Starts works on Urban Industrial Mission (UIM),. a CPBC Pilot Project at ILCO, Hinobaan, Tasked with Labor Education & Organzing

M E M O R I E S: Life and Time of Pastor Rudy Bernal, his Glimpses on History &

                        The People;s Struggle for Freedom

Chapter  35 – Starts  work on  Urban Industrial Mission (UIM),  a CPBC Pilot Project at ILCO,  Hinobaan, Negros Occidental  Tasked with  Labor Education & Organizing

It was  in mid -1977 when  I was called by the  Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches  to join the  staff.  I  was  assigned to head the  pilot project on Urban  Industrial Mission (UIM).  It was a new program of CPBC,  targeting  urban and industrial workers for labor education and organizing.  These project   was based  at the vicinity of Insular Lumber Company, Inc.  (ILCO), in Bacuyangan,  Hinobaan, Negros Occidental.   Insular Lumber Company, Inc.  (ILCO),  was owned and ran by   American businessmen. It has mostly  Filipino staff and workers.  

 During   that time,  ILCO was the largest lumber company in  South East  Asia.   It operated first in Fabrica, Sagay, Negros Occidental, since it’s founding after  the end of the 2^nd World War.  It   continued its operations in Northern Negros until almost all the timber lands  in the whole area  were cut down and devastated.    Then,  ILCO transferred      operations  to the mountains and forested areas of in  southern  Negros, with its main office at Bacuyangan,  Hinobaan,  about 200 kms., from Bacolod City.  First class  lumbers  were produced at ILCO  and sold    to  the United States  and other  European countries.

For several years ILCO operated in Hinobaan.  And when all the  forests  trees were cut down in southern Negros, Insular Lumber Company, Inc.,  just disappeared.  The   company ceased  its  operations. The top leaders left. The second liners were left with the workers. The management   left, without paying their employees’  separation fees.  The   many big equipments   remained  long damped  in the vicinity. It was later,   cut and  sold as scrapped iron  by  ILCO former workers. 

The decision of Rev. Edwin Lopez  to start Urban Industrial Mission  (UIM) was a response to the call of the hour.  It was  a  search for another  relevant ministry that will reached  out to the  labourers and workers  in industrial settings.  For many  years,  CPBC ministry   reaches out to employees and   farmers.  There were no   CPBC involvements in  industrial setting.  CPBC has never involved in a very important ministry, labor education and  organizing and  training  for  empowerment of laborers and  workers. 

These  jobs were undertaken mostly by labour unions. But many labour unions  that

time were  considered “yellow unions”. These were  unions that were organized, financed and managed by lumber, sugar and mining companies.  These were organized to show   they have a labor union and with Collective Bargainng Agreements  (CBA), can negotiate fair terms with the company.  The CPBC involvement was a venture to help provide Christian guidance in development of progressive labour unions in Negros and Panay.

During this time, the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW),  in Bacolod City was  the most  militant labour union in Negros Occidental, serving a  wide clientele in the sugar industry of  Negros  island.  Another   militant labor union, the National Federation of Labor (NFL) was  organized in Mindanao.  It has branched  to  Negros Occidental with NFL having a CBA with Marinduque Mining Corporations in Sipalay Mines.

The first choice of  Rev. Edwin  Lopez to lead   pilot UIM project  at ILCO  was Mr.   Fred Bat-og and  Mrs. Victoria Bat-og.  She  was a registered nurse.     Fred Bat-og, was a progressive youth leader. He   was   chosen   as he has skills  in  community organizing.   Their    family in North Negros were managing  and  operating more   than 500  hundred hectares of sugar plantations.  Fred Bat-og was the best person to head the pilot UIM project.   But he decided,   not to accept the CPBC  offer. He had other priorities.

The UIM pilot project was funded  by the Board of International Ministries (BIM) of the American Baptist Churches, USA. Rev. Lopez asked me to head the UIM pilot project. I  accepted  the offer.  First,  I like the challenge, a get involved in a new kind of Christian ministry.  Secondly, UIM was a pilot project.  And I thought, if it  will succeed and will be expanded,  I will be taken to  serve in its wider works.

We started UIM  pilot ministry with 3 full time staff and 1  part time worker.  We took    Pastor  Billy Manuva,  a  graduate of  CPU College of Theology.  Assisting him was Miss Marjorie Bactan,  a graduate of  Convention Baptist Bible College. We opened the “People’s Center”, at the heart of the community of Bacuyangan village.  Our task was to  help  enriched  the lives of church and community members. We have Bible Studies and reflections, conscientization processes, labor education,  community organizing, skills training, food processing  and youth ministry.

Miss  Nilda Jocson, also a   CBBC graduate  assisted with  training on   food preservations  and sales. We have also started bamboo craft training for the youth. But during that time, the labourers and workers of  ILCO were already organized and have a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with ILCO. I befriended the President of the  Union and   tried to learn whatever I could on the labour  front. I  join him, often when the Board has meetings.

The Parish Priest of Bacuyangan, an Irish, was a progressive priest. He was always on the go. He visited villages and organized the people. Their Bible Studies, which carries social analysis and conscientization, has opened the minds of  many catholics   on the evils of imperialism and feudalism. It  have  become a powerful force for change.

