__________________________________________________________________

As in previous years, the John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues (JJCICSI) presents its annual national situationer on selected, relevant themes in Philippine society. This issue of the Intersect is somewhat special as it falls on the 25th year of JJCICSI’s faith-based research and advocacy work, intended primarily to better the lives of the poor and marginalized sectors.

Two introductory articles set this issue in motion. The first one is by Bishop Francisco F. Claver, S.J. who, as one of the founders of the Institute, muses over the beginnings of JJCICSI in 1984. Even before its establishment, the Institute had already been tasked to help map out the priorities and directions of the Philippine Church towards convening the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP II) and coming up with the National Pastoral Plan for the Church. Two papers and a situationer written by ICSI for PCP II, the Bishop believes, proved crucial and influential in the discussions in the dioceses and in the assembly. Meanwhile, beyond the concerns of the Church and amidst the turbulent times under the military rule of then President Ferdinand Marcos, ICSI continued its insightful writings and advocacies. In this manner, ICSI did its share in bringing about that peaceful transition in government, more popularly known as the EDSA Revolution of 1986, and in furthering social changes desired for the country.

The second article written by Fr. John J. Carroll, S.J. is a succinct background on the social encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI published in 2009, Caritas in Veritate. Fr. Carroll recalls the main ideas proposed in previous encyclicals such as Veritatis Splendor and Deus Caritas Est. He points out, though, that the Pope espouses something new and rather radical at this time. Going beyond rights and duties, the Pope encourages more acts of giving and forgiving, reminding us that all is gift.

This issue thus promises to be even more unique as the next articles do not only provide updates on the latest developments in JJCICSI’s chosen themes of work but, in line with Caritas in Veritate, explore how a spirit of gratuity, of giving more than what is just and proper, can be enacted in different sectoral advocacies.

The Urban Poverty and Governance Program reviews the housing delivery performance of the government in the last five years. Aside from having an insufficient budget and policies which exclude the poor from benefiting from housing services, the government has failed to significantly reduce the housing backlog, particularly for low-income families. And this is rooted in the prevailing view that the urban poor have contributed little to society. The article suggests that in keeping with the promotion of the “common good” which the new encyclical emphasizes, a paradigm shift in housing the urban poor is called for. This new policy framework must recognize that the urban poor make up the workforce of cities and that their right to live in cities must be on the platform of any effort to revitalize these cities.

There are four article contributions from the Church and Family Life Program. The first article takes note of the tactic used by some representatives of the Philippine Church to pressure legislators to vote against House Bill 5043, commonly known as the Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill). It views the threatening of politicians who support the RH Bill during election time as inconsistent with the Church’s way of proceeding, as it distorts the proper role of the Church in politics.

Recent concerns of the Church in the field of politics are reflected in the two pastoral letters written by Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, O.M.I., D.D. These letters deal with the dreadful massacre that happened in Maguindanao in November 2009, and the subsequent declaration and lifting of martial law in that province. Asked by the people about the Church’s stand on the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao, the Archbishop came out with two pastoral letters conveying prayers for peace for the people of Maguindanao and recommending collective, constructive thinking and effective action away from partisan lines to attain that peace.

The third article is about juvenile justice. It attempts to link key related points in Caritas in Veritate with the recommendations of the UN Committee to the Philippine Government, based on the themes of the 20th global anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC): dignity, development, and dialogue. In keeping with these tenets of the UNCRC, therefore, the Philippine government hopes it can show an improvement in the implementation of its programs for children, once it submits its fifth and sixth country reports eight years from now.

Another article from the Church and Family Life desk reviews Pope Benedict XVI’s exhortations regarding labor and the role of the Church in upholding the dignity of work. In this regard, this piece looks at the experience of Liga Manggagawa which is an attempt to organize the most disenfranchised within the labor sector—contractual employees, informal workers, and the unemployed. Liga Manggagawa, with the help of its support network, the Pro Worker secretariat (of which JJCICSI is part), tries to implement the principles of Catholic Social Teaching in its organizing work, despite the numerous challenges facing the labor sector in general.

