Just a meter away

He was there…and I am here…just a meter away.

He was tall and darkened by the heat of the sun from his daily trove in the fields of Tampakan just to earn the living for his family. Until, one day with no expectations he was arrested and led to where his house now – the South Cotabato Rehabilitation and Detention Center. He is one of the more than 800 boarders of the said center. His name was Mang amando. A grandfather to his grandaugther from his only son. He said he was boarded in the institution for not complying to a contract.

He was there…and I am here…just a meter away still. But, I just felt the presence of a father so alone, so weakened by days and weeks and months of longing for his loved ones. I felt the love of a friend from this stranger I just know. He confided me the things that is happening in the center as if I am that trustworthy to keep his little secrets. With these, I realized we are the same. He is still a man and not some mischievous monster ready to devour the flesh of mine which I adore as so pure and precious than theirs. How proud I am as I enter the center. But, how ashamed I am as I bid them farewell for they seem to be more human. For they pose true signs of hope in the Lord in which mine a hiprocrisy of stage plays.

Simply as our time to depart comes to a close, he gave me his little flower made of drinking straw. At no cost he gave me this little treasure in where he live up his life now. I in turn took it and appreciated it feeling ashamed for not doing my part of bringing something for him. I apologized for not bringing something but then he expressed himself consoling me:  “What is important my son is your presence and your visit.”

He was there…and I am here…just a meter away still…but I can feel my heart beating for the heart of this saint. This saint of conversion.

A Muslim Mother Blessed her Catholic Son's Ordination

Ten years in the seminary and you can only find a handful of Catholics who would really support you on your vocation. Most would surely doubt the quality of your person if truly fit for the "service."

But, what is amazing is that though you will not find that much of Catholic 'supporters' you will surely befriend people whose religious belief is different from yours and yet believe in your perseverance.

This story from Asianews.it is a great example:

The Muslim family of Robertus B. Asiyanto joyfully participated in his ordination in Maumere. His mother laid her hands on the altar: "I'm really happy with my son’s choice". The island of Flores is one of the few predominantly Catholic areas of Indonesia. 

Fr. Godofredo Alingal, S.J.

Fr. Godofredo Alingal, S.J.

Fr. Godofredo Alingal, called Fr. Ling by friends, was born in Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte, a province considered a “Jesuit country,” and so perhaps it was inevitable for this son of the soil and the sea to become a Jesuit priest.

Fr. Ling’s first assignments were in the province of Bukidnon, moving to Ateneo de Naga, Cagayan de Oro City, and in 1968, back to Bukidnon.

At that time, the Catholic Church was seeing dramatic changes as an aftermath of the Second Vatican Council. The Gospel was henceforth to be preached beyond the walls of the church, and in the fields, market places, the hills, and lived as a witness to give people back their dignity and their rights.

Fr. Ling embraced these new church teachings, preaching as well as practicing them with his flock. He found Bukidnon a land of great social conflicts. Politics was rough, and bullets counted more than ballots. Peasants were oppressed by landlords, usurers and middlemen, and power was in the hands of a small few.

Fr. Ling’s involvement with farmers began by helping them start a credit union and a grains marketing cooperative. He helped organize the Kibawe chapter of the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF).

Fr. Godofredo Alingal, S.J.

Martial law brought repression and militarization to Zamboanga del Norte, and Fr. Ling redoubled his efforts in behalf of poor people. He started a Community Organization Program, believed a first of its kind in rural Philippines. The program aimed to organize farmers, mothers and vendors to protest abuses and demand their rights.

Gentle and soft-spoken, Fr. Ling nevertheless spoke out against electoral fraud, threats and harassments by the military, denouncing these from the pulpit and through the prelature newsletter Bandilyo. In 1977, the martial law government closed down the prelature radio station DXBB, and Fr. Ling, refusing to be cowed, started the Blackboard News Service, a giant blackboard in front of the church, broadcasting news otherwise being suppressed, and as always, denouncing official abuses. The blackboard was vandalized repeatedly, but Fr. Ling, exhibiting both patience and determination, simply put up a new blackboard to replace it.

Fr. Ling’s advocacy for clean elections in 1980 earned him a written death threat: “Stop using the pulpit for politics … your days are numbered.” He received another death threat months later. But he told himself, “What else is there to do -- the priesthood is not a safe vocation.”

He had just gotten orders for reassignment to another parish in April 1981, when assassins swooped down on his parish and killed him on the evening of the 13th of April. Two parish houseboys having gone out to lock up the church for the night were suddenly crying for help. The priest, wanting to know what was happening, opened his door to five men, armed and wearing masks. A .45 caliber automatic was aimed at him, one bullet going straight through his heart. Two men then ran up to cut off the church’s electric connection. Then they all fled on motorbikes. A physician living nearby rushed to the church when he heard the shot. Fr. Ling died in his arms.

He was 59.

Two bishops and about 70 priests, including then Jesuit Father Provincial Joaquin Bernas, concelebrated the funeral mass for Fr. Ling. Thousands coming from the town proper and the surrounding barrios and towns joined the funeral march, bringing with them placards, painted with the angry query: "Hain ang justicia? (Where is justice?)” People across Bukidnon expressed their outrage over the priest’s killing.

Sr. Dorothy Stang: Living in Extreme Poverty with the Poorest of the Poor

Sr. Dorothy Stang

Sr. Dorothy Stang chose to live in extreme poverty in order to help others living in poverty. She had a passion for people of all cultures, for social justice, peacemaking, fairness, and respect for the environment. She possessed few material things: a mix-match of colorful clothing, spartan furnishings and her Bible, which she carried everywhere and sometimes called it her “weapon.”

On a rain-soaked Saturday in February 2005, she carried that Bible while making her way along a muddy Amazon jungle road. She was headed to Boa Esperança, a village near Anapu, where she lived in the northern Brazil state of Para. The area lies on the eastern edge of the Amazon, a region known for its wealth of natural resources and the violence that boils over from land disputes.

Waiting for Sr. Dorothy that morning was a group of peasant farmers whose homes had been burned down to the ground on the land which the federal government had granted to these farmers. In the entire state of Para and in a place like Boa Esperança, legal title to land does not always end disputes. In Para, logging firms and wealthy ranchers find assistance from local politicians and police in procuring and commandeering property from indigenous peoples and small farmers. While Sr. Dorothy walked on toward Boa Esperança, she heard taunts from men who had stopped alongside her. The rain poured as she stopped and opened her Bible. She read to the men. They listened to two verses, stepped back and aimed their guns. Sr. Dorothy raised her Bible toward them and six shots were fired at point blank range. She fell to the ground, martyred.

In the days preceding her murder on February 12, 2005, Sr. Dorothy was attempting to halt illegal logging where land sharks had interests but no legal rights. Authorities believe the murder was arranged by a local rancher for $19,300 (U.S.). Many believe that a consortium of loggers and ranchers had contributed to the bounty on Sr. Dorothy’s head in an effort to silence her. Ironically, their attempt at silence resulted in an opposite effect: an outraged world, well informed about the murder through persistent global media reports, sent Sr. Dorothy’s voice soaring to new heights. And a proclamation came quickly from Brazil’s President Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva, that the land in question, over 22,000 acres, would be reserved for sustainable development by the poor farmers whose cause Sr. Dorothy had championed.

Following her death, Brazil’s Human Rights Minister, Nilmario Miranda, described her as “a legend, a person considered a symbol of the fight for human rights in Para.” While this accolade has become global consensus, Sisters who knew the down-to-earth Sr. Dorothy state that she would have cringed at being called a legend. Having spoken with Sr. Dorothy days before her death about threats against herself and others, Mr.Miranda says: “She always asked for protection for others, never for herself.”

Her Sisters, family, friends and colleagues gathering around tables, at prayer services and in classrooms around the world, try to understand the pattern of fact and circumstances that led to Sr. Dorothy’s death. Many are curious to know more about her ministry and what brought her to Brazil in the first place.

