Their God-given right
03.03.2010
I was fortunate to see Manila, especially Malate parish through the eyes of Columbans who live there and speak the local language, Tagalog. Columbans have been in this parish for 80 years serving the people through tumultuous times.
The parish church is called Our Lady of Remedies where the people flock on Saturdays for blessings on their children, for protection, good health and a happy family. Our Lady takes pride of place over the altar rather than the Crucified Lord.
A bronze Pieta rests on a black plinth that stands at the northern aspect of the church. Beneath it is a commemoration of the disaster that befell Malate during the Battle of Manila in February/March 1945 when 100,000 were killed by bombardments from American Naval warships and the cold-blooded massacre of the local population by the Japanese Occupation Army.
The parish priest, Columban Fr John Leydon mentioned that an incensed American man and his wife came into the parish office to protest about the words etched on the plinth - he believed Americans were criticised for freeing the people of the Philippines and this was the thanks they got!
Fr John thought the message was saying something different.
In a battle of the magnitude of the Battle of Manila, the local population had no rights or defence. Today we would describe their deaths as ‘collateral damage’ caught up in events beyond their control.
Through the phases of its history, Malate parish has been a genteel area, a red light area and is now a poor area.
Close by the Church is the Malate Clinic. Here people can get medical treatment. Volunteer doctors donate their time to care for the people.
The day I called, babies were being weighed and measured.
A rice outreach program where people were buying subsidized rice is on the same site. They also have a soup kitchen. People are aware of the food crisis in the world; in rice-eating countries like the Philippines poor people are particularly at risk.
The poor people who live here work hard. A Fijian lay missionary Sainiana Tamatawale lives in this poor area. She is awakened at 2:00am by those in her lane preparing food to sell on the street later in the morning when workers will be looking for breakfast. Life goes on. I pray that they will be able to get enough to eat, educate their children, receive health care and live in peace. It’s not too much to ask, it is their God-given right.
Fr Gary Walker is Editor of The Far East.
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