A Sacrifice, True, Pure and Liberating

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
September 24, 2007


Life is beautiful. Life is precious, of inestimable value. Having it is a cause for celebration and thanksgiving. Losing it or facing the prospect of losing it is one of the most painful and difficult experience that faces us and those dear to us. Life is all about birth and death, beginnings and endings. We are all born and someday we also shall die. Yet even if death is certain, and inevitable, each one is born in hope and promise. Cris was born twenty years ago. His parents were filled with hope and fostered the promise innate in their child. Someday, Cris will be someone who will do them proud. Today we gather together to remember Cris. We remember him with both joy and sadness. Cris has died and the hope and promise of this one child of God seems to have died and gone with him. We mourn that lost and more, we are indignant for Cris’ life ended violently, wastefully and senselessly. This senselessness and wastefulness is evil and inhuman. It is the story of human arrogance and blindness. It is the story of a cycle that seems to endure for millennia. From the personal to the global, we witness the black senselessness and wastefulness of violence and the destruction and death it breeds. From frat violence to wars and the many kinds of violence in between, a burden grows and weighs upon us day after day. The story of Cris reminds us of the story of another man whose gentle and compassionate life questioned, challenged and denounced not only violence, but its very roots, the lust for power. This is the story of a man who carried and shared the burden of those who were victims of this idolatry that sought to replace God with man, love, truth, justice and peace with power. Chris reminds us of the story of Christ, a story of sacrifice meant to liberate the disempowered and to enlighten and hopefully liberate the slaves and idolaters of power.

More than two thousand years ago, he endured rejection, ridicule, torture and the ultimate punishment of a slow excruciating death on the cross. Yet, his was a peaceful and righteous life overflowing with justice, love and compassion. He was every inch a man of gentleness and dignity so infectious that many are drawn and inspired to look, listen, and touch even just his clothes. For indeed deep in his core is the essence of life, the form and substance of each breathing, living, human. This he brings and promises to share with all, “That all may have life, and have it to the full…” He knew a life so full whose thirst was quenched by the sweetest water that touched his lips like nectar and soothed his spirit as a mother’s voice would her hungry child. Yes, a mother knows what life is all about. Fathers also know it so well that words are superfluous compared to the rich eloquence of each tender, life-giving, sustaining act.

From all eternity, it was and will always be God’s will because it is what God is, and if we find God and remain in God as He did, we will find love. (John 15:10) Finding God is finding love and vise versa. Finding love is finding life and vise versa.

Cris Anthony Mendez knew this. He received life. He received love from his mother and father, whose own lives draw sustenance and vitality from its ultimate source, the Father. Cris, like all young UPeans came to UP sustained and inspired by this life source to seek more life both for himself and others as well. Cris must have noticed that quiet naked male figure standing with open arms and head slightly tilted back so as to look up both in supplication and oblation to the heavens. That beautiful muscular, strong and hardy body is no abstraction, distant and irrelevant. It stood for every young Upean, both male and female who similarly looks up asking to be blessed as she or he lifts chest and head to offer up mind, heart, spirit and body. University life will be just like this, an oblation of all that one is so that as he passes each single day in class, in the library, in the cafeteria, in the tambayans, in nearby parks and malls, he will move from life to more life, growing and developing himself so that one day, he could and would offer his life to neighbor, family, friends, humanity and yes to its very source, God.

More than 2000 years ago, that gentle young man reached the fullness of his mental, emotional, spiritual and physical faculties. He was ready and launched himself into the world to offer his gifts, his whole being to bring light, joy, peace, truth and justice into the world. He was filled with the spirit that propelled him to bring glad tidings to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…” (Lk 4:18-19). He was free and overflowed with a different freedom, not one that the world gave but rather different, deeper, and more complete. He moved amongst the sick, the hungry, the unlettered, the homeless, the lost, the poor and listened to them. They told him their stories and he felt and understood their deepest cries and longings, making these his own.

He walked the earth and shared the joys and pains of all. Each moment, he lived and moved without doubt and hesitation because his strength and direction, passion and motivation came from someone who knew him well more than a friend or teacher. He looked up and drew everything from His Father. Where teacher or friend may sometime fail in judging character, not His Father who knew him in his depth and loved Him completely and unconditionally.

