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Number 23, November 2003
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Kapatiran Issue
No. 23, November 2003
OBITUARY:
BISHOP ANTONIO FORTICH
- Murray Horton
Bishop Emeritus Antonio Fortich, known as the
“bishop of the poor” and “the man of
peace”, died in July 2003, aged 89. He spent
virtually his entire life in the Catholic Church serving
the people of his native Negros, the sugar island of the
Philippines. He was the Bishop of Bacolod (the provincial
capital) from 1967 until his retirement in 1989. To quote
from his obituary in the Philippine Daily Inquirer
(3/7/03; “’Bishop of the poor’ is
dead”):
”His first act was to call on sugar planters to give
just wages to their workers. He stressed the
workers’ right to organise unions. A controversial
pastoral letter he issued in 1969 brought attention to
the plight of the sugar farm workers, especially the
sacada seasonal workers. The message lost him friends and
supporters. Unfazed, Fortich went on to create the Church
Social Action Committee to make the diocese responsive to
the needs of the time. By the 1970s, the diocese saw the
flowering of social action programmes and the poor in
Negros found in the Catholic Church a new ally for their
survival.
“Despite the danger of being called a Communist,
Fortich instituted the process of empowerment by adopting
the Latin American experience by building Basic Christian
Communities (BCCs) that advocated non-violence, grew in
militancy in opposing human rights violations, proposed
land reform, and challenged the laws of the Marcos
regime. Fortich also put Church property under land
reform, started a legal aid scheme to help the poor, and
set up a radio and television station.
Negros, The “Social Volcano”
“In the early 1980s, as the plight of the poor
worsened with the sugar industry reeling from its plunder
during the Marcos years, Fortich continued to be the
outspoken champion of their rights. The international
media quoted him extensively and among his famous quotes
was his description of Negros: ‘We are sitting on a
social volcano, which could erupt anytime’. Fortich
was ridiculed by the rich and powerful for bringing to
the attention of the world the starving and malnourished
children of Negros…
“Fortich, believing in the need for peaceful change,
became national co-chairman of the National Ceasefire
Committee, to pursue provincial and regional peace talks
with the Communists. It was also in the late 1980s that a
strong anti-insurgency campaign was launched in Negros
and Rightist groups charged Fortich and his priests with
being pro-Communist. A little after midnight on April 28,
1987, a grenade was thrown on the landing near the door
of Fortich’s room, leaving steel fragments
everywhere.
“Fortich survived the incident and remained an
outspoken advocate of human rights. For what was seen as
his controversial and unwavering stand for the needy,
Fortich was retired before being promoted to archbishop.
But, even after retirement, he had continued to speak on
behalf of the poor. Two years ago, when asked when he
would stop championing causes, Fortich had said:
‘When the country attains peace, because that will
mean that the needs of the poor have been
answered’” .
His death attracted obituaries from many progressive
groups. For example, Karapatan, the leading human rights
organisation, put out a tribute headed “Pastor of
the Struggling Masses and Prophet of Social Justice”
(25/7/03). In it, the Bishop was referred to as
“Kumander Tony”, as he was known to the
movement. “As a prophet, he stood for the truth and
became the mouthpiece of the anguish of the suffering
Negrenses. As a pastor, he chose the poor and oppressed
to care for and accompany in their quest for freedom and
total emancipation from the bondage of
exploitation…”.
Fabulous Wealth For The Sugar Barons; Grinding
Poverty For The Sugar Workers
Some context is necessary, for New Zealand readers.
Nowhere is Philippine feudalism seen more brutally than
in Negros. A handful of extremely rich families own
virtually all the land on the island, which is dominated
by the sugar monoculture. These families are not about to
give up their land and wealth and they have private
armies, which have no hesitation in killing anyone whom
the landlords don’t like. The actual Communists have
guns and are more than capable of looking after
themselves, so the private armies terrorise the sugar
workers’ union instead, as they’re unarmed and
an easier target. I first went to the Philippines in
1987, on an exposure tour. To research this, I re-read my
report from that trip for the first time in many, many
years. It brought back vivid memories. To quote from it:
“We stayed a night with a sugarworker’s family
out in a plantation on Negros. This was a progressive
landowner - he allowed his peasants to grow rice on
borrowed land during the off season. We witnessed a divvy
up of some of this rice - of every 12 bundles, the
landlord got 11. The peasants divided the rest. The
family we stayed with was headed by a carpenter, so
he’d built his own, quite lovely, bamboo house. He
owned it -but not the land. Not even a progressive
landlord will relinquish ownership of any of his
land… Grinding poverty exerts a systematic daily
violence all of its own - a visit to the malnourished
childrens’ ward at Bacolod Hospital, is a
heartwrenching experience. The sugarworker’s family
we stayed with - the wife was up well before dawn,
cooking and preparing the kids for school. Work proper
was well under way by daybreak - when asked what they did
in the evenings, they said they discussed their
problems…”. In Bacolod we visited the National
Federation of Sugar Workers and were going to stay
overnight in their office, but it was deemed too
dangerous because of the number of threats and attacks
against it from the landlords' goons. It was the only
city I visited in the Philippines still to have a curfew
(martial law had ended in 1986, with the overthrow of
Marcos). On that trip, I also visited several Basic
Christian Communities.
The late Father John Curnow, who founded the Philippines
Solidarity movement in New Zealand, regarded Negros as
his favourite part of the Philippines. Before I went on
that first trip, I went to see John to be briefed. It was
due to his influence that I was able to meet Bishop
Fortich, in Bacolod. To quote from my report, again:
Assassination Attempt
“He (Fortich) has tirelessly campaigned for social
justice. He was guarantor of the physical safety of
Communist peace negotiators when they came down from the
hills into Negros’ main city, Bacolod, in the 1986
ceasefire (Bacolod’s population is 360,000. 150,000
gathered to welcome the representatives of the National
Democratic Front, the political coalition that represents
the Communist Party and its New People’s Army,
amongst others). While I was in Bacolod, several hundred
evacuees from military terror were sheltering in a
seminary at Fortich’s church. Earlier this year
(1987), somebody threw a grenade at his living quarters -
it bounced and exploded harmlessly. Graffiti on Bacolod
walls reads - ‘Bishop Fortich, Your Path Lies To
Hell’. The death squad that tried to kill him is the
KKK - Christian Crusade Against Communism. They are
responsible for daily death threats against the National
Federation of Sugar Workers, whose stronghold is
Negros…”.
It was a privilege for me to meet him. He was an old man
then, only two years away from retirement, but was still
very active in the struggle for justice for the poor,
oppressed and terrorised of Negros. He was one in a long
and honourable line of progressive clergy and will be
remembered as one of the true friends of the Filipino
people.
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