Fr. Shay Cullen » Prophets Die for Christ

By Fr. Shay Cullen

There was a time in the mid 1980s when priests and pastors feared for their lives and some made the supreme sacrifice and gave their lives for their friends. Father Tullio Favali was one of those many brave and courageous missionaries that had taken the prophetic stand with the poor and the oppressed and stood with them as they battled for social justice and to save their lands and environment from the unscrupulous and rapacious loggers and politicians that ravaged the last remaining rain forests and robbed the heritage of the Filipinos.

Father Favali was set upon one day when he was stopped on his motor bike by a gang of killers hired by a rich and power politician that was raping the forests with impunity to finance his re-election. The hideous and notorious suspect of the murder of Father Favali was Norberto Manero, who was accused of smashing the head of father Favali and eating his brains. He denied the crime on his early release this week. Father Favali was a member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME)

Priest killer Manero was sentenced to life in prison but President Fidel Ramos was persuaded in 1998 to reduce Manero’s sentence from life to 24 years. He was given a further 8 years reduction in sentence for good behaviour. The mastermind politician hiding in the dark shadows of the corrupt political edifice worked behind the scenes for the early release of Manero. In return Manero has never named the mastermind who ordered him the heinous crime that led to the alleged act of cannibalism.

What has upset many human rights workers and church people is the shameful speed with which the government officials hurried to affect his release while thousands of children remain without help and never convicted in detention centers and police cells all over the country. Manero said he will work to serve the government. During the 1980s, many religious people working for social justice were assassinated by groups like that of Manero that marched to the slogan “Kill a priest and be a patriot”.

It seems that those days are returning to the Philippines in what polls say is the most corrupt, lawless and immoral period in the history of the nation and most dangerous for missionaries and church people working for justice and peace, non-violence and human rights. Officials deny the claims as gross exaggerations.

Father Reynaldo Roda, 54, a missionary of the Oblate of Mary Immaculate was shot dead last 15 January in his church in Tabawan, Jolo, Mindanao. He was surrounded by an armed group and shot dead. It was an attempted kidnapping according to the media reports. Bishop Benjamin de Jesus was murdered in front of the Jolo Cathedral in 1997. Felicisimo Catambis, 60, A pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) was shot dead in Abuyog, Leyte this 23 January by unknown assassins riding on a motorcycle.

They and many more are the prophets and pastors who have dared to stand with the poor and are voices crying in the wilderness. Father Joe Dizon the convener of solidarity Philippines, one of several church related civil society groups that met with 50 Bishops recently to ask them to speak out against the killings and human rights violations and the culture of corruption and impunity that allegedly pervades the ranks of government and erodes the spiritual values of the Filipino people. The groups asked the bishops to give strong “moral leadership”, Fr. Dizon said “we are asking them as moral leaders to declare once and for all, no matter what the consequences are, what is wrong, and what is right”.

Last October 2007, the Bishops made a statement that called the present administration “morally bankrupt”. The groups are asking for more specific statements from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) meeting in Manila to speak out for respect of human rights, the protection of life and the alleviation of hunger and the release of child prisoners from jails and prisons. They called for an Episcopal ministry that would be a prophetic leadership role for this primarily catholic nation.

This January 2008 according to media reports, some 15 bishops met with palace officials and had a dinner with the president and members of her cabinet to bring to her attention their concern about the hunger and social inequality that plague the country. END

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Contact Fr. Shay Cullen at the Preda Center, Upper Kalaklan, Olongapo City, Philippines.
e-mail: preda@info.com.ph
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