The Rural Development Program celebrates the passage of RA 9700 or the CARP Extension with Reforms (CARPER) Law, even if it does not forget the arduous struggles of the farmers and their supporters before the law was enacted. It anticipates continuing issues in implementation, but the renewed vigor on the part of the farmers, the NGO sector, the government, and other stakeholders; and the unrelenting support of the Church then, until now, render fresh hopes of better implementation in the next five years.

For the last article of this silver anniversary issue, the Environmental Economics and Policy Program shares the proceedings of a dialogue forum it sponsored on adaptation to climate change in the Philippines. The forum is part of a larger project on climate change and justice which aims to develop suitable strategies for a global climate and energy policy that would support, rather than undermine, efforts toward poverty reduction. It is a dialogue because the participation of different countries and cultures represented by various sectors like research, business, the Church, civil society, and the government is seen as vital in hearing the voices of the marginalized, while gaining the widest possible public attention. Following case presentations and workshops on adaptation during the forum, the concept of the so-called Global Deal was introduced to show how a fair sharing of the burden of climate protection can be developed between the responsible groups and the victims of climate change.

We have stayed the course in our work of research and advocacy for the last twenty-five years, with guidance from Catholic Social Teaching, and we have much to be thankful for. We look forward to meeting the challenges of the next 25 years!

Call (02) 426.6001 local 4666 for details.

FOREWORD This 2008 edition of Intersect lives up to its name as the “intersectoral communicator” of the John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues (JJCICSI). As with previous issues of Intersect, this volume contains situationers and analyses of pertinent developments in the issues and sectors that our various program desks were involved, the past year. This year’s Intersect, however, also represents a true intersection, a junction of sorts for our work in JJCICSI. And as with every intersection we encounter, there are two options: to stay the course or change directions.

As you read through these pages, we hope you will agree that our research has stayed the course charted by the vision and mission of JJCICSI. Care has been taken to ensure that the articles in Intersect 2008 are not only in-depth and informative, but incisive as well. Here we have set out not only to laud successes, but also to learn from failures. We warn of shadows in the national situation, but we also highlight hope in the lights offered by vigilant groups and conscientious individuals. We call out and criticize the mistakes of government, but we also exhort and encourage our leaders’ efforts at genuine reform.

As for new directions, some of the changes in Intersect should be readily apparent. For one, we have shifted from a quarterly to an annual format. JJCICSI is not immune from these trying economic times, after all, and this change in format is a function of leaner resources and personnel constraints. The change in format, however, also reflects not merely a downsizing of efforts, but a sharpening of focus. As a yearend report, we offer in this and succeeding editions of Intersect not just another panoramic view of the year that was, but a focused evaluation of relevant issues and developments that fly under the radar of annual reviews provided by the mainstream media.

Another innovation has been the publication of the JJCICSI Annual Report. In our advocacy work we often prescribe the necessity of accountability and the virtue of transparency, and so, perhaps, the annual report will be an opportunity for us to practice what we preach. It is a small step towards being more accountable and transparent before you—our benefactors, friends, and readers—and the people we have committed to serve: the poor and the disadvantaged.

One change is more subtle than others. As a Jesuit apostolate, JJCICSI has been striving to more closely conform its work to the directions set by the Thirty-Fifth General Congregation (GC 35) of the Society of Jesus. A little background is in order here. The Jesuits convene a general congregation on the rarest of occasions (there have only been thirty-five of these since 1558), either to elect a new superior general or to evaluate its mission. GC 35 was convened in Rome early in 2008 to accomplish both. The Congregation elected the Very Rev. Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, SJ as the thirtieth Jesuit superior general. Fr. Nicolas has had distant but important links with JJCICSI. Prior to his election as superior general, Fr. Nicolas was president of the Jesuit Conference of East Asia and Oceania based here in the Philippines, and was responsible for coordinating all Jesuit communities and works in this part of the world.

The Congregation also sought to renew and reaffirm the mission of the Society of Jesus and its apostolates. GC 35, for instance, acknowledges that globalization “has been felt deeply in all areas of life, and it is sustained by interrelated cultural, social and political structures that affect the core of our mission of faith [and] justice ….” In this globalized world, GC 35 points out how “new frontiers beckon that we must be willing to embrace.” Embracing these frontiers entails embracing a “mission of reconciliation”— with God, with one another and with creation.