Like most Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Dorothy Stang chose life in this Congregation which has a clear preference for work among those living in poverty. At age 18, she completed her application to join the Sisters and wrote boldly across the top of the form: “I would like to volunteer for the Chinese missions.” She never served in China, but her dream of missionary work was realized in Brazil.

Sr. Dorothy lived and worked in Brazil for nearly 40 years. She went there for the first time in 1966 with five other Sisters of Notre Dame. At that time, Sr. Dorothy and her Sisters spoke little or no Portuguese. So they began the ministry with language learning. Soon they established a new convent at Coroatá in the state of Maranhão, where they trained lay catechists and gave religious instruction to adults. Over time, the Sisters became more aware of the social problems troubling this region, particularly the oppression of farmers. The Sisters reacted by stressing basic tenets of human rights in their lessons and their work took on new proportions and expanded to new areas in Brazil.

Sr. Barbara English was among the group who traveled to Brazil with Sr. Dorothy. She remembers: “By 1968, all of us (SNDs) in Brazil were aware of the repression and violence promoted by the military dictatorship. People who worked for human rights and for the small farmers’ rights to the land were labeled subversive and the military dictatorship had them hunted down.”

In the early 1970s, Brazil’s government touted the benefits for impoverished people to move to the Transamazonian region. Landless people saw this as an opportunity to become farming homesteaders. Many moved to the state of Para to begin new lives for their families. This sparked in Sr. Dorothy something that would have attracted many Sisters of Notre Dame — the chance to help people create better lives for themselves. She packed up and joined the farmers on their journey to the new frontier but once there, they all realized that the poverty and insecurity they had left behind had been replaced by new problems: land sharks, intent on occupying the soil they had come to till, were taking over. Officials in Para offered no remedy since many police and politicians were well paid to scare off the homesteaders.

The farmers who had traveled to the region on the advice of the Brazilian government found their dreams of independence and security for their families not only elusive but dangerous. So they moved even deeper into the forest, and Sr. Dorothy moved with them. Still, the situation was the same after each migration and, according to Sr. Barbara, it became obvious by 1980 that the government had other plans for the region.

The Great Carajás Project designated 10.5 million acres in northern Brazil for development encompassing three states, including Para. Sr. Barbara recalls: “This sector of Brazil held every imaginable mineral deposit along with potential highways, railways and waterways for transportation, as well as potential dams for energy.” The plan was to open the land for mining, refining and agribusiness projects.

“They were David facing Goliath,” said Sr. Barbara, of Sr. Dorothy and the peasant farmers, “and Goliath came in the form of multinationals, big businesses, ranching and lumber companies ... They began to devour the Amazon forest.” (Environmentalists estimate that the Amazon loses 9,170 square miles of forest every year and that about 20% of its 1.6 million square miles has already been cut down to make cattle pasture or to log cedar, mahogany and other precious hardwoods.)

Sr. Dorothy and “her people” moved still further into the forest. Her dream of landless families safely engaged in sustainable development projects brought her ultimately to Anapu, Para in 1982. There, she worked to develop a new type of agrarian society that helped farm families from diverse cultures develop common bonds and learn how to use the soil to sustain themselves and the land. With Sr. Dorothy’s help, the communities in Anapu lived in solidarity and with respect for the environment. During these years, she worked with the Pastoral Land Commission, an agency of the Bishops’ Conference in Brazil. She also helped to foster small family business projects in the village, often creating, for the first time in many families, women breadwinners.

“She helped train agricultural technicians and worked hard to create a fruit factory,” said Betsy Flynn, SND, a Sister of Notre Dame whose ministry has also brought her to Brazil. Sr. Betsy remembers Sr. Dorothy as a person supporting the community she helped build through education and health care. “She worked to create schools and helped teachers become properly trained and credentialed,” said Sr. Betsy. “Many people learned to read and write because of Sr. Dorothy Stang. She also had a vast knowledge of popular health care remedies, particularly useful in areas where doctors and hospitals are scarce, and medication costs are often exorbitant.”

In the last year of her life, Sr. Dorothy was granted naturalized citizenship in Brazil. She received a humanitarian award from a Brazilian lawyers’ association and officials in the state of Para named her “Woman of the Year.” Both honors were given for her work to secure land rights for peasants but while she was given the award from the officials in Para, a plan was underway for a paved highway through the area, raising land values higher and escalating the violence.

At the federal level, President da Silva is caught between a promise to find homes for 400,000 landless families, an expressed desire to protect the rainforest and the pressure to open tracts of forest to support economic growth. External pressure comes from the International Monetary Fund, which loaned Brazil billions of dollars after its 2002 recession. It is a dangerous and complicated life for many in Brazil, but for none more than the people in Para. The Pastoral Land Commission reported recently that the state of Para has been the site of 40% of the 1,237 land-conflict killings in Brazil over the past 30 years. The many concerns surrounding the climate of corruption in Para have increased efforts to move the investigation into Sr. Dorothy’s murder from the state to the federal government. It is widely believed that a fair trial cannot be achieved in Para.

Mary Alice McCabe, SND, who defends the rights of families relying on the fishing trade in Ceara, Brazil, says of Sr. Dorothy: “She was with the excluded migrant farmers in their constant, futile search for a piece of land to call their own. She persistently pressured the government to do its job in defending the rights of the people. She never gave up. She never lost hope.”

Several thousand people attended Sr. Dorothy's funeral. In the month following her murder, four men were arrested and charged with the murder. President da Silva sent 2,000 troops to the area to quell violence, while the United States sent FBI agents to Anapu to investigate the killing. Memorial services were conducted around the world and the Brazilian Ambassador to the United States spoke at a Memorial Mass for Sr. Dorothy in Baltimore. On March 9, 2005, U.S. Congress Resolution #89 was introduced, honoring the life of Sr. Dorothy Stang. On December 10, 2008, Sr. Dorothy Stang was awarded the 2008 United Nations Award in the Field of Human Rights.

She is buried in a grove in Anapu, her grave marked with a simple wooden cross bearing her name and dates of birth and death.

Bishop Antonino Nepomuceno, OMI, DD: A Man for the Poor and the Oppressed

Bishop Antonino Nepomuceno, OMI, DD

By: Fr. Eliseo ‘Jun’ Mercado, OMI

Bishop Nepomuceno or simply Tony to his friends was born on June 13, 1925 in Bustos, Bulacan. He entered San Jose Seminary at an early age. At the seminary, he met Fr. Joseph Boyd, OMI and through him got to know about the mission of the Oblates in Cotabato and Sulu. He was attracted to the Oblate Missionary life and later joined the Oblates.

Tony was sent to Texas for his novitiate and scholasticate. He made his first vows in 1948, and his perpetual vows in 1951. in his fourth year of Theology, he was ordained priest (July 10, 1953), and came home to the Philippines on July 10, 1954 to begin his missionary life in Mindanao.

His early ministry was in the parishes of Cotabato and Grace Park. His outstanding characteristics were noted during his stint in parish priest of Kidapawan. He was, indeed, an exemplary pastor that when the OMI Province and the Prelature of Cotabato was looking for a Filipino Auxillary Bishop, his name was immediately submitted to the Holy See for appointment. Thus, he became the first Filipino Oblate Bishop on August 31, 1969.

After his appointment as auxillary Bishop of Cotabato, he was given the task to organize the Notre Dame Social Action. This was the period when the Catholic Church was beginning to get involved in development. His dynamic leadership and his firm commitment to the poor transformed the Notre Dame Social Action ministry into one of the most active in the whole Philippines.

With religious and lay co-workers, the Social Action ministry reached practically every nook and corner of the Prelature. His pioneering and innovative approach to Social Action put him in the limelight not only in the Prelature nut also in the whole Mindanao and entire Philippines.

His work among the poor and the oppressed went into difficult times during the Martial Law period. He was a lone voice in the whole Prelature in denouncing the abuses of the Marcos regime. While many church leaders adopted a critical collaboration stance (which actually was more collaborator than critical), Bishop Tony was firm in his struggle for justice and freedom of our people.
His commitment to the poor and the oppressed cost him a great deal. People who were for the status quo labeled him “leftist”, or at times “communist”.

