'What is happening to
our country, general?'
(First part)

The title of this reflection was the plaintive cry of the late Philippine Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez, to the general who investigated the crime scene. He had just been a victim of an attempted assassination supposedly in connection with his defending of coconut farmers perceived to be victimized by a presidential decree.

The question then some two decades ago remains the same with war still going on in Mindanao, bombings in some areas, political wrangling at the highest levels, corruption both in private and public life, the breakdown of spiritual values, the ruin of the youth by drugs, etc.

Archbishop of Manila Gaudencio Rosales, newly-installed successor to Cardinal Sin, has been expected to command his clergy to fight these in the streets, to drive the president from power, but the man says this is not the solution to the national crisis. He asserts that wrong and misplaced values are at the heart of the problem. He has said in a newspaper article: "I want to change people's mentalities and give them a real orientation in life."

The heart of the national malaise is the inconsistencies of Filipino life. What are these?

First, there is the tremendous wealth of the country, but there is also the terrible poverty of the masses of our people. In the paper today, Archbishop Rosales declares our main problem is poverty, not governance.

It is not difficult to speak of the wealth of the nation. There are millions of hectares yet untitled for agriculture. The coastline of the country surrounding all the islands is longer than the entire coastline of the United States. Therefore, the possibilities for fishing are unlimited. Some of the names of the wealthiest industrialists in the country (usually Filipino-Chinese) are listed in Fortune Magazine. Many public officials are able to amass fantastic wealth. Of course some wealthy people in our city have inherited their wealth from earlier generations, even back to the Spanish era, or back to Chinese immigrants.

But the gaping contrast to wealth is the grinding poverty of the masses. In this moment of widespread starvation, 45 percent live below poverty level, according to reliable statistics. Most of them eat only once a day. The other day, I saw pictures in the papers of children clutching to their chest the one kilo of rice the government is now giving to help our masses in these days of starvation, which is really temporary, and can everyone be reached?

Well, what can Christian higher education do? What will Silliman's posture be in the face of this reality? (TO BE CONTINUED)*

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