Kim’s Dream Orlan Ravanera
Also Known as the Land of Paradox
In expressing opinion, it is always done in prose, This time for a change, let me do it in poetry as the outpourings of words do not come just from the mind but direct from the heart. This gives more credence to that adage in the book, “The Little Prince,” that “it is only through th heart that one can see clearly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.” That supreme force in the universe called love beacons all of us in the environmental movement for peace, justice and sustainability to exemplify the spirit of oneness irrespective of color, creed or class as we are all in fact, the sons and daughter of Mindanao, the second biggest island known as the Land of the Brave & Free as Mindanawons are freedom loving people.
It behooves upon all of us to shed-off apathy and fear and to fight for what is right, what is true and what is just. Like St. Oscar Romero, the late Archbishop of El Salvador who fought for social justice to liberate the Indigenous People in El Salvador from so much social injustice and oppression, but was cruelly killed one Sunday morning while celebrating mass, we need his likes as no one seems to fight to liberate the poor Indigenous Peoples in Mindanao from being dispossessed of their ancestral domain by the rich in cohort with powers-that-be. It is so frustrating that in a meeting in Maramag, Bukidnon recently, a priest just took no action after hearing the narratives of the Chieftains on how oppressed they are. Since 2016, some 101 DATUs/Chieftains in the province of Bukidnon have been killed for standing against the grabbing of their ancestral domain to be transformed into massive plantations to earn millions of dollars. SABI NG PARE, “HUWAG KAYONG MAG MADALI!” HA, ANONG WAG MAGMADAL?” KAILAN PO KAYO KIKILOS FATHER? PAG-ISANG LIBO NA ANG PINATAY” Two of those killed lately were Chieftains just 10 kilometers from Maramag Father for what? For protecting their crops that were being harvested by powerful people with armed men. Nalaman namin, na ang nagpapatay pala ay hindi basta basta na nagbayad ng 100 thousand pesos sa mga killers. MERON PA, ISANG BATANG PINATAY AT ISANG BUNTIS JUST TO INSTILL FEAR. Glaringly, the enrichment of these people means the dispossession of the Indigenous People through massive killing to instill so much fear. DYAN LANG PO SA MALAPIT SA INYONG LUGAR, SA BUTONG QUZON, ISANG LIBONG PAMILYA NG MANOBO-PULINGIYON TRIBE NAKATIRA UNDER SHATTERED TENTS IN THE LAST 6 YEARS DAHIL INAGAWAN SILA NG KANILANG 1,111 HECTARES ANCESTRAL DOMAIN NG KIANTIG DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION NA PAGMAMAY-ARI NG MAYOR NG QUEZON BUKIDNON. LAHAT SILA AY KUMAKAIN LAMANG ISANG BESES ARAW-ARAW AT LAHAT NG BATA MAY MGA SAKIT AT MALNOURISHED. ANONG WAG MAGMADALI? Better for poor Christians in El Salvador, they have Arch. Oscar Romero. Are we a Christian country, Father? TINGNAN PO NINYO ANG NANGYAYARI NGAYON SA SITIO KIBARITAN, MALINAO, KALILNGAN, BUKIDNON. TATLONG BATA SUMABOG ANG KATAWAN, NAPUTUKAN NG UXO DAHIL INANGKIN NA MILITARY RESERVATION ANG KANILANG NGA SAKAHAN NA PINABULAANAN NG KASALUKUSANG MAYOR DAHIL ISA NA ITONG KUMONIDAD NA MAY SIMBAHAN, PAARALAN AT MAY DAY-CARE CENTER. ANG MGA MAGSASAKA AY GUTOM NA AT ANG MGA BATA DI NA MAKAPAG-ARAL DAHIL SINISIRA NG MILITARY ANG KANILANG SAKAHAN. PAG SILAY TUMINDIG SA KANILANG KARAPATAN, SILA AY BINUBOGBOG. NALAMAN NILA NA HINDI PALA MILITARY RSERVATION KUNG HINID GAGAWING HYBRID BANANA PLANTATION AND KANILANG SAKAHAN. ISA PO ITONG KALAPASTANGANAN DAHIL ANG MGA MAGSASAKA DOON AY NAGSAKA NA DOON SA LOOB NG LIMAMPONG TAON AT MERON NA SILANG PRIOR RIGHTS. NASAAN PO KAYO, FATHER? Di ba sabi ni Lord, “SERVE THE LEAST OF YOUR BRETHREN? Please remember what King Solomon has said in Ecclesiastes, “wealth, fame and power are meaningless utterly meaningless. What is important is how we serve the least of your brethren.” That should be in the mind and heart of every Christian, especially of the priests like you.
Indeed, it behooves, upon all of us now to shed off our apathy and fear, unlike that frog that was boiled-up to death because it cannot detect temperature changes. You know that experiment in Biology 101}? It runs something like this: You take a frog and put it in a pot of cold water. Put the pot on a stove and turn it on to start boiling. As the water in the pot gradually heat up, you tell the frog to save itself, but the frog, if it can only talk, will just say, “what is it that you are talking about, nothing is wrong, am okay.” So, it will just sit there until it is boiled up to death simply because it cannot detect temperature changes. We were just like that frog in many ways. We lost our forest and megadiversity, we acted as if nothing was wrong. We lost our seas and rivers and all of our ecological integrity, we just didn’t mind. As poverty worsens and oppressive systems and structures are turning on the heat, we seem not to care to democratize wealth and power. Today, we cannot anymore be apathetic especially in the light of the massive land-grabbing and killing going on in the life of the Indigenous Peoples. SILA PO AY TAO, HINDI BASURA.
Today, we cannot afford to lose even that most essential value in life, peace and unity, otherwise, we will lost everything. We now take heed of the many sufferings visited upon our people and we now declare ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, like what St. Oscar Romero did in El Salvador, thus, this POEM:
Oh Mindanao, where ecological wealth abounds! So rich in fisheries, agriculture, forests and mines, Where beauties do not end at the shorelines, But in the Mindanawons’ courageous hearts and minds. There in the land of the brave and the free, Amidst nature bounties lies hunger and poverty, Why a few with so much to enjoy? Yet the many with too little or nothing at all!! Each shapes the Mindanao we hold dear, Behooving upon us to shed-off apathy and fear, Now listen to the cries of the multitude, Hear what they agonize in their solitudeI Empowerment of the poor and the oppressed the solution, Let us dismantle structure of social exclusion, To put the people in the mainstream of progress, Let us wage a peaceful revolution for social justice and peace. Shalom, Let us embrace one another in the spirit of oneness, A million voices to illuminate darkness, For we are all waves of one sea and leaves of one tree, We now must unite, otherwise we all will fall in demise.
The likes of the late Arch. Oscar Romero who was declared a saint in 2018 by Pope Francis must now loom in our country as the Indigenous Peoples here are the most oppressed in the world.
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