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By Nora O. Gamolo, Senior Desk Editor
Antonio Ledesma is no stranger to political
brinkmanship.
Now archbishop of Cagayan de Oro, he is the son
of enlightened landlords who as early as the 1960s decided to give
up part of their family’s landed legacy to their tenants, if only
to help stem the tide of rebellion in seething Negros, where
thousands of sacadas (sugar hacienda workers) clamored for land.
His own father was the chairman of the First
National Rural Congress of the Philippines organized under Church
auspices. This first-ever meeting of priests, nuns and church
workers resulted in cementing the Church’s focus on the rural
poor, the main principle behind the Church’s advocacy for this
sector.
Forty-one years after this first congress, the
Church is only able to convene the Second National Rural Congress in
July this year, perhaps reflective of the internal debates within
the sector. Yet in between, the Catholic Church has tirelessly
worked for its advocacies and ministries, resulting in the drafting
of many laws, including provisions of the Philippine Constitution
that incorporated many social doctrines it espouses and which the
faithful also supported in many venues.
Well-rounded education
Born in 1943, Ledesma was purely Jesuit-educated
until college and majored in history and government, graduating
magna cum laude. He entered the Jesuit order soon after his
graduation.
Like all Jesuits, he pursued academic studies at
the same time that he was also enriching his theological grounding.
He eventually earned his master’s in political science from the
University of the Philippines in 1968, and his doctorate in
development from the University of Wisconsin in 1980.
As religious official, he was grounded in the
convoluted dynamics of Mindanao. He was assistant parish priest of
Siay, Zamboanga del Sur and was bishop of Ipil Prelature when the
town was razed to the ground by Muslim rebels and alleged bandit
Rizal Alih in 1997.
He is now based in Cagayan de Oro, where many
development projects are being incubated and where the Church sector
is one of the most socially dynamic and influential.
His ministry reflects a true-blue intellectual.
The Jesuit is also a civil society stalwart: director of the noted
Southeast Asia Rural Social Leadership Institute, executive vice
president of the Xavier Science Foundation; chairman of the
Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in
Rural Areas and the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and
Rural Development, Philippine Agrarian Reform Foundation for
National Development, and Association of Foundations, among others.
Ledesma is now chairman of the Central Committee
of the Second Rural Congress under which the Bishops-Legislators’
Caucus 3 was held.
For CARP extension
He said working for “the CARP [Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program] extension is part of the Church’s
preparation for the Second Rural Congress, which will be done in
July 2008.”
A man of faith, he assured that the rest of the
Church hierarchy will support the extension of the CARP, with 35 out
of 80 active bishop-members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of
the Philippines supporting it.
“The Church considers the agrarian problem as
a basic problem concerning the rural areas, aside from the situation
of indigenous communities, and environmental issues. There are still
one million hectares not yet covered by the agrarian reform,”
Ledesma said.
The Church is ready to move to higher levels for
agrarian reform. “For the first time, we are having an interaction
with other sectors like Congress to resolve the agrarian issue.
There is an urgency for us, because by June 10, the CARP will
expire,” he added.
Are Church advocates being too political about
agrarian reform, in direct contravention of Church edicts?
For Ledesma, supporting the extension of CARP is
not politicking. “This is not lobbying [before Congress], but
adding our voices to those of the small farmers [in pushing for CARP
extension],” the archbishop said.
He assured that no Church tradition is being
violated but is affirming its social mission. “The Church is also
involved in building basic ecclesial communities, and we are into
sustainable agriculture, cooperative organization, credit,
marketing, and environmental advocacy like [protesting] against
entry of mining projects.”
He also assuaged the wounded feelings of
landlords, who are now rallying against any CARP extension, saying
“I understand the reason of the landlords who want to make the
land continue being productive.”
The times call for a new role of landlords,
though. “Landowning families should move into industries, instead
of just staying [fixated] on the land. In other countries like
Japan, the landlords have become the captains of industry. That’s
the genuine path of development,” Ledesma said.
Among others, he added, “Landlords can help in
the implementation of land reform. There have been landlords who
have voluntarily turned over their land [to government for CARP
coverage.] With their [professional] experiences, they can even help
farmers in the credit and marketing side, and [help them] become
self-reliant. They have a proper role to play [in rural development]
if they become socially responsive,” the bishop explained.
He however, hastened to add, “But first, they
should adopt a position of sharing their resources and bounty from
God.”
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