The world he discovered and the people he encountered were strange and ambivalent. Even his closes friends, his own disciples. They followed him but later on also betrayed him. They listened to him and basked in his wisdom, only to hide themselves behind walls of darkness and fear. In His world, many sought the comfort and security of numbers. You were either a member of a group enjoying either fame or infamy or identified with individuals who were feared and respected. At the beginning, his charm and popularity attracted crowds and his intimate circle of supporters and followers. In the end as threats to his popularity and authority began to increase, many rapidly fell away and avoided him. He saw this, but he did not lose heart for he knew what and where his strength came from, for he like a mature and healthy branch was strongly attached to the vine. Even when persecution, arrest and death became imminent, he remained faithful to his call, and deeply grafted into the vine. He was like good seed planted in good soil, bearing fruit in due time, giving life and nourishment to those around. But good seed and good soil are not all. Jesus was born into a family of faith, fidelity and love. The witness of both parents, of father and mother provided the necessary environment and structure that cultivated and brought the seed into fruition and fruitfulness. They knew how to pray, to speak and listen to God at all times. They shared this with their son who grew in both filial devotion and fidelity to God. It has never been easy for his parents. They knew hardship and sacrifice which were not avoided but endured not for its own sake but for something greater, that they will understand and faithfully live out the holy will of God. From his parents’ sacrifice to his own. Slowly, he learns and more and more offers his own life as sacrifice. Yes, his own and never, never others as sacrifice. Like a farmer tending his grape vines, he also prunes dead branches, and the unwieldy, undisciplined ones as well. The pruning may be at times unpleasant, but they are always done gently with utmost respect and love. The Father prunes his son and his son also learns to prune himself.

“I am the vine and you are the branches,” says the Lord. I am the Lord and you are my slaves, says an unfeeling and unreasonable boss. If you want to join me, my group, my organization, my firm or my party, allow me, my companions to prune you Never, never, prune yourself. Trust me, trust us. I, we shall prune you and prune you well. Thus, you will learn how and why we sacrifice. The Roman Empire and the Church both towered over Jesus. The men who controlled both State and Church wielded power that seemed complete and absolute over individuals like Jesus. Power seemed to give men divinity and impunity. Clearly many have become blind because of the power they possessed. No one should be allowed to challenge and threaten that power. This is the reason for their “pruning.” It was a different pruning. It was in fact meant to control others while they slowly inflate the balloon of their authority and control.

The Gospel does speak of pruning but certainly of a different kind. It is pruning applied to oneself not by others but by one’s self attuned to the Father who awakens and enlightens us to see the ugliness of “idolatrous power,” that breeds selfishness, ambition and greed.


Today, we celebrate the Eucharist, the memorial of Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary. It is an exemplary sacrifice, both symbolically and literally meant to be translated into every Christian life. It is the right sacrifice, of dying to one’s illusions of power and control, of dying to the many forms of violence, aggression and compulsion in our lives. Today, we reflect on the beautiful image of the “Vine and the Branches,” of our profound connectedness to God and our need to constantly renew that relationship less we fall victim to idolatrous power and violence. Today, we shall also witness the donation and dedication of a painting of an ex- UP Fratman and leader Joel Ferraris of Hong Kong entitled, “The Wrong Sacrifice.” The painting is the artist’s way of expressing his profound indignation and rejection of Frat violence and his appeal to frats to see the blindness, arrogance and vanity that have repeatedly led to senseless and wasteful deaths.

The centurion has a battle worn helmet but does not have a face. He has a sword but its edges are dull and jagged. He has a gold watch from which emanate money that eventually turn into chains. He has a shield that separates him from his victims. Beneath him is a reproduction of a scene from Juan Luna’s “Spolarium,” with dead gladiators being dragged out of the arena. Noticeably, the soldier wears a coat and tie. He seems honorable and dignified. Opposite and below the centurion, is his victim, a neophyte. His head is turned away from the centurion, as if to look back and ask if he could still turn back. There is a tear, a muted cry due to and against the agonies of torture. His face is sad and at the same time full of fear. His head carries a strange crown of olive leaves turning into questions and degenerating into maggots. A blindfold reveals one eye and the empty hollow of one socket of a skull. The other half of the neophyte’s body has already been consumed by death. The ribs on the left cage can be seen and the bones of the left arm and hand raised up to touch and receive the gold coins are discernible. A paddle and a sword in front of the neophyte seem to form a cross. The sword represents the distorted and erroneous doctrines forced into the neophyte’s head. The paddle represents the many forms of inhuman ways of initiating and hazing neophytes. On the paddle one sees the names of all those who perished in frat related violence at the University of the Philippines. To the lower left side of the neophyte is a child, the infant that was him. The hands are those of his mother gently holding this precious life, full of hope and promise. Over the child is the cross that brings the green light of life and hope, a welcome respite from the heavy red tones of the story of violence and idolatrous power on the other side.

