The Bicycle Tour for Life and Peace of Fr. Amado Picardal stopped over in Bacolod City yesterday before heading off to Iloilo City to raise public awareness on the value and sanctity of life.

In his message to the people of Bacolod and Negros Occidental, Picardal, 54, said that in every parish he passes by, he celebrates the Eucharist and preach the gospel of life and peace.

“I do this because we live in a land where the sanctity of life is disregarded, a society where the culture of death and violence prevails,” he said.

Picardal said abortion, ongoing armed conflict in the countryside, spate of killings of militants, journalists and suspected petty criminals, environmental destruction, and graft and corruption are various manifestations of the culture of death in the country.

He added that his journey around the Philippines on a bicycle hopes to cover 5,000 kilometers in 56 days starting from Davao on March 26 across Central and Western Visayas to the tip of Northern Luzon. He also plans to traverse the Cordilleras on his way back to Davao through Southern Luzon, the Eastern Visayas and Eastern Mindanao.

Although he bikes the entire distance alone, he said local bikers sometimes accompanied him as he passed by their cities and towns.

A cyclist and a peace advocate, Picardal spent years of missionary work in Mindanao helping form Basic Ecclesial Communities. I helped organize BECs in Bukidnon in their struggle against logging.

A member of the Redemptorist Congregation, he completed his graduate studies at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, California and Gregorian University in Rome where he earned a doctorate in theology. He is based in Davao as professor and academic dean.*NAB

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