By Lorie A. Cascaro
Militant groups yesterday turned the Davao region’s offices of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Energy (DOE), Presidential Commission of Urban Poor (PCUP), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as “Stations of the Cross” yesterday in depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ dubbed “Kalbaryo sa Kabus” (Calvary of the Poor).
These government offices or “stations of the cross” represent specific issues or policy that make the poor suffer, said Sheena Duazo, spokesperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), which led the procession, along with members of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Samahan ng Maralitang Kababaihang Nagkakaisa (SAMAKANA) and other progressive organizations.
The groups dramatized the “true” Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows) of the poor, which includes the people’s worsening economic crises and human rights violations.
“Gutom tungod sa kawad-on. Kalisud tungod sa walay trabaho, ubos ang suhulan. Uhaw sa batakang serbisyo sosyal sama sa panglawas, edukasyon, trabaho o panginabuhian, pabalay, ug pagrespeto sa tawhanong katungod. Suportahan ang P125 usbaw nga suhulan, ibasura ang mga polisiya ug programa nga kontra katawhan,” said Toto Bolcan, spokesperson of KADAMAY-Southern Mindanao.
“The Kalbaryo sa Kabus reminds the public that the suffering of Jesus in His passion and death are repeated today in the sufferings imposed on the poor by forced evictions, hunger, landlessness, joblessness, high prices, and low wages. However, the resurrection of Jesus is also repeated with the poor’s struggle to reclaim human dignity and attain genuine justice and development,” the groups said.
Depicted in the procession were the “new” Pontius Pilate, who is President Benigno Aquino III for “Noynoying” and washing his hands to escape from accountability of the people’s sufferings; and the modern Roman centurions, who are represented by the oil companies, private power corporations, and Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Oplan Bayanihan.
“As Pontius Pilate violated human rights, so does P-Noy through his acrimonious neglect of consumer welfare while he pays homage to oil, energy and food cartels and other foreign investors,” said Duazo.
The groups blame President Aquino for the jacked-up prices of oil and basic commodities due to State deregulation and the Value Added Tax (VAT).
Duazo also cited the energy crisis and the looming increase in power rates bolstered by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA); low wages; the failure of land reform; and the government’s neglect to protect State’s resources as Aquino’s responsibilities.
The procession ended at the Davao Light Power Corporation, where the groups continued to call for “immediate substantive economic reforms” and not just doleouts as “band-aid solutions” that will not save the people from the current economic turmoil.
Earlier, in a press release, the Christians for National Liberation-National Democratic Front of Southern Mindanao stated that the Lenten season should be an occasion to emulate the life of Jesus for He was the embodiment of righteousness, justice, and peace.
“Jesus’ Messiaship was demonstrated through his deeds, his sacrifice, and his revolutionary resistance to the evils of the Roman Empire,” the group said.
It also cited Jesus’ mission statement as written in Luke 4:18-19, declaring His commitment to the poor and taught the people to call for the total liberation, freedom from captivity, captivity from the fascist machinations of the Roman Empire, enslavement from indebtedness, enslavement from domination of the Roman ruling class of slave masters.