Lastly, the UP Alumni Association of Hong Kong headed by Butch Durias wish to offer a modest donation to the family of Cris. They too wish to express their sympathies and their indignation as well over the violence that claimed another young UP life.

In front of the administration building we pass and behold the beautiful body of a young man gazing heavenwards with arms outstretched. We have a name for him, oblation. In many ways, this figure brings us back two thousand years ago when another man stretched out his arms to receive the nails that fastened his body to the cross. The sacrifice of this man is finished but ours continue. His sacrifice was noble and he continually asks us to ennoble our lives by making worthy sacrifices not of others but of ourselves for others. The University of the Cris, our University may yet become the University of Peace that is all of us learn the live and offer the right sacrifice.

Two Cardinals, Two Presidents

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
September 19 2007

Erap’s conviction last week did not produce the crowds for which the six thousand strong police force had been deployed around the Metropolis. Instead of thousands there were only six hundred who protested from an area several meters away from the Sandigang Bayan. The six hundred looked rather superfluous if not comical as they mounted their protest before a thick phalanx of policemen blocking the way between them and the Sandigang Bayan which was several meters away.

Contrary to the alarm sounded by those from various sectors, from media to business, from the competing camps and the church, there was no build up of protest. The bland turn out of protesters reminds me of a parallel situation where somebody ruins my enthusiasm to watch a movie by blurting out the ending or the movie’s climax. People are not only cynical when they say, it’s all in the bag. Politics in the Philippines has become too predictable and obvious that it no longer excites . Erap’s conviction in a way may be considered a triumph of justice but the moves that will emanate from either camps are something else. Normally upon conviction, a criminal is immediately led to his cell in a regular Philippine prison, in New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa for instance. Instead Erap is brought back to the comforts of his Tanay mansion, a move justified by political leaders like Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and Senator Francis Pangilinan as a way of avoiding Erap’s humiliation. (cf. Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 13, 2007)

Is genuine justice at work on the Erap case? Why worry about Erap’s feelings, his humiliation in particular. Isn’t humiliation a necessary if not a directly intended consequence of crime and its punishment?

Days before the Sandigang Bayan decision to convict Erap, posters with a picture of Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila were being circulated by women supporters of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. There were no quotations from the Cardinal only his picture. The statement printed on the poster with the Cardinal’s picture came from Gloria’s ladies. But the Cardinal’s picture though unaccompanied with his words was obviously used by Gloria’s women to legitimize their pro-Gloria message before Erap’s conviction. Yet days earlier, Cardinal Rosales made his own statement worth quoting here, “Kung ako ay mabait, sa kalsada ba pinatutunayan yan o sa mismong bahay? Kaya kung meron tayong batas na nagsisiyasat sa katiwalian ng isang tao, sibilyan, o namumuno, dapat siguro, dapat yata igalang natin yun ( For example, if I am a good person, is that proven in the streets or how I live my life? So if we have a law that will investigate the illegal acts of a person or official, then we should respect it.) Rosales said it was time Filipinos obeyed the laws and not flock to the streets whenever they disagreed with a decision or policy. He asked the laity to remain sober during these times since Erap’s plunder case was beyond politics, rather it was a case of morality.” (cf. Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 3, 2007)

Cardinal Rosales being a church leader has good reason to insist on morality yet is there such a thing as “pure morality” with nothing to do with politics or others aspects of life. Besides in the Philippines where almost ninety per cent are Catholics, do high church officials play a purely moral and spiritual role? Is it then a purely moral appeal to ask people to keep off the streets and obey the laws instead of taking to the streets to protest a decision or policy they disagree with? While one should not display his or her holiness on the street, but streets remain an important venue and symbol of democracy, in fact the last remaining recourse for the marginalized and disadvantaged poor? I remember listening to lectures about and against the dangers of “privatistic faith” when I was a seminarian. I am afraid that I hear more than subtle hints of privatism here.

