Thursday, April 16, 2009
7 hurt in Las Piñas demolition
04/15/2009 | 06:49 PM
Saksi: 7 hurt in Las Piñas demolition
04/16/2009 | 12:06 AM
6 hurt in Las Piñas demolition
04/15/2009 | 02:36 PM
Saksi: 7 hurt in Las Piñas demolition
04/16/2009 | 12:06 AM
6 hurt in Las Piñas demolition
04/15/2009 | 02:36 PM
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Commentary : ‘Kalbaryo’
Commentary : ‘Kalbaryo’
By Denis Murphy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: April 08, 2009
FOR 23 years the urban poor have attempted in their annual “Kalbaryo” to understand how the sufferings and death of Jesus are repeated in the sufferings of the poor and how his resurrection is repeated in the efforts of the poor to free themselves from poverty.
In 1987 the first Kalbaryo was held on Smokey Mountain when it was still an active dumpsite. Scavengers were working under clouds of flies, though it was Good Friday. It was steaming hot and the smell was that of a battlefield of rotting corpses. Smokey Mountain was the symbol of the country’s poverty, so it was appropriate that Kalbaryo be held there.
The actors playing Jesus, Mary, the Holy Women and the Roman soldiers climbed through the garbage to the top and there re-enacted the crucifixion. I watched the scavengers. Some were kneeling.
There were thousands of people at the bottom of the hill, and then at the last moment the Centurion, played by a young woman, Tata Lacson, prostrated herself on the garbage.
The crowd gasped and then was silent, as if they had somehow understood. From the beginning the Kalbaryo has used drama, songs and dance to try to grasp this mystery of identification with Jesus in his death and resurrection. Art is often a better teacher than textbooks.
Another year the Kalbaryo started in Leveriza with the Alay Kapwa group of Sr. Christine Tan, and then went to several other urban poor areas. By the late 1980s and early 1990s the Kalbaryo had become a very professional dance that took place at high noon in Mendiola. The dancers wore Christ masks that pictured Jesus deep in pain and disappointment.
In the script the same words were used by Pilate to condemn Jesus and the Manila authorities to condemn the urban poor: both were called “trouble makers, malcontents, opportunists, outsiders.” There was absolute silence, though thousands were present. Only the buzz sound of the motorized camera shutters was heard. Policemen took off their hats and came nearer to see and hear more clearly.
Some years only a hundred or so people participated. Another year a group planned to sing the “Pabasa” all night in Quezon Memorial Circle Park as part of the Kalbaryo. There was a call late at night that the organizer of the singing was all alone in the dark of the Circle. When the other women got there they found her singing away bravely. She was delighted to see the other women, because once the Pabasa is started it shouldn’t be interrupted and she had been afraid she’d be alone till dawn with just the cats and dogs of the Circle.
Another year the Kalbaryo was held in the Cabuyao relocation center. Some 5,000 or so families had just moved in; they had been evicted from Makati, San Andres and other places along the railroad tracks. They had no light, drinking water, school, market, clinic or jobs. Their income had dropped by 20 percent. Next to the relocated people was another garbage dump, which when it rained heavily sent a black toxic liquid from the dumpsite into the people’s homes.
About 1,000 people followed the priest through the Stations. We came to the foot of the garbage dump where the death of Jesus was enacted. We couldn’t go further because the people were not allowed on the dump. The dead Jesus wearing a bloody mask and robe was carried into a nearby house for his burial. He was freshened up; the mask was removed and he was dressed in shining white clothes. When he re-appeared, resurrected and smiling as any young man might smile after a great victory, the people cheered. It’s easy to believe they saw a connection between Jesus’ victory over pain and death, and their efforts to improve their very bad situation.
In the next few years the overall situation did improve thanks to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, the National Housing Authority, the local mayors and barangay captains, but mainly because of the people who demanded improvements and cooperated with government when it sought to help. These were the same people who celebrated the Kalbaryo.
Last April 1 the urban poor once again marched with Jesus in triumph on a horse from Liwasang Bonifacio to Plaza Miranda accompanied by a 30-foot cross and crowds celebrating as they did on his entry into Jerusalem. There was a program of song, dance and drama in Plaza Miranda, interpreting certain Stations, such as Simon of Cyrene and Veronica’s veil. There was a reading of the Charter of the Poor which contains the issues the poor believe must be agreed upon with the government and civil society. They include a ban on forced evictions without good relocation, land tenure security, basic services for all, decent houses, jobs and food.
