abuhay
and Panginoon, mabuhay katarungan, mabuhay Pilipinas!,” (Long live the Lord,
Long live justice, long live the Philippines!) was shouted by millions of people
gathered at the Shrine of Our Lady, the same place where corruption was toppled
from the highest office in the land back in 1986.
His name was Ferdinand Marcos. The
first non-violent revolution from all sectors of society, poor and rich,
fermented from the cries of military brutality, missing sons and fathers who
were never heard from again, to the deafening clamor of millions of their
mothers, brothers, sisters and wives who gathered at this holy place, deposed a
president without spilling one drop of blood.
Religious Sisters held out flowers and rosaries to the soldiers who came
for them, and little by little, through the power of non-violent love, the
military was wooed to the side of the people, leaving Marcos powerless and a
fugitive from the Philippines.
Fifteen years later, in the days of cool breezes of January, 2001, in Metro-Manila, at the same gathering place of the heroes of People Power I, the Shrine of Our Lady of Edsa, millions gathered again in a new quest for justice, as its sitting president, Joseph Estrada, was accused of corruption and plunder. It is called People Power II and it has led to the first impeachment trial of a president of the Philippines.
The trial itself was televised and on the radio for a whole month, with the entire country glued to the unrolling of damaging evidence. However, it soon became apparent that a number of the judges of the trial and the senators themselves began to have “cold feet,” and the prosecution team walked out of the court proceedings. An explosion of anger and a search for the truth rocked the entire country. In towns, villages and cities, mothers, fathers, priests, sisters and bishops poured into the streets in a cry for the resignation of the president.
Where were the Xaverian Missionaries in this whirl of confusion and anticipation?
We stood, as our confreres stand in all countries where we work, with the local church.
Thus, as in 1986, the Catholic Church has stood at the forefront bringing the people’s faith to the streets, proclaiming that “faith without works is dead” and that faith in Christ “renews all things.
Cardinal Jaime Sin, bishop of the Manila Archdiocese for over 25 years, called all Catholics to the streets on the afternoon when the impeachment trial of the president was suddenly aborted, to gather at what he called the “hallowed, holy ground” of Edsa Shrine.
This was no mere political action, but a response of faith against the tyranny of corruption that has too long robbed the poor of the Philippines of their basic God-given rights to live as human beings. Corruption had permeated all levels of society, and the people were not so naïve as to think that this action would bring all of the injustice to an end. But it was an opportunity, a symbol of hope, that corruption is not stronger than the power of Jesus Christ to bring renewal to this land through the Church. Thus, as in 1986, the Catholic Church has stood at the forefront bringing the people’s faith to the streets, proclaiming that “faith without works is dead” and that faith in Christ “renews all things.”
As foreign missionaries, we experienced opposition; the Estrada government could have refused to renew our visas for being “foreigners who were a bad influence and causing trouble.”
In our very parish in Maligaya, where the vast majority of 75,000 people are urban poor, we often found ourselves in between opposing factions. But, in solidarity with the local church, we cooperate in hope with the new president, Gloria Macapal-Arroyo, who is attempting to steer the country toward economic and political recovery, a difficult task in these trying times throughout Asia.
Fighting poverty is not only the work of charity, but of changing, little by little, the underlying root structures that support the subjection of millions of people to poverty throughout the Philippines and the world.
The structure of corruption in the Philippines is still pervasive, but the historical event of ousting a corrupt administration non-violently by simple people is not only a symbol of the power of this young democracy, but a belief that through their hands, the power of Christ is made manifest.
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)