Migrant's Focus Magazine: Issue #1     Profile #6: Ministry Alongside Migrant Workers I must confess I never thought of serving outside the country. When I was a theological student, I had a simple aspiration. Ministry for me was to be incarnated in the basic level, the parish. I was content with a rural parish. I know there are church-programs run by priests or bishops. I know there are special ministries, like chaplainries in the military or in schools. But I only wanted to have enough theology to be an affective pastor to a small flock: to be able to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments. I had wanted a simple program of activity. A day that begins with the celebration of the early morning Holy Eucharist and end with Compline, the Office at the End of the Day, was desirable. Pastoral visits in the weekdays and various pastoral services on Sundays: the Parish Eucharist and baptisms, weddings and burials the rest of the day, if there were any, would just have been the norm of the week. I got it, in my first parish, but only was only for a few months. I heard St. Andrew's Theological Seminary, QC had a University Program for those whom they considered faculty material. I was encouraged to apply; I applied and was accepted. I went back to Manila for studies. I earned my AB in psychology, from Trinity College of Quezon City (TCQC). After a stint at TCQC, I was assigned in the parish of Bacoor. It was in Bacoor that I came in real contact with migrant workers and their families. A lot of our members were seafarers. But I did not have any real inkling then of the problems they face. Of course, every now and then, a seafarer comes home before the end of his contract: their ship had been sold and the new owners do not want to hire them. But they make it sound as if it is the most natural thing that can happen. Anyway, they would justify, they will be put on the priority list of the manning agency so there is no real worry. While serving as Parish priest, I became the Headmaster of its parish school. When I worked in the school many of the parents were either seafarers or land based migrant workers. We had students of migrant workers with problems. Drugs, delinquency, marital infidelity, broken family, are among the most common that I learned. All these were through the reports of the guidance counselor or homeroom advisers. The school provided counseling but we were not equipped with the tools of analysis of the impact of migration. They were not seen as victims nor do I think migration itself was seen as a problem. After I left Bacoor, I was taken in by the National Priests' Organization (NPO) and became the Assistant Director for Theological Education by Extension (TEE). The NPO sent me to the Swedish Theological Institute, in Jerusalem for special 3-month Biblical studies. We had centers all over the Philippines and traveled a lot. It was in my travels that I saw the phenomenon of migration in a national scale. I saw the problems concomitant with migration that I saw in our students, replicated on a macro level. As I was still a canonical resident of the diocese of Cavite, two or three of us clergy of the diocese, requested for a basic orientation seminar for the whole clergy of the diocese. It was resolved in that seminar that migrants' families be given attention among other concerns in our ministry. It was during my stint at the NPO that I was exposed to the studying the Bible in context. The one that made the most impact in my life was the one on the Third Look at Jesus. The Jesuit Fr. Carlos Abesamis conducted it and I can look back at that experience as the turning point in my theological understanding. It gave the firm foundation for my political involvements. I was appointed as Executive Assistant, after my stint at the NPO. Every now and then I attended seminars/consultations/conferences on migration. Part of the work of the Executive Assistant was Ecumenical Relations and International Affairs (ERIA) and in the IFI setting, migration is subsumed under ERIA. Migrant workers cross international boundaries; they are and should therefore be the responsibilities of the sending and host governments and churches. It was as Executive Assistant that I first came to know about the Mission for Filipino Migrant Workers (MFMW). I came to HK in February 1994. Despite my initial contacts with migrants workers and their families back in my parish, the real situation was well beyond my expectations. I was shocked to learn first hand the various forms of exploitation and degradation our compatriots experience daily in the hands of their employers and kapwa Pinoys. Listening to them as they share their problems, either work or family related, there were a lot of times that I get drawn into their agonies and lose my own sense of perspective. Physical abuse. Verbal degradation. Sexual assault. Rape. Harassment from debt collectors. Extra marital affairs. Baseless accusations, innuendoes and gossips that erode the family's trust in the mother. Government neglect and inutility. Anti-migrant policies and discrimination of the host society. All these, reinforced by a brand of Christianity that is more enslaving rather liberating, sometimes make me question the usefulness of my ministry but most often, goad me to search for ways and means to make my ministry effective. These made me realize the necessity to study the Bible in context, to go back to the original context on how Jesus and his contemporaries understood His message and His mission. Thus when I get invited to lead in religious services at the Square, I take some liberties and try to create liturgies that speak to the situation. What I want to achieve is to let the people realize that worship should be continuous with life. It is not enough to pray for, say, the relief from exploitation and anxiety. One should, at worship offer oneself, and following the lead of our Lord and Savior, and in concert with others, struggle for the end of these exploitative situation. Of course this is a very long and tedious process. Centuries of the misuse of religion, decades of political repression, and the deteriorating economic condition of the Philuippines has created a people that are susceptible to blackmail. Job or justice is the choice many migrant workers must face. Many opt for job leaving justice to God. Migration then has created a spiritual problem. We look at migration for the survival of the migrants' families as forced migration and the government's policy to encourage migration to prop up an ailing economy as commercialization of its people. On the bases of these, we at the MFMW ally ourselves with people's movements, church-organizations and programs and other groups and individuals who share this common understanding and are struggling and/or willing to struggle for profound and fundamental changes in Philippine society. A lot more (Ultra plus) have therefore to be done.. The task is not easy. But I take encouragement from a prayer by Janet Morley,. It goes this way, Holy God, by whose authority is judged all human exercise of power, give us grace to obey where we are called to solidarity and courage to resist when your justice is at stake, through Jesus Christ, Amen. I believe that by the grace of God, right will ultimately prevail.     Search our site: advance search             Back to top           1995 - 2001 (c) copyright The Mission for Filipino Migrant Workers (HK) Society e-mail: mission@migrants.net website: http://www.migrants.net