Finally Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales said Mass in Quiapo Church, with other priests and bishops.
Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His e-mail address is upa@pldtdsl.net.
By Denis Murphy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: April 08, 2009
FOR 23 years the urban poor have attempted in their annual “Kalbaryo” to understand how the sufferings and death of Jesus are repeated in the sufferings of the poor and how his resurrection is repeated in the efforts of the poor to free themselves from poverty.
In 1987 the first Kalbaryo was held on Smokey Mountain when it was still an active dumpsite. Scavengers were working under clouds of flies, though it was Good Friday. It was steaming hot and the smell was that of a battlefield of rotting corpses. Smokey Mountain was the symbol of the country’s poverty, so it was appropriate that Kalbaryo be held there.
The actors playing Jesus, Mary, the Holy Women and the Roman soldiers climbed through the garbage to the top and there re-enacted the crucifixion. I watched the scavengers. Some were kneeling.
There were thousands of people at the bottom of the hill, and then at the last moment the Centurion, played by a young woman, Tata Lacson, prostrated herself on the garbage.
The crowd gasped and then was silent, as if they had somehow understood. From the beginning the Kalbaryo has used drama, songs and dance to try to grasp this mystery of identification with Jesus in his death and resurrection. Art is often a better teacher than textbooks.
Another year the Kalbaryo started in Leveriza with the Alay Kapwa group of Sr. Christine Tan, and then went to several other urban poor areas. By the late 1980s and early 1990s the Kalbaryo had become a very professional dance that took place at high noon in Mendiola. The dancers wore Christ masks that pictured Jesus deep in pain and disappointment.
In the script the same words were used by Pilate to condemn Jesus and the Manila authorities to condemn the urban poor: both were called “trouble makers, malcontents, opportunists, outsiders.” There was absolute silence, though thousands were present. Only the buzz sound of the motorized camera shutters was heard. Policemen took off their hats and came nearer to see and hear more clearly.
Some years only a hundred or so people participated. Another year a group planned to sing the “Pabasa” all night in Quezon Memorial Circle Park as part of the Kalbaryo. There was a call late at night that the organizer of the singing was all alone in the dark of the Circle. When the other women got there they found her singing away bravely. She was delighted to see the other women, because once the Pabasa is started it shouldn’t be interrupted and she had been afraid she’d be alone till dawn with just the cats and dogs of the Circle.
Another year the Kalbaryo was held in the Cabuyao relocation center. Some 5,000 or so families had just moved in; they had been evicted from Makati, San Andres and other places along the railroad tracks. They had no light, drinking water, school, market, clinic or jobs. Their income had dropped by 20 percent. Next to the relocated people was another garbage dump, which when it rained heavily sent a black toxic liquid from the dumpsite into the people’s homes.
About 1,000 people followed the priest through the Stations. We came to the foot of the garbage dump where the death of Jesus was enacted. We couldn’t go further because the people were not allowed on the dump. The dead Jesus wearing a bloody mask and robe was carried into a nearby house for his burial. He was freshened up; the mask was removed and he was dressed in shining white clothes. When he re-appeared, resurrected and smiling as any young man might smile after a great victory, the people cheered. It’s easy to believe they saw a connection between Jesus’ victory over pain and death, and their efforts to improve their very bad situation.
In the next few years the overall situation did improve thanks to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, the National Housing Authority, the local mayors and barangay captains, but mainly because of the people who demanded improvements and cooperated with government when it sought to help. These were the same people who celebrated the Kalbaryo.
Last April 1 the urban poor once again marched with Jesus in triumph on a horse from Liwasang Bonifacio to Plaza Miranda accompanied by a 30-foot cross and crowds celebrating as they did on his entry into Jerusalem. There was a program of song, dance and drama in Plaza Miranda, interpreting certain Stations, such as Simon of Cyrene and Veronica’s veil. There was a reading of the Charter of the Poor which contains the issues the poor believe must be agreed upon with the government and civil society. They include a ban on forced evictions without good relocation, land tenure security, basic services for all, decent houses, jobs and food.
Finally Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales said Mass in Quiapo Church, with other priests and bishops.
Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His e-mail address is upa@pldtdsl.net.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
MEDIA ADVISORY: KALBARYO OF THE URBAN POOR
Attention: News Editor, News Desk, Reporters and Photojournalists
MEDIA ADVISORY
KALBARYO OF THE URBAN POOR
April 1, 2009
Photo ops at Liwasang Bonifacio (10:00 -11:00 AM)
· Jesus on a horse
· Palm waving crowds as he enters Jerusalem
· Giant cross, requires 25 men to carry it.
