JVP Dinner with the Sumilao Farmers

I am very grateful that the Jesuit Volunteers Philippines (JVP) National Office has initiated this Dinner with the Sumilao Farmers tonight.

We have shown our support by joining them in their march, spreading the information about their advocacy and now, it is more rightful to be with them in the table, knowing them and listening to their stories and struggle. This is a very worthy way to celebrate the Human Rights Day.

I was in Sumilao last week, the time when Sec. Pangandaman was there having a dialogue with the farmer's family. I saw in them the deep desire of not wanting more than anything but their piece of land, which is the source of their livelihood, the source of their identity, their source of life. The farmers are not not wanting anything else but justice delivered.

The Sumilao farmers have shown me in their Walk for Peace how it is to sacrifice and "die a little more" for a cause. I believe, as Jesuit Volunteers, we share with them when we say "magtaya at magpalaya". They have risked much. Their health, their families, their lives. I have seen the faces of their children, waiting with so much hope that their marching parents will be soon back home to be with them. At their age, they may not have totally understood by now the cause that their parents, relatives and neighbors are struggling for. But it is a cause intended for them. A dream for a future when their land is free from threats coming from the wealthy. A dream of simply living from reaping the fruits of their own land.]

The story of Sumilao Farmers has given me the opportunity to reassess my principles and the values (5s) that I have been trying to live being a former Jesuit Volunteer.

Much have been said. Much have been shown. Much more is yet to come.

May the essence of celebrating the Human Rights Day be with us all.