It was a difficult time. He chose the unpopular and painful struggle, the cause of the poor and the oppressed. While many church authorities were collaborating with Marcos, and receiving all praises from all sides, Bishop Tony was being subjected to all kinds of black propaganda. Sad to say, some of his confreres both in episcopate and the priesthood had lent themselves as tools in assailing Bishop Tony’s commitment to poor and the oppressed. Ecclesiastical pressures (from the “balimbinmg sectors) were put on him. When he could no longer stomach the insidious intrigues, he announced his retirement on November 11, 1979 as Auxiliary Bishop of Cotabato.

After his retirement he worked as Director for the Communications Foundation of Asia under Fr. Lagerway, MSC. In this position, he was able to continue his commitment to the development of the poor and his struggle for freedom and democracy.

Another outstanding labor of Bishop Tony was his commitment to Muslim-Christian understanding. Together with Ustadz Omar Bajunaid, he organized the Christian Clergy (Catholic and Protestants) and the Muslim religious leaders. This organization was effective not only in paving the way for reconciliation and understanding, but also in giving protection for the people who were harassed, imprisoned, and salvaged during the Martial Law years.

The other strong passion of Bishop Tony was the ouster of the US Bases in the Philippines and his commitment to Nuclear Free Philippines. He would be present in major rallies against US Bases and his presence would, in many ways, ‘provide’ the ‘semblance’ that the Church, was present there in the struggle of the Filipino people against colonial vestiges like the military bases.

Bishop Tony lived in the OMI Community at the OMI Regional house in Manila. For his pastoral work, he was always available to help at Bagong Barrio, the OMI squatter parish, in Greater Manila area. He was very active in his struggle fro a Nuclear-free Philippines. His commitment to the poor and oppressed remains his ardent passion as Oblate, a veritable missionary of the poor and the most abandoned.

With his brother OMI’s from Manila, they went to Jolo for the funeral of the martyred Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, OMI. After the funeral on the 14th February 1997, instead of taking his flight the day after as scheduled, he managed to get a flight in a small place on the afternoon of the same day. That plane took off but failed to gain steam and crashed landed against coconut tress few kilometers from the end of the runaway in Jolo Airport.

Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, OMI

Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, OMI

In Sulu, Tawi-Tawi missions, Bishop Ben got used to riding on boats to visit the different islands to administer the sacraments or visits the school. He was exposed in dealing with top government officials of the province/municipality and military officials.

This was particularly true in Sulu. Bishop Ben spoke in several occasions when his life was endangered and trembling with fear he carried on the work. He would share ‘the times of difficulties in trying to be faithful to the vows’. During the 50th Jubilee of OMI presence in Jolo, he shared ‘Thanks be to God I preserved in His service! If God gave me the grace to be faithful for the past 27 years as a religious and 21 years as a priest, I hope and pray that by the grace of our OMI Golden Jubilee celebration, I will be able to persevere unto the end, singing praises to God for the good things He has done in me and through me to the people that I serve. Oblate vocation is truly a gratuitous gift of God to me. I am an ordinary human being, weak, vulnerable, but God used me to proclaim his love and compassion to others.’

Bishop Ben was kindness and friendship personified. When he was shot in front of the Jolo Cathedral in the morning of February 4th, 1997, shock waves reverberated to the entire Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and to the Philippine Church. He was the first Bishop brutally killed few months after the Final Peace Agreement between the Philippine Government and the Moro National Liberation Front was signed on September 2, 1996.

Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, OMI

Two weeks before the bishop was martyred, a devoted woman came to tell an Oblate of her vision. She said, “Father, I have seen a vision. I’ve seen throngs of people in the clouds and they were carrying lighted candles. They surrounded someone who was dressed in white robe.” Then, the lady asked innocently, “What does that vision mean, Father?” The priest did not know what it meant but he wanted to be polite with her and so he explained that perhaps what she saw in her vision was the Last Day of Judgment as told in the book of Revelations and depicted by artists in some of those medieval paintings. When she left, he forgot everything about that encounter. But during the wake Bishop Ben, that same woman approached him again and said, “Father, do you remember the vision I told you about”? He was temporarily suspended. He looked at her and said, “Yes, I remember.”

If indeed it was God’s will that Bishop Ben would die, then, we believe it was not without purpose. Bishop Ben’s death has moved many peace advocates throughout the country to work even more for peace to reign in the Philippines. His dream of a harmonious relationship among Muslims and Christians has inspired the hearts of a new wave of dialoguers. Bishop Ben’s martyrdom became a symbol of dialogue and peace.

Fr. Benjamin Inocencio, OMI

He was born January 17, 1958 in Ugong, Pasig City, Metro Manila. Having obtained a college degree in accounting and he worked in a bank prior to novitiate. He made his first vows at Tamontaka in 1986 and was ordained a priest in 1992 at the age of 34. After ordination he was parish priest at Timanan, South Upi, Maguindanao for a year before being assigned to Cagayan de Mapun, Tawi-Tawi one of the remote island stations of the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo. He spent eight years the reserving the Badjaos the poorest among the poor in the southernmost part of the Philippines before being appointed Chancellor of the Vicariate in June this year.

Bishop Angelito LAMPON Vicar Apostolic of Jolo who has known Fr Inocencio for many years describes him as a very kind and open person easy to get along with.“He would regularly meet the staff and pray with them in inter-religious worship – because we have Muslims on our staff. They prayed together.He was very kind to people and they did not hesitate to approach him to talk. He was very transparent the kind of person of whom you can say ‘what you see is what you get’” said the bishop.

Others who knew Fr. Inocencio say he was “a very quiet meditative person… a very kind and gentle person… quiet and simple.”

According to Bishop Lampon Fr. Inocencio was on his way to the market to buy items needed for the Jolo Vicariate’s combined Christmas and Hari-Raya celebration to be held the next day. A day before the incident Jolo celebrated Eid’l Fitr marking the end of fasting in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and the end of a Vicariate sponsored seminar on the culture of peace.

Fr. Inocencio, 42, was martyred on Thursday, December 28, 2009. He was ordained to the priesthood at Grace Park, Caloocan City, Metro Manila on April 25, 1992. He was first assigned to Timanan in June 1992. Three months later he was assigned to Cagayan de Mapun in Tawi-Tawi, where he became the Parochial Vicar of Mapun Parish and at the same time the Director of Notre Dame of Mapun. He spent more than eight years of humble and faithful service to the people of island.

In June 2000, he was assigned Chancellor of the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo with Bishop Angelito R. Lampon, OMI, DD. At the same time, he served as Chaplain of the Notre Dame of Jolo College.

Beside the Cathedral of Jolo, Fr. Inocencio was shot on the head that caused his sudden death on the feast of the Holy Innocents, December 28, 2000.

The Martyrdom of Fr. Benjamin Inocencio, OMI fondly called as Fr. Benjie, is a second brutal murder of the servant of the Catholic Church which took place in Jolo. The first was the senseless killing of Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, OMI, DD on February 4, 1997.

Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, OMI: “If you want me, then just kill me here in God’s chapel!”

Fr. Nelson Javellana, OMI

Fr. Nelson Javellana, OMI was born in November 11, 1941 in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental. In 1957, he joined the Oblate Juniorate in Baesa, Quezon City. As was the set-up then, he took up his classical studies in the nearby Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary. After he made his novitiate in Tamontaka, in Dinaig (now Datu Odin Sinsuat), Maguindanao, he returned to San Jose Seminary for his philosophical studies and later, his theological studies at the Loyola House of Studies, also Jesuit-run, at the Ateneo de Manila University campus. He made his perpetual vows in 1964.
Nelson, as close friends (he was one of my best friends) were wont to call him, was well liked by his fellow seminarians. He was a very generous person - with himself, his time and his talents. He was "always available" for anything. Those who wanted a quick hair cut got it from him during recreation time. Being highly intelligent, he helped those who were not as well gifted - to explain patiently a difficult philosophical or theological concept or to type and correct at the same time their term papers or reports, sometimes even up to midnight.