· Dancers (Palaspas Dance)
March (11:00 -12:00)
· Crowd of 3,000, led by Jesus mounted, palm waving crowds, 30-foot cross, and Palaspas dancers moves toward Plaza Miranda.
Plaza Miranda (1:00 PM)
· Re-enactment in song and dance of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection.
· Reading of the Urban Poor Charter – needs and demand of the poor
· Individual prayer and the cross
· Voices of the poor
Quiapo Church (3:00 PM)
· Mass with Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales and other priests and bishops. The Cardinal will speak on the poor and the Church. (See History of Kalbaryo)
The Kalbaryo of the Urban Poor
** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE **
The Kalbaryo of the Urban Poor
The Kalbaryo of the Urban Poor started in 1987. Over the years it has taken place in different places: in Leveriza; on top of the old Smokey Mountain; in the Cabuyao relocation area; in urban poor areas along the Pasig River; but most often in Mendiola.
The Kalbaryo has tried to show that God has a “preferential” love of the poor and also that the sufferings of Jesus Christ in his passion and death are repeated in the sufferings of the urban poor. Also, that Jesus’ resurrection is repeated in an initial way in the actions of the poor to organize themselves and seek non violent democratic solutions to their problems, such as forced evictions, hunger, joblessness, substandard housing, over-expensive water and light, poor schools, criminality, corruption and violence.
Sometimes 5,000 people joined the Kalbaryo, sometimes only 150. Sometimes the mainstay of Kalbaryo was near professional and dramatic dancing in which the dancers wore Christ-mask. Sometimes the Kalbaryo followed the traditional Stations of the Cross.
Once it was a dramatic re-enactment of the passion and death on the top of Smokey Mountain when it was still an active dumpsite. Scavengers were working in the garbage under clouds of flies though it was Good Friday. It was April so it was steaming hot; the smell was that of a battlefield of rotting corpses. Smokey Mountain then was the symbol of the country’s poverty so it was appropriate that the Kalbaryo be held there. The actor playing Jesus, Mary, the Holy Women and the Centurion and Roman soldiers climbed through the garbage to the top, re-enacted the crucifixion and then prostrated themselves on the garbage. Calvary was re-enacted on a garbage pile where dozens of other innocent lives were wasted everyday through disease and malnutrition.
Another year the Kalbaryo started in Leveriza with the Alay Kapwa group of Sr. Christine Tan, and then went to several other urban poor areas. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the Kalbaryo had become a very professional dance that took place at high noon in Mendiola. The dancers wore Christ masks. In the script the same words were used by Pilate to condemn Jesus and the Manila authorities to condemn the poor. Both were called “trouble makers, malcontents, opportunists, outsiders.” The dance was so moving there was absolute silence though thousands were present. The only sound was the continuous buzz of the camera shutters. Policemen took off their hats and came nearer to see and hear better.
Once a group planned to sing the Pabasa all night in Quezon Memorial Circle Park as part of the Kalbaryo.
Another year the Kalbaryo was held in the Cabuyao relocation center. Some 5,000 or so families had just moved in; they had been evicted from Makati, San Andres and other places along the railroad tracks. They had no light, drinking water, school, market, clinic or jobs. Their income had dropped by 20%. Next to the relocated people was another garbage dump, which when it rained heavily sent a black toxic liquid from the dumpsite into the people’s homes.
The people were not allowed on the dumpsite. The crucifixion was re-enacted, and Jesus wearing a bloody mask and robe carried into nearby house for his “burial”. He was freshened up; the mask was removed; he was shining in white clothes. When he re-appeared, resurrected, smiling as a young man might smile after a great victor, the people cheered. It’s easy to believe they saw a connection between Jesus’ victory over pain and death, and their own efforts to improve their very bad situation.
On April 1 the urban poor will once again march (from Liwasang Bonifacio to Plaza Miranda) with Jesus in triumph on a horse and the crowds celebrating as they did on his entry into Jerusalem.
At today’s Kalbaryo the passion and resurrection will be again re-enacted in song and dance directed by Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). All the dancers and singers are urban poor people.
There will be a reading of the Charter of the Urban Poor which calls on civil society and the government to solve some of the problems: policies on evictions, for example, land tenure security, basic services for all, decent houses, jobs and food. The poor want to participate in the decisions that affect their lives.
Mass with Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales and other priests and bishops will be in the Quiapo Church.
People will be asked to sign their names to show support of the suggestions made in the Charter.
