for man.

Local Sustainability Events Around the Globe

Religious and spiritual communities launch the global “Time for Living the Change” (7th October through 2nd December 2018) with a week of local sustainability events and celebrations around the world. Faith leaders and community members will make sustainable living commitments towards low-carbon lifestyles as part of Living the Change, an international, multi-faith initiative mobilizing people of diverse faiths to commit to sustainable lifestyles.

This will be a joyous occasion to come together as an international, interfaith movement for changes towards sustainable living.

We want to:

• align ourselves with our deepest faith values
• allow a future for all and take care of the Earth our home
• reduce greehousegas emissions and prevent waste and harm
• send a strong message to others in our communities and to decision-makers in business and government

Let us

• share and celebrate the changes we are able to lead in our own lives to allow a flourishing world for all.
• share our stories of change, transformation, and regeneration.
• lift up leaders and sustainable solutions in our own community.
• learn from one another.
• offer guidance around transitioning towards sustainable living.

And, most importantly, let us celebrate this together!

Please join GreenFaith and our global and national faith partners as we celebrate this milestone for our shared journey in Living the Change.

To learn more, visit the WLT website: https://livingthechange.net/global-week