While doing his theological studies, Nelson took a leave of absence for personal reasons. He forthwith taught in the high school department of De La Salle College in Bacolod City. After a year, he transferred to the Oblate-run Notre Dame University in Cotabato City and taught mostly philosophy subjects. Two years later, he returned to the Oblate scholasticate in Quezon City and continued his theological studies. He was ordained to the priesthood in Bacolod City in April 11, 1971.

Thereafter, he worked in the Archdiocese of Cotabato as assistant parish priest of Esperanza then a part of the Municipality of Ampatuan. He was also the director of the high schools of Notre Dame of Esperanza and Notre Dame of Dukay.

Fr. Nelson Javellana, OMI

As a young priest, Nelson had shown the zeal not only of a missionary but also of an educator and community worker. He had a great future ahead of him with the Oblates. But that was not to be.

In November 3, 1971, Nelson and a group of about 70 people from Esperanza went to Cotabato City in a convoy of several vehicles. This was for protection as the conflict between the Muslims and Christians was raging. Many of the men were also armed though not Nelson. They were to present a petition at a hearing to be presided by the national government's chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Previously, in a peace conference with the provincial governor, the Christian leaders of Esperanza drew up a petition for the transfer of the counting of ballots from the barrios to the town and to suspend voting in seven towns in the national and local elections which were about to be held. Nelson was a signatory of the petition.

When they arrived in Cotabato City, they were told that the Comelec chairman would be in the 5:00 PM plane. They waited for the plane and had a plane side conference with the Comelec chairman. They then proceeded to return to Esperanza.

While their baby bus was negotiating a bad, muddy and uphill portion of the highway in Tambunan, Dinaig, they were ambushed by an unidentified armed band. From both sides of the road they were sprayed with bullets from automatic weapons including 50 caliber machine guns. They were completely taken by surprise. Those who did not die from bullets were hacked to death. Nelson was one of the twelve men who died instantly. He sustained bullet wounds all over his body. All were divested of their personal valuables. The soldier who served as their security detail was stripped of his uniform, boots, garand rifle and ammunition.

The authorities said the ambush was politically motivated. The murderers were never identified.

Nelson was a priest for only seven months when he was killed. Then Father Provincial John Murphy OMI wrote in the Provincial Missive dated November 25, 1971 thus: "He was just beginning his priestly ministry with the promise of many long years of dedicated service ahead of him.... We can certainly say that he died because of his generosity to his friends. He felt justified in taking these risks...."

Fr. Nelson Javellana, OMI was the first member of the Philippine Province to die a violent death. Others were to follow some years later. In February 4, 1997, his classmate, Bishop Benjamin "Ben" de Jesus, was assasinated and in December 28, 2000, another Benjamin, Fr. "Benjie" Inocencio was killed in the same way. Both were shot in Jolo, Sulu in broad daylight. And like Nelson's case, theirs remain unsolved to this day.

These three Oblates had one thing in common: they all died in the service of the people and community they were sent to shepherd.

Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, OMI: “If you want me, then just kill me here in God’s chapel!”

“If you want me, then just kill me here in God’s chapel!” Those were the words heard from Fr. Rey as he was being forcedly taken out by his killers from the chapel where he was praying. There were shouts for help. Outside the chapel, near the flag pole in the quadrangle of Notre Dame of Tabawan High School, a piercing shot was heard loud in the dark. After this, except for the silhouettes of the killers dragging their victim, nothing more was seen by those peeping through the jalousies from the second floor of the school building.

Later, Fr. Rey’s body was found just outside the school premises, left on a road near the shoreline from where the murderers sped away in a motorized boat. His body bore several wounds from gunshots, stabs and lacerations in the head, face, neck, abdomen and on the back. From the wounds it is quite clear that he was meant to be killed and not to be kidnapped. As regards who killed him or who had ordered the assassins to kill him, up to this writing, we are still waiting for a satisfactory investigation result from the authorities.

Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, OMI., was mercilessly killed at about 8:30 in that bleak and starless evening of January 15, 2008 in the remote island of Tabawan, South Ubian, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines. Not so distant southward is already Indonesian territory. He had been Director of Notre Dame of Tabawan High School and head of the OMI Mission Station there under the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo for ten years.

Fr. Rey was born to Bonifacio Roda and Benigna Albores on February 5, 1954 at Cotabato City. He had one brother and 3 sisters. He entered the Oblate Juniorate in 1970 after graduating from Notre Dame of Cotabato High School, took his perpetual vows as an Oblate of Mary Immaculate in 1979 and was ordained priest at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral on May 10, 1980.

After his ordination he had been assigned as Parish Vicar in Grace Park, Caloocan City in 1980 and in Midsayap, North Cotabato in 1981, as Parish Priest and Notre Dame high school Director in 1982 at Lebak, Cotabato, as Parish Priest in Magpet, Cotabato in 1984, as Chancellor of Kidapawan diocese in 1988 and as Parish Priest of Pres. Roxas, Cotabato in 1991. He did a stint in the foreign mission. He was sent to Thailand in 1992 and became the Rector of the Oblate Juniorate in Bankok. He came back to the Philippines in 1997 to be in Batu-Batu Mission in Tawi-Tawi and in June 1998 he took over as Director of Notre Dame of Tabawan High School and head of the Mission Station there up to his death just about 2 weeks before his 54rth birthday.

Fr. Rey had been ministering to the people of Tabawan and neighboring islands through education, infra-structure and developmental projects to alleviate poverty. The people are more than 99% Muslims, mostly Samals with a sprinkling of Tausug. The Christians are less than 1% and not all Catholics. The other Christians have their own Pastor, a good friend of Fr. Rey.

Every year, Fr. Rey used to write a Christmas letter expressing his greetings and summarizing the big events of that year in Tabawan. He sent this to friends who were helping him somehow in his mission. I have copies of his letters sent to our common friend who works and live in Rome, Italy. She was on vacation and intending to visit Rey in Tabawan but unfortunately and sadly she attended Fr. Rey’s funeral instead in Cotabato City.

In his December 20, 2000 letter, Fr. Rey said: “ A holy Christmas greetings from Tabawan, "probably, the most peaceful island’ in the world!” Although near the end of that letter, he also mentioned that Southern Philippines is besieged, among others, by “Abu Sayaff’s terrorism and the rise of Muslim fundamentalism.” In 2005, he also wrote: “We are losing hope in the corrupt-ridden government bureaucracy. We expect little from our power-hungry elected officials.”

He wrote:”As we end this year 2006, we thank the merciful and compassionate God for His countless blessings to me and to the peace-loving Sama people of Tabawan.” Then, he mentioned his development projects achieved through the assistance of Tabang Mindanao and Pagtabangan Basulta, a coalition of NGOs: the feeding program of 6 months for 120 Grade One pupils; the sending of public school teachers to the capability-building seminars in Bongao and Davao city. The latter because of distance would entail tremendous expense even just the transportation alone; the rehabilitation of 7 units of Grade One classroom and the construction of 2 water tanks for the public school. Most of all he was thankful that God spared him from the evil intent of kidnappers who barged into the rectory in November. He was in bongao then.

In that letter, he added this: “As I, together with my trusted aides Jularino and Sayatul engage in doing more development projects with the people, I know I will be somehow concerned for my safety and security. I will be less mobile than before. … Hopefully, the community will assist the police in monitoring and warding off violent men. I need such peaceful atmosphere in order to live, to work and to pray. Tabawan has been my place for 9 years now.”

Fr. Rey wrote his 2007 Christmas letter without knowing it would be his last. He was so happy to report that at the beginning of the year 2007, ND Tabawan’s Community Extention Services, which he had organized years before, facilitated the coming of GMA Kapuso Foundation all the way from Manila to distribute Christmas gifts to 2,500 children of Tabawan and Bintawlan, the neighboring island. He had also mentioned in the letter that the 7 units of Grade 1 classroom and 2 cement water tanks had been completed for the public schools and 150 children including those from the neighboring island are still in the feeding program.