They are also asked to write their dearest wish on a “stick em” and paste it to the giant cross.
All are invited.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Urban Poor To Celebrate “Kalbaryo” with Cardinal Rosales
** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE **
Urban Poor To Celebrate “Kalbaryo” with Cardinal Rosales
31 March 2009. In observance of the Lenten season, some 3,000 urban poor people from all over Metro Manila will march on April 1 towards Quiapo Church.
The urban poor are celebrating their 23rd “Kalbaryo ng Maralitang Tagalungsod” with the theme “Time for Change”.
Mass with Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales and other priests and bishops will be held in the Quiapo Church at 3:00 PM.
The passion and resurrection will be re-enacted in song and dance, directed by Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). All the dancers and singers are urban poor people.
Michael Sta. Rosa, who will be Jesus in the march, has been practicing for several days in preparation for his role.
The 26-year-old Sta. Rosa will ride on a horse from Liwasang Bonifacio to Plaza Miranda.
He is worried about the horse he is going to ride in the Palaspas reenactment, the story about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion. “Wala pang practice. Ngayon pa lang ako sasakay ng kabayo. Ngayon lang magiging Kristo,” Sta. Rosa explained.
Sta. Rosa said he used to watch “Senakulo” in the past but he finds the “Kalbaryo” unusual because the verses talk about urban poor issues in addition to the Senakulo verses.
He said it’s okay and he is happy that he was chosen to play the role although he also feels uneasy as he commits mistakes. “Ayos lang, happy. Masyadong kinakabahan. Minsan nagkakamali sa pagbigkas.”
Sta. Rosa will read the Charter of the Urban Poor which contains the issues the poor think must be agreed upon with the government and civil society: policies on evictions, for example, land tenure security, basic services for all, decent houses, jobs and food.
The Charter was composed by hundreds of community leaders, with the help of several NGOs, such as, Urban Poor Associates (UPA), Community Organizers Multiversity (COM) and Community Organization of the Philippine Enterprise (COPE).
The Kalbaryo of the Urban Poor started in 1987. Over the years it has taken place in different places: in Leveriza; on top of the old Smokey Mountain; in the Cabuyao relocation area; in urban poor areas along the Pasig River; but most often in Mendiola.
According to Alicia Murphy, UPA field coordinator, “Kalbaryo” started due to the looming problems of urban poverty. “Ang problema kasi ng maralita ay mukhang di nababago. At lalong lumalala, napakadaming mga demolisyon etc. So kailangang I-highlight yung kanilang mga karaingan. Lalong-lalo na napakapangit kasi ng public image ng maralitang tagalungsod, minsan hindi naiinatindihan ng madla kaya kahit na meron ng ginagawang pang-aabuso sa kanila, violation of human rights, hindi naiintindihan ng publiko.”
“Kaya ang ginawa, siguro kailangang magsama-sama ang mga maralita para ipahayag kung ano ang kanilang kalagayan at kung ano ang kanilang mga pinapangarap sa buhay. Yung pinaka pangarap nila ay magkaroon ng kahit isang munting tahanan na mabubuhay ng marangal ang kanilang pamilya. At saka rin para magkaroon ng pagbabago yung imahe nila, na hindi sila yung pampabigat sa pamahalaan, na sila ay kuta ng mga magnanakaw, na wala silang silbi, mga ganoon. Dahil sila ay nagsisikap na maging mabuting tao. Karamihan sa kanila ay ganyan,” Ms. Murphy added.
The Kalbaryo has tried to show that God has a “preferential” love of the poor and also that the sufferings of Jesus Christ in his passion and death are repeated in the sufferings of the urban poor. Also, that Jesus’ resurrection is repeated in an initial way in the actions of the poor to organize themselves and seek non violent democratic solutions to their problems, such as forced evictions, hunger, joblessness, substandard housing, over-expensive water and light, poor schools, criminality, corruption and violence.
“Karamihan, halos lahat naman ng mga nasa urban poor areas ay mga Kristiyano lahat iyan. At naniniwala sila sa kapangyarihan ng Panginoon na matulungan sila. Ang kanila ngang mungkahi ay ikino-connect nila ang paghihirap nila sa paghihirap ni Kristo. Na habang sila ay inaapi, habang sila ay hindi naiintindihan, kasama nila si Kristo na naghihirap. Habang walang pagbabago sa mundo, walang pagbabago lalong lalo na sa mga dukha, patuloy na pinahihirapan natin si Kristo,” Ms. Murphy explained.
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