The Philippines Needs Likes of Oscar Romero Who Fought Injustice

Forty-three years ago, Archbishop Oscar Romero was brutally gunned down, while he celebrated the Eucharist in his native El Salvador. On October 14, 2008, Pope Francis in his homily lauded Romero for leaving “the security of the world even his safety, to live his life according to the Gospel close to the poor and his people, with a heart drawn to Jesus and his brothers and sisters.”

What pained Arch. Romero so much was the killing of his close friend on March 12, 1977, Jesuit Fr. Rutilio Grande whose major concern was to liberate the poor and the oppressed, leaving no stone unturned and taking up the cudgels against the powerful oppressors. Fr. Grande’s death was a shock to Arch. Romero. At his funeral mass, he said in his homily: “The government should not consider a priest who takes a stand for social justice as a politician or a subversive element when he is fulfilling his mission in the politics of the common good. Anyone who attacks one of my priests attacks me. If they killed Fr. Grande for doing what he did, then I too have to walk the same path.”

For fighting against social injustice, Arch. Romero was also gunned down while celebrating mass. The day before his assassination, Arch. Romero delivered his now famous Sunday homily ordering soldiers to stop killing their countrymen. “It is time to regain your conscience. In the name of God and the name of the suffering people, I implore you, I beg you, I order you, stop the repression!”  Indeed, Arch. Romero was an outspoken critic of government, military, and right-wing elements, and spoke out against their continued oppression and exploitation of the poor. WOW, so amazing. Arch. Romero, as a great saint, had showcased the three Ps: Prayer, Presence, and Prophet to liberate the poor and the oppressed from oppression. That I believe is the very essence of Christianity.

Why does the Philippines need to emulate Oscar Romero as untruth, injustice, and divisiveness “gain ground?” Let us pause for a while and reflect on how oppressed the Indigenous Peoples are and are raising the question, “KAMI PO BA AY TAO O BASURA?” Indeed, the church in Latin America has much to say about humanity. It looks at the sad picture portrayed by the Puebla conference: faceless of landless peasants mistreated and killed by the forces of power, faces of laborers arbitrarily dismissed and without a living wage for their families, faces of the elderly, faces of outcasts, faces of slums dwellers, faces of poor children who from infancy begin to feel the cruel sting of social injustice.  For them, it seems, there is no future – No school. No high school. No university. By what right have we catalog persons as first-class persons or second-class persons? In the theology of human nature, there is only one class: children of God.” The same truism seems to be prevailing in the Philippines as narrated below. 

Let the sainthood of Arch. Romero and the work of Jesuit Fr. Grande reverberated throughout the country and became a model to all, especially to those giving high reverence to the three Ps -Prayer, Presence, and Prophet.

Amidst religious apathy and morale collapse, why have we allowed the death of three children in Sitio Kibaritan, Malinao, Bukidnon who were victims of a UXO explosion as the Sitio was declared a military reservation when it is already a community with an elementary school, a chapel and a day-care center.

In Butong, Quezon, why have we allowed massive land-grabbing of the 1,111 hectares of the Manobo-Pulangiyon Tribe whose more than a thousand families have been living along the highway under shattered tents in the last six years? They are just eating once a day and all the children are malnourished and sickly. All the children must be tied up at night as five children have already been hit by running cars.  Finally, a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) has already been issued to the tribe since January 2023 but until now, they are not allowed to enter even a 4-ha.-hectare nearby vacant area. When they tried to enter, they were shot.

In San Vicente, Sumilao, Bukidnon, a powerful corporation fenced in 2016 the Manobo Tribe Ancestral Domain and converted the 5,000 hectares into a ranch. When they protested, they were met with a barrage of bullets by the Tagbagani Security Group. Then and there, three got killed and three wounded. Until now, no one has been arrested.

In fact, since 2016, some 101 Chieftains of the Indigenous Peoples have been murdered for resisting the grabbing of their Ancestral Domain and standing against the violations of their water rights. The enclosure of the Indigenous Peoples’ Commons (Land, Water, Natural Resources) is continuing without let-up as the enrichment of powerful people means the dispossession of the IPs’ lands.

Where are those the likes of Arch? Romero and Fr. Grande who must fight for social justice as explicitly provided for in the highest law of the land: “The State must advance social justice in all phases of national development.” And that, “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law.” Perhaps, if only Arch. Romero was alive today, the good Archbishop will surely say, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH OF THE FALLACIES OF LIFE AND RELIGIONS!”

As stated by social scientists, ‘Today the Mindanawans desperately need the prophetic courage of Romero from across the spectrum political, religious and social, leaders are afraid of taking a stand against the powers that simply crush others. Those who call themselves disciples of Jesus have no qualms of conscience to hobnob with fascists and fundamentalists, who brazenly destroy the sanctity of the Constitution and the pluralistic fabric of the country.”

Finally, the core of the problem had been clearly and categorically stated by the great Archbishop a few days before his assassination, and I quote: “Awaken us to respond to our context today; I will not be tired of declaring that if we want an effective end to violence, we must remove the violence that lies at the root of all violence; structural violence, social injustice, exclusion of citizens from the management of the country, repression.” HOY GISING!