Aside from all these, out of some 357 high school students enrolled at Notre Dame of Tabawan, more than 30 are under scholarship. There are also 8 college students at Notre dame of Jolo College, Ateneo de Zamboanga University, Notre dame University, Cotabato City and Mindanao State University at Marawi City. Their being at school is dependent so much on what fr. Rey was able to receive from donors personally contacted or through his solicitation letters.

At his death, the people of Tabawan, particularly the scholars, were all asking: What will happen to us now? “Other Oblates will come to serve you,” the Oblates responded.

I have been with Fr. Rey for 5 years in Magpet parish, North Cotabato, and that created in us a special bonding. Fr. Rey, where you are now in that Great Beyond where there are no more tears nor sweat nor fears, know that I am writing this as my best tribute to you. We honor you as our choice mission offering and we say to God, paraphrasing the Episcopal Motto of our present bishop, Angelito Lampon: Accipe Oblationem Nostram (Receive our oblation).

Blessed Martin Martinez Pascual

Martin was born on the 11th November 1910 in Valdealgorfa in Aragon, Spain. He discerned a vocation to the priesthood at an early age and entered the seminary in Belchite. In 1934 he joined the Diocesan Worker Priests of the Sacred Heart, and was ordained on the 15th June 1935. He was appointed Prefect of St Joseph's College, Murcia and professor at the seminary in San Fulgencio.

The following summer, he went to his home for his vacation when the persecution of Catholics began in July 1936. He hid out in a friend's house, and later moved to a cave for safety. In August he heard that his father had been arrested, so he left his place of refuge to try to save him. On the 18th August Martin went before the committee that was examining Senor Martinez and there they discovered that the son was a priest. He was immediately arrested, and that same day brought out and shot with other priests who had also been captured. Just before he was executed, a moment after those photographs were taken, he was asked if he wanted to turn away so he would not see the guns. He refused, saying he wanted to ask God's forgiveness for those who were killing him and to give them his blessing. His only crime was to be a priest of the Most High. So they asked him if he wanted to say something. Martin replied: “I only give you my blessing that God does not take into account the madness that you commit.” And then he cried: “Viva Cristo Rey” (Long live Christ the King)

A few moments before this young priest was martyred for his Catholic faith this photograph was taken. The photographer was Hans Gutmann, a supporter of the Republican cause and he wanted to capture the priest's last moments. Fr Martin was fully aware that he was about to die, and yet he stood calmly beside one who was about to shoot him and smile for the camera. Blessed Martin was beatified on the 1st October 1995. His feast day is the 18th August.

The Trappist Martyrs of Tibhirine, Algeria, 1996

On the night of March 26-27, 1996, seven monks from the monastery Notre-Dame de l'Atlas of Tibhirine in Algeria, belonging to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (O.C.S.O.), or Trappists, were kidnapped and later killed during the Algerian Civil War.

At about 1:15 AM on March 27, 1996, some twenty armed men arrived at the monastery of Tibhirine and took seven monks into custody. Two others, Fr. Jean-Pierre and Fr. Amédée, who died in 2008, escaped the kidnappers' notice, hidden in separate rooms. After the kidnappers left, the remaining monks tried to contact the police, but the telephone lines had been cut. Because of the curfew in force, they could only wait until morning before driving to the police station in Médéa.

On April 18, the Armed Islamic Group (GIA - Groupe Islamique Armé) issued communique #43, demanding the release of GIA leader, Abdelhak Layada, as the price for the monks' lives. On April 30, a tape with the voices of the kidnapped monks, recorded ten days earlier, was delivered to the French Embassy. On May 23, the Armed Islamic Group's communique #44 reported that the Armed Islamic Group had killed the monks on May 21. The Algerian government announced that the monks' heads had been discovered on May 31; their bodies were never found. A funeral Mass was celebrated in the Catholic Cathedral of Notre Dame d'Afrique (Our Lady of Africa), Algiers, on June 2, 1996, and their remains were buried in the cemetery of the monastery at Tibhirine on June 4. The surviving two monks of Tibhirine left Algeria, to live in the Trappist annex near Midelt in Morocco, where the late Father Bruno had been superior.

The circumstances of the Tibhirine monks' kidnapping and deaths remain controversial. In 2008, the Italian newspaper La Stampa reported that an anonymous high-ranking Western government official, then based in Algeria and in Finland, had told them that the kidnapping had been orchestrated by a GIA group which the DRS (Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité, the Algerian state intelligence service) had infiltrated , and that the monks had then been killed accidentally by an Algerian military helicopter attacking the camp where they were being held captive. In 2009, the retired French general, François Buchwalter, who was military attaché in Algeria at the time, testified to a judge that the monks had accidentally been killed by a helicopter from the Algerian government during an attack on a guerrilla position, then beheaded after their death to make it appear as though the GIA had killed them. Ex-GIA leader Abdelhak Layada, who was in prison when the monks were killed, but was later freed under a national amnesty, responded by claiming that the Armed Islamic Group had indeed beheaded them after negotiations with the French secret services broke down.

Brother Christian, prior of the Tibhirine monastery, left behind a letter which he had written on New Year's Eve, 1993, to be opened by his community and family in the event of his death. He and the other monks were well aware of the growing tensions in Algeria, and that he, and they, might well become "a victim of terrorism which now seems ready to engulf all the foreigners living in Algeria". In the letter he assures those left behind that, while he doesn't desire such a death, indeed doesn't feel worthy of such an offering, he could never rejoice:

Brother Christian de Chrege

"if the people I love were to be accused indiscriminately of my murder. To owe it to an Algerian, whoever he may be, would be too high a price to pay for what will, perhaps, be called, the 'grace of martyrdom', especially if he says he is acting in fidelity to what he believes to be Islam. I am aware of the scorn which can be heaped on Algerians indiscriminately. I am also aware of the caricatures of Islam which a certain Islamism encourages. It is too easy to salve one's conscience by identifying this religious way with the fundamentalist ideologies of its extremists. For me, Algeria and Islam are something different: they are a body and a soul. I have proclaimed this often enough, I believe, in the sure knowledge of what I received from it, finding there so often that true strand of the Gospel, learnt at my mother's knees, my very first Church, in Algeria itself, and already inspired with respect for Muslim believers..."

Bl. Peter To Rot: Martyr of Marriage

Peter To Rot was born in 1912 in a village named Rakunai in what is today Papua New Guinea. The region had for some time been visited by Christian missionaries, but Peter’s father, Angelo To Puia, who was chief of the village, and his mother, Maria la Tumul, were baptized as adults and were among the first Catholics in the country.

Peter was one of six children and from an early age he was very interested in his faith. Because of this, he was trained to be a catechist, a teacher of religion. So when Peter was 18 he became a student at St. Paul’s Mission School. He was a very good student and became a catechist within three years, the youngest of all the catechists in Papua New Guinea. He worked with the people of Rakunai and was known to be an excellent teacher. Peter always carried a Bible with him and knew much of it by heart. In 1936 he married Paula la Varpit, a Catholic from a nearby village. They had three children, but only his daughter, Rufina, survived past childhood.

World War II changed the lives of the people of Papua New Guinea forever. The Japanese forces occupied the island nation, and all missionaries were imprisoned. This left Peter as the only spiritual leader of all Catholics in the area. He provided prayer services, instruction, the Eucharist and Baptism for people and helped the poor. He built a church for Catholics from tree branches — the only material available. When people were afraid, he reminded them that God was with them.

In 1942, the Japanese forbade all Christian worship and any type of religious gatherings, even those in homes. They wanted the local chieftains to cooperate with them and tried to push the tribes back to their pre-Christian forms of life, including such practices as having several wives. Peter’s older brother supported this. But Peter did not, and when he became loud in his protests and was known to hold Catholic prayer services in caves, he was seen as a problem for the Japanese. In 1945 he was arrested and sentenced to several months in prison.