After working for few months and befriend many  people in the communites, I learned that many young people have joined the NPA in the far flung villages of Hinobaan. Few years later, villages in  Kabangkalan, Candoni,  Sipalay and Hinobaan were the centers of the people’s revolutionary struggles in southern Negros. Young  KM members and Communist Party cadres were working in the hinterlands of Hinobaan, often  times reaching in the sitios of Bacuyangan village, in Hinobaan.

In Hinobaan, we started education and community organizing works near  South Bend in Barangay Bacuyangan and  in Bacuyangan Proper. We also started works in Barangay Bulwangan, Daeg, Pook, Sagke and Talakayan. We started education and organizing works with 5 to 10 people in the sitios. Gradually, more people participated in our education works,   community organizing and skills training activities.

In Bacuyangan, our church  work,  led to the conversion of a family of 9 - the father and mother and their 7 children - who were members of the Iglesia ni Kristo,  to the Baptist faith. But we feel, their conversion and joining us in the Baptist faith, was more of the father and mother’s discovery of the Baptist  faith aided by our study during our educational program. A small Baptist congregation was started also in Bacuyangan, about 300 meters from the Bacuyangan Public Market.

In the Municipality of Sipalay, we started  education and community organizing works in Barangay Cabadyangan, Canturay, Maricalum, Nabulao, Nauhang and in Sipalay  Mines. We started education and organizing works with 5 to 10 people in the barangay. And gradually, more people participated in our education,  community organizing and skills training works.

We were able to start church ministry in Sipalay Mines, enabling us later to help organized  a church community within the periphery of Sipalay Mines.

In mid-1978, I was pulled out by Rev Lopez from Pilot UIM project. He asked me to  

assist him  in the national office and helped  develop and expand UIM pilot project  into a national  program.  He assigned Rev. Harry Delgado  to  take my place in Hinobaan.  Rev. Lopez involved me in the  National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP),  with  different  trainings and exposures,  preparing me  for a  wider involvement in the ministry of the Convention.

 One  of the trainings, was on labor education and organizing in Metro Manila, with Ms. Jorgette Honcolada, helped and assisted in my training and exposures. She was national   officer of National Federation  of Labor (NFL) and they have a labor  union operating at Sipalay Mines, in southern  Negros Occidental.

Another   trainings I was involved, was the    5 -days  seminar on   Project Proposal writings under   Rev. Henry Aguilan, UIM director of NCCP.   About 35   participants  from different denominations of NCCP nationwide attended.    During the seminar,  Rev Aguilan told us,  that the Project Proposals   we conceptualized and wrote  and  selected by the Committee will be sent to     the World Council of Churches (WCC), in Geneva, Switzerland, for possible funding assistance.  

We worked hard  the last 4 days.  Each of us was challenged  to conceptualize a project proposal.  I have looked hard into project  proposals  earlier. The  project areas of operations, the target groups,  a social investigations of the community. The new project I was  conceptualizing was based  in  Duenas, Iloilo.  It’s operation included the   municipalities  with sugar cane plantations, sugar workers and   sugar mills – Calinog, Lambunao, Bingawan and Passi, in Iloilo and  Tapas in  Capiz.

We   proposed  a budget of  P2,000,000 for three years. It has  a component of 6 staffs. One staff with theological training.  Another  with agriculture  expertize.  Two with   involvements on  community works. We have an  Office Secretary. I am the  Project Coordinator. This was a  project proposal we were writing while on training.

The Project Thrusts has  Bible reflections & conscientization, education, social investigation, community organizing,   livelihood training like pig dispersals and  technology transfer and   labor education and labor organizing.  I signed it as Proponent. It was noted by Rev. Edwin Lopez, General Secretary.  We submitted the  proposal to  Rev. Aguilan of  NCCP.  Five of my companios from CPBC also submitted their project proposals.

Six months after our  project proposal seminar at NCCP,   we   received a letter from

WCC.  Our UIM   project proposal  was approved  by  EZE, West Germany for funding. It was the first Project Proposal I have written and funded by EZE.  I bowed my head in prayers.

For I saw God opening  the future, a stronger ministry for  CPBC in  the coming  years.   Project Proposals   was  one  avenue where church organizations, civil societies  and Non-government organizations  can reached international   organizations with resources, both technical and financial,   and be made partners in our new development works. God have taught us the skills that will open new opportunities in finding  financial resources for  our  ministries.

We worked and started to to make  plans for the implementations of  Urban Industrial Mission Project in Central Iloilo –Duenas, Passi, Calinog, Bingawan, Lambunao in Iloilo and in Tapas, Capiz.

And we made   plans for the future.  We explored  new  projects that we   will  undertake  – in Aklan,  Antique, Iloilo City,   Southern  Iloilo, Iloilo’s Central Coastlines, Upper South Negros,  Central Negros, Northern Negros, Romblon & Mindoro,  Northern Iloilo and Mindanao for the next 8 years.   The    New Frontier Ministries,  development arms of the Convention, which we prayed for, was  born.  And we started to work for its realization the next 8- 10  years, starting 1978.

A  big  and wide ministry  for the future that started  with  simple ideas.  prayers  and dream. We now made big plans, from a small pilot project, the Pilot-UIM project we started in the vicinities of Insular Lumber Companay, Inc., in Bacuyangan, Hinobaan, Negros Occidental two years ago. God was now opening new areas for us in the ministry of Christian lives and community developments.