Then a few days after Erap’s conviction and sentence were promulgated, Cardinal Ricardo Vidal of Cebu makes an appeal for Erap’s pardon. The Cardinal, a close friend of Erap said, “Whatever the administration will do later on, let us hope it will be pardon.” (cf. Cebu Daily News, September 14 2007)

In Philippine politics, it is impossible for high church officials not to encounter their counterparts in Government. In the process a good number of them become friends. It is quite clear which Cardinal is a friend of which President. Now going back to the bone of contention, whether “pure morality” sans politics exists? Another reality may seem to muddle the issue but does it? I am talking about friendship. Should there be a clean divide between friendship and morality or friendship and politics? I have my answer and surely you also have yours because we are Filipinos….

The Miracle of Compassion

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
September 17, 2007

She lay still and alone, her eyes were partly open with an empty and lifeless gaze. She was alive but barely. Fe, like thousands of Filipinas, recently left her beloved family and country came to Hong Kong fired by dreams of a better life not only for herself but for her loved ones. That dream, unless a miracle happens will remain nothing more than a vain attempt known only to her and her kin. Fe lies comatose at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Jordan, Hong Kong. It was not sickness but a near fatal vehicular accident that led to her present condition. On August 15, 2007 Fe Bachenela Ucab was hit by a car and has remained unconscious until now.

I received word about Fe through Evelyn Cabuscos, a member of an OFW-support group concerned for survivors of life-threatening ailments. Evelyn first sent me an SMS informing me about Fe. She added that I should go and administer the sacrament of the sick to her. The only time I had to visit Fe was last Sunday evening after my mass at St. Joseph Church in Kwun Tong. At around 6:30 p.m. five ladies from the St. Joseph Filipino Community of Kwun Tong came with me. Evelyn was already waiting for us at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Five Filipina OFWs, Lydia Bartolome, Jade Merzo, Felipa Bravo , Rosalinda Villanueva and Franz Fontabla joined me on a different journey. We walked from the church to the MTR station at Choi Hung from where we rode the train taking the Green Line to Mongkok, then transferring to the Red Line towards Central and getting off at Jordan where Queen Elizabeth Hospital was a only a ten minute walk.

We were quite for the greater part of the trip. We did not know what we will see. Fe was just a name without a face. Fe was just another sad story of an OFW dream now precariously hanging on the edge of life. The journey from Choi Hung to Jordan took some time which was necessary to prepare for this unusual encounter. From the train ride to the walk on the streets of Jordan, then finally the uphill trek to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, I sensed anxiety and even fear. I do not know who among the women has ever experienced visiting someone whose condition is similar to Fe’s.

It was about 7:15 p.m. when we reached the lobby of Queen Elizabeth. We had to hurry a bit since visiting hours end at 8:00 p.m. Evelyn came down and accompanied us to the ward in Section G where Fe laid in bed alone. Only four at a time were aloud to enter. When we reached the ward, we saw Fe lying on a corner bed among six other beds occupied by Chinese patients surrounded by their families. Fe was alone and has been this way since she was admitted to the hospital more than a month ago. No family member, friend, town mate has visited her since. Fe’s situation was communicated to Evelyn by Elenita Cleofas, an OWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Adminstration) officer. Thanks to Evelyn, we found Fe and were able to stand around her and briefly surround her with love, care and concern.

Fe’s condition is truly sad and heart-rending, but her circumstance seems to even add a bitter taste to the unsavory story. No one, no family, no friends has visited Fe. This little group of OFWs is one of the few to come and show care and compassion. At first, I asked the four who were aloud to enter to come close as I began the prayers for the sick. I told them that I will say my prayers bending over and speaking directly to Fe’s left ear. I requested them to do the same after me. With some hesitation some of them approached Fe, bending over to whisper prayers and words of encouragement to Fe. Understandably some could not approach Fe. The sight of Fe helpless, unconscious, completely alone felt like a wedge being driven into their hearts.

I stood quietly witnessing the solidarity of pain shared by mothers and women separated from their families by the demands of work and survival. They seemed overwhelmed by an ambivalent, double edged fear. On the one hand, there is the fear of being abruptly taken from loved ones and on the other hand, fear of losing grip on one’s life and future. But they just won’t stand paralyzed by fear. They moved forward, to speak to and pray for one of their own, a fellow woman, wife, mother, daughter, sister and overseas Filipino worker. It was a painful and unpleasant moment where the pain and the fear of uncertainty, loss, and a seriously threatened life was shared and transformed into a circle of solidarity and compassion.