But the Japanese leaders had no intention of allowing Peter to leave prison, because his catechetical work and the support people had for him was too dangerous to their cause. At one point he told his visiting wife and mother that a Japanese doctor had been called to give him medicine, even though he had not been sick, and he believed he would be killed. He told his family that he would die for the Church.

He was praying when men came for him. Witnesses say he was given a drink and an injection, and his mouth was covered. The next morning, Japanese authorities acted very surprised to find Peter To Rot dead. But marks on his body and other signs made it clear he had not died of natural causes.

He was given a chief’s funeral in the Catholic cemetery, but the funeral was held in silence because people feared the Japanese. From the day of his funeral, he was seen as a martyr for the Catholic faith.

On January 17, 1995, Pope John Paul II visited Papua New Guinea to celebrate the beatification of Peter To Rot.

Purificacion Pedro

Purificacion Pedro was a church social worker who died in a Bataan hospital in 1977 while under military detention.

Purificacion Pedro, known as Puri to her friends, took up a degree in social work at the University of the Philippines in 1969. She was among the topnotchers in the National Board Examination for Accreditation of Social Workers. For the next four years, she served as a devoted social worker of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Quezon City.

Purificacion (“Puri”) spent most of her professional years working as social worker at Immaculate Concepcion Parish in Cubao, Quezon City. She helped run a parish day nursery, a sewing group for urban poor women and several cooperatives. During the floods in 1972, Puri volunteered her services, bringing medicine and relief goods to many affected areas around Quezon City.

She left her parish job in 1974 and worked as a volunteer for the organizations supporting the anti-Chico Dam movement in Northern Luzon. In 1976, she had been accepted as a staff member of the Luzon Secretariat for Social Action (LUSSA).

But she died before she could start on the job. Days before, Puri had gone on a clandestine trip to Bataan to visit with friends who have joined the New People’s Army. Her timing was off , however, because a military operation was in progress at the area. She was captured in an armed encounter, with a bullet wound in her shoulder.

Puri’s family found her at the Bataan Provincial Hospital, recovering from her wound and under military guard. Her relatives took turns watching her because Puri asked them never to leave her alone with her military captors.

On her sixth day of confinement, however, constabulary intelligence men from Manila came and forced their way into her room. They drove out Puri’s watcher, saying they were interrogating Puri. Puri was left alone with them for one hour inside her hospital room. After they had left, Puri was found dead, strangled inside her hospital bathroom. She was 29 years old.

Hermana Fausta Labrador

 

Hermana Fausta Labrador (December 19, 1858 – December 13, 1942) is a Filipino Servant of God in pending cause for sainthood and is venerated in Roman Catholic Church. Her cause to be a servant of God is currently underway. She founded the Colegio del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, a charity school for poor children that has evolved into what is now Sacred Heart College in Lucena City.

 Hermana Fausta Labrador was born on December 19, 1858 in Tayabas, Quezon, to Nemesia Zarzadias. On December 22, 1858 she was baptized in St. Archangel church, Tayabas. On December 2, 1866 her mother died at age 27. Father had a second marriage to Maria Poblete. She has half-sisters Fe and Felisa. She started schooling in 1869. In 1879 she studied in Colegio de Santa Rosa de Manila.

Fr. Granja visited them in the new house and counselled them to live in harmony. He gave Fausta "guidelines" regarding the house. Call all members of the new household, admonish them to live in the harmony. He imparted his paternal blessing with these words: "May the peace reign in this house." They all went to Church except the old Juan. From this day on the Rule of Life was: Hermana to get up at 3 AM everyday; her companions at 4 AM to pray together the Rosary and Trisagion. Afterwards companions remain to tidy the house. Hermana goes immediately to the church. Her companions follow her when the church bells ring for mass. Together they leave the church for breakfast. After which each to its respective chores while Hermana and Flaviana remain in the house. These consisted of: engage in sewing baptismal robes and burial clothes; make scapulars and artificial flowers to generate income to meet their daily needs; answer the call of the sick and help those in their last agony. May devotion in the church urging people to participate especially the young. Floral offering to the Blessed Virgin. Introduction of the Apostleship of Prayer all the town people were members.

Gobernadorcillo Don Demetrio Trinidad issued an ordinance to gather the old people of both sexes living near the shores who had not gone to Confession for a long time and sorting them: the men to the courthouse (tribunal), the women to the house of Hermana Fausta to be instructed daily to receive the Sacrament of Confession and Communion." He started and continued every year the following devotion: on Quinquagesima Sunday (Domingo de Carnaval) to Ash Wednesday we gather in recollection in preparation of the outrages inflicted to the Heart of Jesus during these three days.Gather the "dalagas" (young woman) for Catechism lesson by order of Fr. Granja. They lived in this house. Fr. Granja provided for their upkeeping, food and clothing. To help him, I go from house to house begging.

Daily Work of Hermana Fausta:

"Every night Hermana Tomasa, Cesarea and Escolastica come to this house followed by Fr. Granja who explains what we have taught our charges during the day. Many, although already well prepared, do not like to leave and they remain in this house."

The Veneration Process of Hermana Fausta is now in underway to sainthood, but hasn't opened her cause yet by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. She will be remembered as a hero in the City of Lucena.

Fr. Antonius Joseph “Joep” Offermanns

Antonius Joseph “Joep” Offermanns was born on October 17, 1935 in Geilenkrichen, Germany. His family moved to the Netherlands where his father worked as a shoemaker, sacristan and organist of the parish church in their village. At an early age, he learned to play the organ. After his elementary education, he entered the minor seminary of the Carmelites.

Upon entrance to the novitiate, he was given the name, Crispin, the patron saint of the shoemakers, which reminded him always on the work of his father. He did his profession on October 3, 1955. He was ordained priest on July 10, 1960. In preparation for his future work for the school in the Philippines as a missionary, he was sent to the United States to take up Master of Arts in English and Education.

He arrived in the Philippines on 1964 and was assigned in Mount Carmel College, Escalante, Negros Occidental. Later, he worked in Magdalen Hospital as a Director and after a long process of self-examination, he opted to work in the social action center in Iligan City.

He was elected the Commissary Provincial in 1985 and served in this position up to his death. He was greatly involved in Justice and Peace work and task forces and other mission partners of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines.

After suffering from lung cancer, he passed away at the age of 55 on August 15, 1991 in Heerlen, Netherlands, where he underwent cancer therapy for a short while. He was buried on August 20, 1991 in Landgraaf, Netherlands. On the occasion of his silver anniversary of ordination, he said:

“My message today is one of struggle. Always, I have been a man of struggle. My objective always is to do everything that should be done. So, I am a mixture of patience and impatience. Hence, I wish to renew my commitment as a prophet and not a diplomat for the true total freedom of our suffering people.
It is the task of the religious to witness and bring life, of equality justice and peace for all. Otherwise, we would be guilty of their deaths. We should be prophets and not diplomats… the consequences can demand a high price.”

Bro. Isagani Valle

Bro. Isagani Valle was born on December 28, 1959 in Mahayang, Zamboanga. Originally, his parents were from Ormoc City but the search for greener pastures led his parents to leave their beloved city. New opportunities led the family to move again to San Francisco, Agusan del Sur where the siblings of the family continued their education.

He took his High School education from Father Urios, High School of San Francisco, Agusan del Sur which was administered by the Carmelite Fathers and Brothers. Gani showed exceptional intelligence and friendly character to his classmates. They would describe him a very patient person, smiling and always ready to help those in need, especially his poor classmates. Inspired by the priests, his vocation to become a priest grew in Isagani. At one time, when the family returned to Ormoc City, Brother Gani decided to take the examination of priesthood in Palo Diocese which he easily passed.

the year 1972, he was a seminarian in the seminary in Palo. His classmates (Monsignor Bernardo Pantin and Fr. Manuel Ocaña) testified that he always topped their exams when they were seminarians in Palo. When his family moved back to Agusan, he left the Diocesan Seminary to join them. He became active in the Parish of the Sacred Heart administered by the Carmelites in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur. This service in the parish, ignited in him once again, the passion to become a religious.

