Bishop Pueblos
One of the most influential men in
This columnist met the bishop at his residence in Ampayon last week, and the tall, imposing, 65-year-old prelate smiled when told of his influential role in his diocese which covers the provinces of Agusan Del Sur and Del Norte and the city of
On his reputation as the President’s man, he told me, “I’m not for the President, as they say. I am really a man for the country. Even the bishops are saying I’m the ‘tao’ of Gloria.” Not so, not so, he said. In fact his town mates in
But PGMA, said the bishop, has done good things for the Agusan provinces, like bridges and roads and irrigation systems. She makes it a point to check on the completion of infrastructure projects, sometimes to the dismay of her security men who are concerned about her safety. “One thing I like about the President is that if she’s sure that you’re honest and sincere, she will listen to you.” For instance, the bishop told her about the farmers of Buenavista’s complaint of payments for the irrigation facility being too high; the President had the cost whittled down, understandably making Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap shaking his head.
The President, he said, endears herself to people by coming to Butuan not only to meet with political leaders, but also to crown a queen, or say a prayer during a religious meeting. She also showed up at the bishop’s birthday celebration in March three years ago. Her respect for him was evident in her appointing him a member of the Melo Commission, which investigated charges of human rights violations by the military.
Bishop Pueblos’ appointment did not come from nothing. In his younger days, he was a political activist during the Marcos regime, and on his diocesan assignments, stayed on the side of poor people seeking reprieve from military injustices.
In Butuan, he has developed rapport with the military and civil society groups through dialogues. He is organizing a big multi-sectoral conference on peace in Butuan in November.
Justice and peace had been his serious concern since he was a seminary student. Son of a trader peddling goods in the Caraga region, he grew up under the influence of two sisters (who became a principal and dentist) and a doting mother and aunts in the town of
His first assignment was at
From 1968 to 1984 he was assigned in Tagbilaran, where he became a political activist. His seminary paper, in fact, had been on Marxism. His belief to this day is that one “can use the principles of Marxism without being Marxist, without losing faith in God.” His position, he told me, is that students should be given the freedom to educate themselves and make a firm decision on their faith. That is not a popular view among ecclesiastics of old and even to some extent today.
In 1984, Jaime Cardinal Sin brought the young priest to
In
He stayed in Kidapawan for nearly nine years, in an atmosphere of violent encounters. It was at this place where the Italian priest, Father Favali, was slain, and where the infamous Manero brothers reigned supreme, and rape and killings were rampant. There, the bishop supported environmentalist groups in opposing the construction of a geothermal facility which they thought would be more harmful than advantageous to communities around it.
He believes his re-assignment to Butuan may have been an offshoot of his activism. In Kidapawan, he was famous for establishing a “Zone of Life,” a five-hectare area for refugees where no one could enter with firearms. To this day, he believes that the insurgency continues to exist because of the wide disparity between the rich and the poor, and discontent can be remedied “with people elected to public office working for the common good.”
Bishop Pueblos is not against mining exploration, per se, “but I am against mining that destroys the environment. I am for responsible mining.” He is not against mining of resources for crop modernization. The trouble is that many are into mining of nickel and gold and other minerals for profit, not for sharing the fruits with the community.
In Butuan, the country’s oldest and biggest diocese, Bishop Pueblos’ and lay leaders’ vision is to nurture parishioners’ spirituality which includes fora and conferences on sharing happiness, pains and hope among small families. The
Asked about Butuan’s poor, the bishop smiled. “No one has died because of poverty here.”
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