We had to leave Fe who was alone again but not entirely, for even if I did not hear what her fellow OFWs whispered to her, somehow their message may be an echo of what I whispered into her ears, “God is in you and journeys every moment with you. You are not alone. Through your pain and suffering, God’s son’s loneliness and suffering reaches out to us and etches itself in our hearts and souls. We leave and carry you in our minds and hearts….” We left more quiet than when we arrived. We all felt a heaviness, a burden to do more than just pray for Fe….Indeed, as we left, seven walked towards the MTR and the busses that were to bring us home. But in each heart a name with a face and a strange voice speaks in muted yet painfully intelligible sounds. We hear her…she cries and weeps…her name is Fe Bachenela Ucab.

KUBOL PAG-ASA and Among Ed

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
September 8, 2007
Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary

After more than two years, the prayer and fasting group that was born during the forty four day hunger strike at People Power Monument (PPM) along EDSA highway is still kicking and alive. I remember that faithful morning of July 10, 2005 when a handful of us pitched tent on the stage area of the PPM. We were ready for a 24 hour black fast, no food, no water, as protest against the election anomalies that gravely put to question the current Government’s legitimacy. Towards four in the afternoon, we were all glued to the radio intently listening to the reading of the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines statement. We were completely oblivious of our hunger and thirst. We listened and waited, pinning our hopes on a word, a line that will shed light on the spreading moral darkness and give clear direction to the political impasse that paralyzes the land. The word, the line did not come…Instead, something that threw us off completely, “WE ARE NOT ASKING YOU TO RESIGN!!!”

The statement was long but that was the crux of it. The bishops have decided to give her a chance. The moral, spiritual voice of the land suspended judgment on the legitimacy of the Arroyo Government. And to the consternation of many, she and her family seemed ready to receive the happy news. They were somewhere near the Malate Church. Minutes after the Bishops’ statement was read, they came out on national TV strolling along a part of Mayor Atienza’s Bay Walk. The cameras followed them to a nearby restaurant where they had a merienda (snack). Their faces not only relieved but truly happy and jubilant. After all, life did not stop for them. Life in Malacanang will go on. Thanks to the “statement.” Life goes on…the show goes on.

This little group praying and fasting decided to hole in, fast and pray for as long as necessary. The group called themselves Kubol Pag-Asa. The group has survived and continues to serve God and Country in their many, small but consistent ways of proclaiming the gospel of Hope, truth, justice and peace.

Last August 29, 2007, Kubol Pag-Asa visited Fr. Ed Panlilio, the priest turned Governor of his province. In the past Fr. Ed was fondly called Among Ed. Now people call him Among Gob instead. From Among Ed, Father Ed to Among Gob, Father Gob.

Our appointment was at 8:00 a.m. We arrived at the Provincial Capitol around 7:30 a.m. With us was a five foot statue of the Lady of the Miraculous Medal, a gift from one of my former parishioners.

When Among Gob arrived from one of his many safe houses, I walked towards him and we spontaneously hugged each other, for Ed and I have been friends since we met in 1980 as seminarians soon to be ordained priests. We presented Lola Dahl’s (Mrs. Asuncion Leetai, older sister of Fr. Leetai SJ, first Filipino rector of San Jose Major Seminary, where I studied) gift of our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. The gift is also a prayer that the miracle of Among Gob’s victory may be sustained by his devotion to the Lady and the gift of her gracious and abiding presence and guidance to the people of Pampanga.

After, we were served coffee and sandwiches, we sat down to talk and listen to Among Gob. Our simple message to him was a commitment to pray and fast for clean, principled, uncompromising governance in Pampanga. We also promised to remain in contact with him and find ways and means of helping him and the people of Pampanga give birth to a different and truly new politics. Then it was Among Gob’s turn to speak. Here is the gist of what he said:

“ Ours is a “leadership by example.” From articulation of moral principles to concrete advocacy…from working on the outside to working within. Robert and I were Martial Law seminarians. We were inspired by Gospel values. We asked how we can help inspire by a spirituality that is Christ-centered and Marian. My first 100 days followed a program called HEAL, which stands for Healt-Education-Livelihood program. I immediately began going around the province. I was quite shocked at what I discovered. In the provincial hospitals, there is very little available medicine. Eight hospitals do not have ambulances. Some do not even have electricity. One hospital has a public dump beside it. The education sector needs serious attention. The public school system is not doing very well. The students in general are at the 57% of the General Average Accomplishment. The passing of course is 75%. So we have launched a simple target of 57-75. Slowly, to move, motivate, facilitate the education process using all available means towards at least the 75% level of achievement. Then from there we move higher. Our teachers are a overworked and underpaid. Some schools do not even have textbooks. As to livelihood, we have developed a fund for Micro-Enterprise. Because of the enormity of the work, we have also began an Adoption Scheme, where businesses, rich institutions, rich individuals can adopt a school or a hospital. What is quite a surprise to us is the recent finding of the lahar levy or taxes collected from the lahar quarrying in the province. In the last administration, the declared annual collection of levy on quarrying was P 29 million. Last July, our collection for just a month was almost P 29 million. What was allegedly collected in one year, we collected in one month….”

After listening to Among Ed, a brief period of comments and questions followed. We had to go as the waiting room on the other side was beginning to crowd with others waiting to see Among Gob. We said a prayer, thanked Among Gob and promised to return soon. Fr. Ed has gone a long way from priest to social action director and now Governor of Pampanga. Not only his detractors and political rivals are looking hard at him. Even the less supportive members of the Church are not too keen on supporting him.

Kubol Pag-Asa came to show support not only to a man of God but to a Filipino who wants to burn his candle while he still can. With our prayers, fasting and collaboration in forging the elusive challenge of a different and new politics, we too choose to let our little candles burn as brightly as possible. We left Among Ed…We also left the statue of the Blessed Virgin…Yet, we felt that after that brief but meaningful encounter, we have not really left. Something has begun…something new, different, something worth nurturing and supporting….with the grace and guidance of Jesus and Mary….Amen…

Fraternity violence

The Cris Anthony Mendez Case
Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
September 3, 2007

Through out the seven years (1996-2003) that I worked as Parish Priest and Catholic Chaplain at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, the issue of Frat Violence was a stubborn and truly recalcitrant issue that seemed stronger than the combined efforts of students, administrators, and other concerned sectors on campus. All kinds of activities aimed at frat harmony and campus peace were tried from masses, prayer services, dialogues, peace pacts even dramatized with the surrender of frat weapons of destruction and death like baseball bats, knives, steel pipes, rocks, etc. I even recall doing several runs around the academic oval protesting frat violence. One of the most symbolic actions was a walk of little school children protesting the death of Nino Calinao who was shot in broad day light by hooded men along a corridor just a few meters from the Arts and Sciences entrance, better known as the AS Steps. The name of Nino was indeed symbolic and ironically eloquent. Nino meant little boy. Kalinaw, peace in Cebuano.

Violent frat men are no more than dangerous little boys who have gone bad. Fraternity violence is nothing more than the dangerous prattle of the spoiled, attention hungry boy whose self-worth is defined by the capacity to inflict pain, destruction and death on others whether it be on the intimidated neophytes awed and hypnotized by the mystic of becoming one of the frat men. By then, assuming one survives the entire range of initiation rites from psychological to actual physical torture, he leaves the “despicable” lot of a mere barbarian and joins the noble ranks of Frat Gentlemen.

Are fraternities all violent? Some claim no. But those who claim they are not may in fact be innocent of losing or wasting a life during hazing or an internecine frat skirmish. But in the other aspects of the frat’s life, is there a conscious and consistent effort not only to avoid violence but most of all, to get rid of what causes it in the first place?

Deeply hidden in the psyche of frats and their members is the primitivism and barbarism of the Macho. In fact, one need not be a member of a frat to experience this dangerous energy. We see this manifested even in little children who seem prone to hurt others and quite pleased to destroy objects within their reach. The typical school bully exists from elementary to college and even beyond. Education and human formation are thus both necessary to guide the child on the path of self-discovery, self-expression and self-control.

But what if the opposite is espoused? What if the bully becomes the model or paragon of virtue?
Fraternities are unfortunately not confined to the university. Working within and beyond the universities, colleges and schools is the Frat Alumni. These are the graduates who have left the university and now occupy rather influential and prestigious positions in society. Many of these older men claiming to be gentlemen are quite dangerous. The frat officers keep close ties with them and are quite willing and happy to do so because of the generous support that consequently flows.

A rather complex and extensive network links and binds these young and older men. The younger men look up to their older patrons and models. The older men sitting in their offices are waiting for their younger counterparts to grow and measure up to the standards set by their fraternity’s tradition. Unfortunately, one unspoken standard is the ability to unleash the violent beast within, training it carefully and secretly in the so called art of receiving and inflicting pain.