Inspired by the service the Carmelites rendered to the community of Agusan, Isagani decided to join the Carmelite Order despite of the fact that he passed other scholarships for College studies. From the period of 1977 until 1981, he studied as a Carmelite seminarian in the Our Lady of Angels Seminary (OLAS) and St. Joseph’s College in Quezon City.

During his novitiate formation, he got involved in different student organizations which demanded change in the unjust structures of the Philippine government. He received his temporary profession to the Order in the year 1982. Gani is remembered by us through his advocacy with the poor and the marginalized. His words of passion for people so reflected in the following excerpts from one of his study-group reflections expressed his unwavering stance for justice:

“We still have to see a theology that proceeds from the people and goes back to the people; a theology which contains the lives and experiences of the masses; a theology that is dialogical. This needs real immersion in the lives, sufferings and struggles of the people. It is being written in the midst of the slums, in dialogue with the poor and their life-situation: It is that place where we, seminarians, have to listen and learn. It will, for sure, be different from a theology written in airconditioned rooms. We must work and struggle for this theology – liberative and developmental of the people, and transformative fo reality.”

He lived out these words. The Carmelites let their seminarians experience the poorest of the poor during their exposures that they may live out like Jesus Christ who once preached, "foxes have holes, birds have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head." During one such exposure in Mindanao specifically on May 14, 1983, he was killed by the police while having his exposure/immersion in Buenavista, Agusan del Norte. He wanted to get a first-hand experience of what life was like for poor people living on the edge between military violence and liberation.

While attending a fiesta in Buenavista, he was seen strolling around with two companions farmers who were suspected to be members of the New People’s Army. Following a tip of an informer, the police force of Buenavista suddenly swooped upon them and mowed them down under a rain of bullets.

Their bullet-ridden bodies were displayed in front of the Municipal Hall of Buenavista and buried afterwards without a coffin in a common grave at a cemetery. His life inspired his religious friends. Sr. Asuncion Martinez, ICM to write a tribute for him:

Brother Gani!
With pride and deep reverence
We salute you,
Our youthful hero and martyr.

With longing you had desired to be a PRIEST.
A priest of God, with a heart of flesh –
To love, to serve, to pray, to sacrifice for our oppressed,
and exploited dehumanized BROTHERS.

Brother Gani,
In this crucial time of our people’s history,
You wanted to plunge yourself
into the stream of our struggle
to be ALL things to all.

Perhaps, you wanted to be the priest of the slums,
Among the homeless and jobless;
To be the labor-priest
standing by the striking workers,
Or the priest crawling and groping
In the black tunnels of collapsing mines.

You wanted to be a priest among
Our uprooted peasants, dumped and herded
Inside company plantations; harassed and
driven away from their smoking villages.

Or a priest
ministering to the Tingguians and Kalingas
at the foot of the Cordillera mountains.
Or somebody among the Manobos and T’bolis
of Mindanao, withering and starving in
their dried cracked gaping fields,
having nothing to harvest, nothing to eat
nothing to plant.

Surely Gani,
Your supreme desire
was to be a priest
among our brother revolutionaries,
stationed in the jungles and mountain passes,
fighting for JUSTICE-FREEDOM
for our COUNTRY and our PEOPLE.

Brother Gani,
As you saw the vastness and urgency of your mission,
You could no longer wait for your ordination day!
You boldly ventured into treacherous paths
and forbidden grounds to bind
the wounds of those who had fallen
by the wayside, to defend the scattered sheep
against the hungry wolves.
But above all you craved and hungered
for the glorious embrace
of your brothers in the struggle.

Brother Gani, this was your last and deepest dream.
Yet a dream that was suddenly blasted by the gun,
and by a traitor’s bullet
snatching you away from us and our people.

Brother, that day became your solemn ordination day.
You then became truly a priest,
Our prophet, our martyr –
Anointed with your own blood,
vested in priestly robes of bleeding scarlet.
As your temple, you had only the open skies
and as your altar the very soil
moistened by your blood.

No bishop to consecrate you
but only the loyal and daring poor
who tenderly and reverently lifted
your broken body
for the salvation and liberation of our people.

Brother Gani,
people thought you were alone
for your solemn mass –
no, you were not alone.
You passionately carried in your heart
Your downtrodden brothers
and all your faltering fellow religious

and church workers,
to celebrate with you,
in your first and last Mass,
your Mass of Resurrection.

Gani,
infuse into the very depths of our being
your indomitable courage!
Courage to dare to speak out the truth,
Courage to fight for justice
Courage to work relentlessly
for Freedom of our country!

Gani, they have killed you
but they can never silence you.
Your prophetic voice resounds
in every church, school and seminary

Oh! May it never stop!
Until the last priest and nun, brother,
pastor, deacon, seminarian, pastoral worker
has valiantly joined the struggle,
the march to freedom,
towards our final Resurrection
as a fully liberated people in a land
where there are no more tyrants
no more slaves,
“where there will be no more death,
no mourning nor crying no pain.” (Rev. 21:4)

Father Isagani,
we proudly salute you
our PRIEST, our PROPHET,
our HERO and MARTYR,
our very own BROTHER!

Brother Isagani's body has been transferred from San Francisco, Agusan del Sur to the Catholic cemetery of Ormoc, Leyte. He is buried beside his father and other relatives. On his tombstone is written the words, "IN OBSEQUIO IESU CHRISTI" for indeed he died IN ALLEGIANCE TO JESUS CHRIST whom he followed even unto his death.

Fr. Engelbert Van Vilsteren

Engelbert Van Vilsteren was born on April 9, 1935 at Wijhe-Boerhaar, The Netherlands. He joined the Carmelite Order on September 10, 1956 and was ordained to the priesthood on July 9, 1961. He arrived in the Philippines as missionary sometime on April 1964.

Hein was known to the people of San Francisco, Agusan del Sur as “Big Hand” due to his huge strong hands that could easily lift the bumper of cars when it got stuck on the muddy roads of Agusan.

Engelbert is a strong person yet has a soft heart for the poor and the children. He goes around his parish for friendly visits and to comfort the needy. He was deeply concern with the people, especially those suffering from sickness or injustice. He would forget himself when called upon. There would be his hearty laugh, his arm around your shoulder, his kind word, his comforting presence whenever there was trouble and you come to him.

Another striking thing to know about him was a statement issued from the Office of the provincial Board of the Province of Agusan del Sur after his death. Upon his death, the Provincial Board was moved by his witness that they issued Resolution #9 dated January 17 in the year 1973 stating that:

Whereas, Rev. Fr. Engelbert van Vilsteren, besides devoting himself in the propagation of his faith and in the service of his Church, has always gone out of his way to extend a helping hand to those in need;

Whereas, during the entire period of his stay in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, he has done much in educating our young, in molding their character and preparing them to become responsible citizens and future leaders of our country;

Whereas, his love for his fellowmen was so much, that on various occasions he braved inclement weather to help those in distress; he threw aside self-precautions just so he could could save life, and in his dealing with the people around him, he has always been fair and just – living a true Christian life;

Whereas, in his desire to be of service to his fellowmen, on January 16, 1973, he drove the ambulance to fetch a body of one Restituto Dollete who was reported to be murdered in cold blood. And on their way at around 6:00 pm, they were ambushed, and he was one of the innocent victims.

On that tragic January 16, 1973 at around 6:00 pm Fr. Engelbert and three others were ambushed by cult members driven by their lords who wish to pursue the tyranny of the powerful against the poor. They died instantly of massive hemorrhage due to multiple massive hack wounds at head, neck and extremities and a bullet wound at the left lumbar region.

Fr. Jan Simon Westendorp

Simon was born on November 19, 1936 at Hengevelde, Municipality of Haaksbergen, The Netherlands. He entered the Carmelite Order on October 18, 1955 and made his profession on September 10, 1956. After being ordained priest on July 9, 1961 he left for the Philippines and arrived here August of 1964.

