Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan (SLB), the social justice arm of the Philippine Jesuit Province marked 29 years of service to the Church and the Filipino nation recently with a week-long celebration themed “Renewing a Faith that does Justice”.
Over the years, SLB has evolved and developed programs in response to the needs of Philippine society, and the celebration from February 21 to March 1 was an opportunity to showcase current programs and introduce new ones.
The anniversary week kicked off with a talk by SLB Junior Political Officer Enrico Antonio La Viña about the struggle of the people of Casiguran, Aurora against the controversial Aurora Ecozone (APECO) in TEDxADMU on February 21 at Ateneo’s Henry Lee Irwin Theater. For years, SLB has been the primary convener of Task Force Anti-APECO (TFAA) that has been seeking to repeal the APECO Law for its numerous human rights, financial, and legal violations. It has also been long involved in lobbying for land use and agrarian reforms.
Over the next two days, SLB reintroduced Kasiguruhan sa Casiguran, an initiative for the development of local communities in Casiguran. Its flagship sub-program for 2015 is themed “This ISDA Year” and is a donation drive that aims to address the needs of the local fishing community.
On February 25, SLB held the main event of its celebrations – an anniversary mass that flowed into a recollection on the Mamasapano tragedy and concluded with peace prayer rally. More than 100 Religious, volunteers, and partners gathered at the Oratory of St Ignatius of Loyola in Ateneo de Manila University to pray and commit to act for national peace.
Mindanao-based anthropologist and philosopher Fr Albert Alejo SJ celebrated the mass and led the recollection on peace in Mindanao in the context of the recent conflicts in the region. Atty Benedicto Bacani, who served as legal adviser to the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, provided the legal background of the peace process in parts of Mindanao. The recollection ended with the participants reflecting on their own positions on peace in Mindanao. SLB Executive Director Fr Xavier Alpasa SJ then led the group as they walked in prayer from the Loyola School of Theology to Ateneo Gate 2.5 along Katipunan Avenue. There, participants lit hundreds of candles and placed them along the road as testaments of their prayers for peace.
Fr Alpasa also announced, in a short speech after the mass, the new Kuwentuhang Bayan, an updated version of SLB’s flagship project on good governance that will run until next year – in time for the national elections. Through a mix of electoral and political education frameworks, the project seeks to educate the most vulnerable sectors on their right to suffrage, to empower citizens in engaging democratic institutions such as elections, and to provide avenues for discourse and enable action plans. Training of facilitators began on March 21 .
On February 27, SLB held its first training course for Ugnayan ng Mamamayan para sa Kaunlaran ng Payatas (UMAKAP), which is one of its Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) initiatives. UMAKAP is the first-ever disaster management-related people’s organisation in Barangay Payatas, Quezon City. Dubbed “Stewardship of Creation”, the workshop was designed to help UMAKAP leaders understand their situation in Payatas better and form plans to address pressing environmental issues in their area. Sr Marvelous “Marvie” Misolas of the Maryknoll Sisters of Saint Dominic, an advocate of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), facilitated. UMAKAP organized a clean-up drive the next day as a gesture of its commitment as a steward of its community.
Capping off the commemoration was the CGE Radio program on March 1 dedicated to SLB’s anniversary and the subject of service. For this special broadcast, Ms Marjorie Tejada, SLB’s Administrative Secretary and longest-serving member, shared her stories of faith doing justice in her 15 years of service with the organization.
From its beginnings in 1986 as a group of Metro Manila priests and nuns called the NAMFREL (National Citizens Movement for Free Elections) Marines, who saw the ousting of a dictatorship in what became the bloodless EDSA revolution, until today, SLB has remained committed to a faith that indeed does justice.