Wars are carried out by a different kind of fraternity called the Army. Have you heard of hazing at the Philippine Military Academy, West Point or Annapolis? Wars are carried out by media, banks, corporations and even churches against both the disloyal and the enemy. The issue is violence spawned by untamed, unbridled chauvinism lusting for power and control. Not only school fraternities suffer from this.

If there is something that this latest act of primitivism in the University of the Philippines has to say, it is to remind all of us of how violence in the form of greed, revenge, suspicion, domination and most of all indifference continues and persistently lurks within individuals, groups and institutions. What has happened after Leny Villa, Dennis Venturina, Nino Calinao, Mike Icasiano and the many others who have fallen victims to fraternity violence?

Fraternity violence is only part of the culture of violence that has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. Other forms of violence exist and thrive in the University of the Philippines and other universities. If the death of another innocent and promising neophyte will make us pause; if it will make us notice the violence within and without; if it will help us realize how, like frat men we are part of an entire web and culture of violence and the lust for power and control, and thus move us to effect change within and without, then something different, something new may just happen after this sad episode of another victim of empty macho triumphalism, Cris Anthony Mendez.

Sampu-Sampu

“2010 Asayment ng Bayan”


There are twenty nine months left between October 10, 2007 and May 2010. While some of us are vaguely aware of how little time there is before the 2010 Presidential Elections, there are individuals and groups who have the very opposite frame of mind. Politics seems clearly divided between the interested stake holders and the indifferent. The interested stake holders may be those who see real and concrete benefits which politics offers. The majority may be subscribers to a seasonal show or production. But do we really have the luxury and the freedom to choose between direct engagement and total indifference towards politics? The father of Myanmar’s detained charismatic leader Aung San Suu Kyi once said, “We may not be interested in Politics, but Politics is always interested in us!!!”
While many tend to look at politics as a separate compartment of life, behaving as if life could actually be compartmentalized and effectively sanitized from the unwanted intrusion of politics, a more realistic and responsible view exists. Some may say that in life there is politics. A more realistic and responsible view says that politics is life, life is politics. Politics being the exercise of power exists where there are people. Thus we speak of the politics of married life, of the family, clan, community, nation, church, corporation, organization, media, school, hospitals, bodies, nations, etc.
We can pretend and behave as though our lives are bereft of politics but this is an illusion. Our persons, orientations, attitudes, decisions, choices and actions are products of particular political milieus, experiences, choices, and the ever so subtle layers of our social life. The point is not to avoid, run away from but transform, if you want Christianize or evangelize politics. The following are an initial attempt at a concrete response to the challenge of healthy, responsible, productive and constructive politics:

I. Kubol Pag-Asa’s Ten Point Commitment:

Presence, Visibility, Consistent, Credible Witnessing
On-Going Dialogue
Discerning Prayer
Sacrifice, Fasting in particular (Fast Wednesdays)
Intelligent, Discerned and Disciplined Risk Taking
(The Example of the Mount Everest Team)
Constructive Personal and Societal Criticism
Solidarity with Marginalized Sectors
Creative, Timely and Effective Articulation/Expression of Stand
Creative, Timely and Effective Advocacy
Adoption of the Long View


n.b Kubol Pag-Asa will choose Ten Leaders to Engage With. Initial discussions have been conducted with the following leaders:
1. Gov. Eddie “Among Ed” Panlilio - Pampanga
2. Gov. Grace Padaca - Isabela
3. Rep. Rissa Hontiveros-Baraquel – AKBAYAN

II “Asayment ng Bayan”

1. Sampung Minutong Pag-aaral; Pagninilay at Panalangin sa Bawat Araw
2. Sampung Mahahalagang Aral Sa Kasaysayan.
3. Sampung Katangian ng Mabuting Lider.
4. Sampung Katangian ng Mabuting Mamamayan.
5. Sampung Halimbawa ng Mabuting Lider.
6. Sampung Pangunahing Suliranin Ng Bayan.
7. Sampung Angkop na Katugunan.
8. Sampung Dahilan Kung Bakit Ako Kailangang Makilahok Sa Darating Na Pambansang Eleksyon (2010)
9. Sampung Nais Kong Gawin Bilang Paghahanda Para Sa Darating na Eleksyon
10. Sampung Pangarap Para Sa Bayan