Simon’s first assignment in the Philippines was in New Escalante, Negros Occidental where he served as an assistant parish priest. Here, he was involved in the usual parish activities and apostolates but was also actively involved in the establishment of credit union cooperatives. Simon was also appointed Rector in the Carmelite Minor Seminary during these period.

In 1976 of his own free will, he was transferred to Agusan del Sur, where he became parish priest of a “frontier” underdeveloped town called San Francisco. Simon the Prior of the Carmelite community in Agusan del Sur while also serving on the Carmelite Commissary Council.

What kind of a man was Simon? What were his feelings, principles and values? He was quiet, but clear. Reflective, yet active. He, too, kept himself open to being taught by the people and by history. He keep searching for the “what” and “how” of being priest, being Church at his time in the Philippines.

When Simon was asked his feelings and expectations about the near future in the Philippine contet, he gave this response:

“Our feelings and expectations regarding the near future are closely linked with the people’s struggle for liberation. Regarding religious life, we see no future unless we religious can integrate ourselves in the struggle of laborers and farmers for liberation. It should become ever clearer that this is a question of faith. This should be basic to our spirituality.”

Since 1970 Simon had devoted himself to the causes of the barrio people who were in danger of becoming the victims of land expropriation in favor of the Guthrie Palm Oil Project. He made it clear what standpoint the parish had taken: opting for the small farmers. With some co-workers, Simon recorded the complaints of these people. A brother Carmelite said about him:

“He was a very modest person, and was not a talkative man; but when he had something to say it was a sensible thing to listen to him.”

When Simon started his work in Agusan del Sur, he went to live in a slum area of the badly neglected town of Prosperidad, about 14 kilometers north of San Francisco. His truggle for the right of the outcasts and his way of life deeply influenced the way he looked on things. One of the consequences for him was that he resolved to travel as the poor travel: by boat. On November 21, 1983, Fr. Simon was among the hundreds of victims who drowned when the merchant vessel Doña Cassandra sank in the Pacific Ocean between Butuan City and Cebu. From the passengers’ manifest, 12 were found dead, some 207 were missing of the 345 listed passengers. The ill-fated passenger vessel includes two priests one of which was a Carmelite priest in the person of Fr. Simon and seven religious sisters who were on their way to Cebu to attend a Religious Convention.

According to the testimonies of some survivors, they could have saved themselves but they opted to save others instead. Some survivors in the sinking of Doña Cassandra off from Surigao Strait gave witness that these church workers distributing life vests and calming passengers. Other witnesses recounted that the priests and sisters were trapped in cabin as they frantically tried to save the children.

Among those known religious to have perished with Simon were:

Sr. Nanette Berentsen, a nun of the Congreation of the Sisters of Julie Postel;
Sr. Consuelo Chuidian, RGS;
Sr. Concepcion Conti, RGS;
Sr. Virginia Gonzaga, RGS;
Sr. Catherine Loreto, RGS;
Sr. Josephine Medrano, FMA and
Sr. Amparo Gilbiena, MSM.

At the memorial service in his native place of Hengevelde, his brother who is also a Carmelite friar said:

“I hear members of the family say: If anything worries you, go to John (Simon); you can count on him. He is thoughtful and has wise things to say.”

Bro. Marco Laspuna

Brother Marco Laspuna, 31, from Botolan, Zambales, and Brother Suresh Barwa, 22, an Indian, both novices of the Missionaries of the Poor, were buried in Kingston, Jamaica, on 12 November 2005. The two had been shot dead in the home of the congregation in Kingston on the night of 27 October while washing dishes with their companions. A bullet killed Brother Suresh instantly and then wounded Brother Marco, who died four hours later.

The funeral Mass was celebrated in Holy Trinity Cathedral. This was followed by a procession through the nearby streets before a private burial in the presence of members of the congregation, Brother Marco's parents, Mauricio and Conrada, and his brother Douglas. Sadly, the family of Brother Suresh were unable to travel from India due to bureaucratic difficulties, though two priests from his parish were there.

Father Richard Ho Lung founded the Missionaries of the Poor in Kingston in 1981. They are a 'monastic order of Brothers dedicated to Joyful Service with Christ on the Cross to serve the poorest of the poor'. They now have more than 180 members, priests and brothers. Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legaspi OP of Caceres invited the community to Naga City in June 1992. In February 2004 the congregation opened a mission in Cebu City under Brother Rodel Tabanao and Brother Augusto Silot Jr, both Filipinos.

Spot where Missionary brothers 

Marco Laspuna and Suresh Barwa 

was shot dead in 2005

Photo credit: http://www.afflictedyard.com/missionariesofthepoor.htm

Brother Marco was associated with the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross in St Raphael Priory, Candelaria, Zambales, for some years and worked as a catechist. He then joined the Missionaries of the Poor and spent two years in Naga before leaving for his novitiate in Jamaica on 29 September 2003, the feast of Sts Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

In a statement prepared for the death of the two brothers, Fr. Ho Lung made the following remarks:

"I grieve from the depths of my soul for these two innocent lambs, Suresh and Marco. I grieve as father for his children, and for all my spiritual sons who are with us in Jamaica saddened by the death of their brothers.

I grieve for the parents and families who so generously send their sons to give up their lives permanently in service of the poor, the homeless, the forgotten ones. I grieve for my island Jamaica , so lost and confused, so hardened and violent and wild with anger.

As a father of my brothers and the poor, and, I dare say, as father of my people in Jamaica , I beg that we pray in this nation for a halt to this violence.

We forgive the murderer. We pray for him. We pray that there is repentance in his heart. We will welcome him. We will help him. We will counsel him. He is still our brother. We don't know if he deliberately killed our Brothers or accidentally killed them. Whatever, we forgive him."

Missionaries of the Poor will continue to take in the homeless and destitute. We will continue to live in the ghettoes. Our young men are youthful and full of heroism. They love Jesus and have been singing a song over and over 'greater love no man has than to lay down his life for his friends'."

At a Mass in Kingston on 30 October Father Ambrose, a senior member of the congregation, said 'The gift that God has given us is greater than any other gift, the gift of martyrdom. It was not any of the high officials, but two young novices that God chose to bestow this gift upon, and I am also happy for that."

Fr. Rhoel Gallardo

"He was a simple, unassuming Claretian missionary, but of extraordinary courage," described Fr. Carlos de Rivas, Provincial Superior of the Claretians in the Philippines. That ordinary man of extraordinary zeal, Fr. Rhoel D. Gallardo, was born to Dominador Gallardo and Mrs. Raquel Dayap Gallardo in Olongapo City on November 29, 1965. He made his first religious professions in Isabela, Basilan on May 1, 1989 and his perpetual profession at the Claret House, Quezon City on July 16, 1993. He was ordained to the priesthood at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Quezon City on December 6, 1994.

Fr. Rhoel willingly accepted the assignment in the most difficult and most dangerous mission, which is Tumahubong. He was pastor to the persecuted Christian community of Tumahubong. He was a director of Claret School, the students of which are mostly Muslims. When Claret School of Tumahubong was attacked by the Abu Sayyaf on March 20,2000, Fr. Rhoel did not try to escape, instead he confronted the attackers and tried to defend the people. Thus he was abducted together with some teachers and students. During his captivity he did not waver in his faith and continued to minister to his fellow captives, according to the possibilities of the situation. He would ask his captors, every now and then, of the whereabouts of his companions who were taken away. In the evening he would lead his companions to pray the rosary. He refused to wear any Muslim garb. He refused to worship with his Muslim captors. For all these he was tortured and brutally killed on May 3, 2000.

For Bishop Romulo de la Cruz of Basilan, Fr. Rhoel died for the faith. For may people, he died for peace. For many priests and religious, he is a martyr. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Christian faith. Thus the death of Fr. Rhoel is a gift to the Church this Great Jubilee Year.