As a Jesuit apostolate, JJCICSI has tried to respond to this call to the frontiers and its constitutive mission of reconciliation. Our work has brought us to the frontiers of Church and family life, urban and rural poverty, and environmental preservation. The work in these areas is massive, but we trust that with your help and support, our humble efforts can contribute to this important mission of reconciliation, which is ultimately a mission of reconciling ourselves, the people we serve, and all of creation with God.

May Intersect 2008 be an occasion for you to “intersect” and be truly acquainted with our work at JJCICSI, so that together we may respond to the call to the frontiers and to the mission of reconciliation, starting what GC 35 describes as “a fire that kindles other fires”—all of us burning with zeal to serve God and His beloved people as we help establish His kingdom here on earth.

Roberto Exequiel N. Rivera, S.J.
Research Associate
February 2009

ARTICLES

The State of Philippine Cities [DOWNLOAD]
by Anna Marie A. Karaos and Gerald M. Nicolas

Evaluating Natural Family Planning on the Field [DOWNLOAD]
by John J. Carroll, S.J. and Lourdes Didith Mendoza-Rivera

To Teach or to Punish? A Study on Methods of Discipline
Used by Mothers in Payatas [DOWNLOAD]
by Melanie Ramos-Llana and Loila Batomalaque

Moving Forward with CDM [DOWNLOAD]
by Roberto C. Yap, S.J. and Maya Lyn C. Manocsoc

Can Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries/ Cooperative Organizations in
Negros Occidental Make the Sugar Farmlands Productive? [DOWNLOAD]
by Gemma Rita R. Marin and Sherwin B. Lapaan


PRINTED COPIES ARE SOLD AT PhP100 EACH. For orders, please send us a message via our email or our phone numbers.

COPYRIGHT 2009
John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues (JJCICSI)
ISSN 0119-2027 (print)

__________________________________________________________________

Heeding Poverty: An Assessment of Microfinance in the Philippines

Authors: Gemma Rita R. Marin, Ronna D. Mercado, Marlon P. Palomo and Irene B. Fernandez
Publisher/s: John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues (JJCICSI) and the International Network of Alternative Financial Solutions - Philippines (INAFI-Phils) with funding assistance from Oikocredit, Ecumenical Development Cooperative Society (EDCS), U.A. and the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO)
Date: March 2008
Pages: 82
Price: FREE [INTRODUCTION] [PDF]

Making Microfinance Work for Agriculture

Authors: Gemma Rita R. Marin, Ronna D. Mercado and Gerald M. Nicolas
Publisher/s: John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues (JJCICSI) with funding assistance from the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO) and the Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF)
Date: March 2008
Pages: 100
Price: FREE [INTRODUCTION] [PDF]

Turning Gaps Into Opportunities: Demand and Supply Characteristics of Financial and Business Development Services for Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries in the Philippines

Authors: Gemma Rita R. Marin, Junefe Gilig-Payot, Gerald M. Nicolas
Publisher/s: John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues (JJCICSI) with funding assistance from the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO)
Date: September 2009
Pages: 101
Price: PhP300

A Balancing Act: Social and Catholic Perspective on Population and Development

Authors: John J. Carroll, S.J., Rev. Fr. Ramon D. Echica, Eric Marcelo O. Genilo, S.J., Alejandro N. Herrin, Ph.D., Antonio J. Ledesma, S.J., D.D., Milagros S. Rivera, Roderick C. Salazar, SVD with foreword by His Eminence Gaudenio B. Cardinal Rosales
Publisher/s: John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues (JJCICSI) and the Philippine Center for Population Development, Inc. (PCPD)
Date: October 2007
Pages: 102
Price: PhP100 (sale)

From a series of lectures conducted in different parts of the country comes this compilation of perspectives on population and development. This book will pave yje way for innovative policy interventions and fruitful dialogue that can help uplift the lives of the Filipino poor.