Jose Ma. Montelibano

 A few days ago, the latest SWS survey reported that 3.3 million households experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the last three months. 3.3 million households is about 20 million Filipinos. The percentage and equivalent number are a social anomaly, a moral perversity, a horrible indictment of a people and culture. Worse, the quiet that greeted the survey report belies the integrity of all that is pro-life, of all that is Christian, of all that is Filipino.

In the past two months, there has been unusual noise about a reproductive bill that is the object of contrasting claims, bringing to the public glare the kind of split Christianity that defines the belief system of most Filipinos. It used to be said with pride that the Philippines was the only Catholic country in Asia. It remains a major contributor to the global Catholic population, currently number three in the world with an estimated 71 million faithful, just slightly ahead of the United States.
The noise over pro-life and pro-choice issues is a great distraction over an issue that is even more immoral – neglect over life that exists over life that is yet to be. Hunger is a curse that befalls a people who talk about loving neighbor but consistently remains blind to the awful suffering of the poor. It is an indictment of a Church and its hierarchy, evidence that is incontrovertible, damning and shameful. Hunger consistently stalks millions of Filipinos. Yet, it is not confronted with the clearest and loudest condemnation of bishops who have time to dabble with less important activities.

I know that many among the Church, mostly parish priests and members of religious orders, battle hunger and poverty daily. I know they feel overwhelmed by the massiveness of all that is immoral and dirty in Philippine society but do not concede or stop their relief efforts. But they have a voice that may be more powerful than the material resources they try to gather and then distribute to the poor and hungry. It is that voice that is muted or held back for reasons I cannot yet fathom. And it is that silence in the face of hunger and depravity that manifests the contradictions of pastoral leadership.

There have been several articles where I have focused on hunger and criticized severly the lack of response from the Church. The response I expect the church to make is proportionate to the noise that Church hierarchy make over other matters. If ours is a Church of silence, then so be it and I will accept that silence then is the norm of evangelization.  But many Church leaders, even among the laity, have been insistent about the need to evangelize and spread the word and love of God.  I cannot understand, then, except in the context of hypocrisy, why homilies every Sunday cannot condemn hunger, cannot demand from government and the laity with resources the feeding of the hungry sheep.

When 3.3 million households experience involuntary hunger, how many more millions are threatened? The highest levels of involuntary hunger are in Metro Manila under the very noses of the Church hierarchy, the metropolis where the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines or CBCP meets to discuss what seems non-essential in the face of unresolved massive poverty and hunger. What happened to the mission of Jesus, the bringing of glad tidings to the poor at the top of the list? Why are we wasting our time and resources bashing one another about a reproductive bill while millions among us go hungry, are sick but go unattended, are homeless but have no hope of decent shelter, are landless when their own Church can unsquat ALL of them?

Hunger is measured at 18.4%, the highest since a year ago in a September survey which saw hunger levels spike to a record 21.5%. I remember feeling this same way, angry and frustrated at a Church hierarchy that could issue so many statements but hardly none over hunger that affects over 20 million Filipinos. With co-volunteers and workers in Gawad Kalinga joined by Catholic organizations like Bukas loob sa Dios, Focolare and Light of Jesus, we tried to awaken and motivate fellow Christians in a Feed My Sheep campaign. Several thousands of us gathered at the Ultra complex and invited one bishop after another to celebrate mass and bless our crusade. Of course, none could make it. Of course, the Feed My Sheep campaign could not make it either. 

So much media efforts, including paid ads, have been delivered to the public to explain why pro-life are against a reproductive bill and why pro-choice are for the same bill. Why are there no ads, no talk shows, no attempts in Catholic schools to raise awareness over hunger, to raise sympathy for the hungry, to raise resources to feed the hungry? Why are we Christians, why are we Catholics? We do not deserve the identity if we simply disregard its highest tenets – to love God and to love neighbor.

It is not easy and pleasant to be critical of one's own Church, but I must scream for those who have no voice, only hunger, only sickness, only fear. What can one columnist write, what can one Filipino do, what can one Christian say? Very little, I know.  But a wise man said that to see what is right and not to do it is cowardice.  I am one who has made many mistakes in my life, and still cannot manage to avoid some of them. Cowardice is a particularly insulting trait when many suffer because of it. I cannot afford to be cowardly when my people go hungry, even if it means demeaning the cowards in my own Church.
I ask that other Filipinos, that other Christians, take a stand, speak clearly and loudly, and reach out to every hungry man, woman and child even if our leaders do not. I ask all Filipinos here and abroad to feel the pain of those left behind, the poorest of the poor, the hungry and the sick, the informal settlers with eviction like a sword of Damocles over their heads.

When we see our suffering people and weep for them, when we bring our sympathy to action and strive to feed the hungry sheep, when we rise above what divides us and allow the desire to ease the pain of the poor to unite us, then we may be able to discard our collective shame and begin a journey to self-respect and honor. And to the Catholics among us, the faster we can eliminate hunger among the living, the sooner we can indulge in debating about lives not yet conceived.