Church Strengthening, Chicken Immunizations & Bible Study w/ Beach Swimming
After my arrest by the military at the College of Theology mid- 1969, I went home to Carles. I want to breath fresh air from the sea and walked on the shorelines. I want to relax. I need to refresh my mind and spirit.
It was not easy feelings to be arrested and detained for some hours by the Philippine Constabulary officers in their headquarters. Arrested when you are crossing a street, was sometimes natural. But to be arrested by some 20 police and constabulary officers, ordered by their commander, armed with powerful armalites, right at the Dean’s Office of the College of Theology, seemed hard for the mind carry.
One week, after my arrest at CPU College of Theology, I went home to Carles. Mayor Alfredo Alava of Carles learned I was home. He sent me a message. He asked me to see him. Mayor Alava was a close friend of my father. And I am close to him. He said: “Rudy, do you want to work as Sanitary Inspector of our town? We need you here. You can helped our people. And you can helped our town.” There was only one medical doctor and 1 Sanitary Inspector in Carles that time.
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I told Mayor Alava. “Mayor, I will try. I will apply.” It was also a way to gauge the political atmosphere. Mayor Alava, told me to go to Camp Delgado, in Iloilo City and get employment clearance. He gave me the name of the officer I will looked for. He gave me a letter of recommendation.
I went to the Philippine Constabulary office at Camp Delgado. The officer, led me to the NISA office and introduced me to Gen. Gerardo Flores, the Regional NISA Officer. He told General Flores, that I was recommended by Mayor Alava. General Flores asked me to set in front of him.
After some short conversations, General Flores went inside another room. When he returned, he has a folder with files.
He read the files. He shook his head. He asked me a lot of questions. “Why were you in the village in Dingle? What did you do there? Who were your companions?” Why I was in a village in Pavia. Why I was in a village in Leganes. Why I was in Ajuy village. And why I went to a village in San Dionisio.?”
I told General Flores: “Sir, I am Chairman of the Education Committee of PANELFU, a labor Union. I was in those places doing education seminars and organizing farmers in different towns in Iloilo and Panay. PANELFU is a labor organization registered with the Department of Labor.” It’s headed by Atty. Nicolas Centeno.”
General Flores told me, they have a big dossier on me. He said: “Mayor Alfredo Alava recommended you to me. The mayor has high trust on you.” Then, General Flores asked me. “Tell me, why were you arrested a week ago at CPU?” Only then, I realized fully, the NISA powers. There inteligence networks reached out to different communities, and reached an ordinary man like me.
It seemed he knew most happenings in Iloilo. He knew every place I visited. Then, he told me. “I cannot give you a clearance. There were lots of dossiers on you. But Mayor Alava trusted you. He want you to help him in Carles. I will try to help you. But you must accept as true all these things, written on your dossiers. Then, you must asked for pardon. You must asked for forgiveness. You must sign an affidavit. I will see what I can do to help you.”
That was quite hard. I thanked General Flores. I will return, after thinking on his proposal. But I lost my interest on the possible job. I went to Atty. Alfredo Banares and Atty. Edgar Villalobos. They were my lawyer friends. I told them what General Flores asked me to do. Atty Banares said: “Rudy, you must not sign, you must never sign any affidavit accepting as true what were written by the military on your dossiers. When you do that, you will tie a strong cord on your neck. You’ll be ready for hanging.”
I went home to Carles. I decided to keep cool. Meantime, I will lessen my involvement in labor organizing works. I went to Mayor Alava and told him, it may be difficult for me to get a clearance. I told him, I will try again.
In Carles, I helped my father and younger brother in the farm. We planted corn and vegetables. I helped flatten our rice farms. Some kind of realization on my life came. It touched me. “I tried to re-think my life. My past years. I tried to look into the future. I looked back at my involvements in labor education and organizing works. Labor organizing was a legal work. But it was now considered by the military, a dangerous works. I saw some labor leaders accused as subversives and arrested.”
That night, I asked God for guidance. I knelt in prayer. I said: “Lord, I am committed to continue the struggle for equality, freedom and justice. But meantime, I will take a rest. I will try to parry the hot political situations, I am in.”
To soften suspicions on me, I must lessen my involvement on labor organizing. I told the Lord. “Lord, I will lessen my labor organizing works. I will go teaching, if possible also preaching. I will go to a new ministry. But how? Quite impossible. I have finished only One Year and 1 semester of the 4 years Theological Studies. How could I be a pastor and a preacher?”
That night, I asked God: “Lord, I will try and work as a pastor. I will follow what you want me to do. If you would like me to be a pastor, I will go wherever you want me to go. Please open my way. I am ready to go anywhere you send me. I will go to the mountain church. In an island church. Or, in a church in a city slum. I will go even in a foreign country, if that’s what you want me to do. Please let me know. Just make it clear, that is your will for me.”
After praying, I lay on my bed that night. Easily, I fall asleep. It was a long and peaceful slept. I woke up that morning with a peaceful heart.
I went on with my gardening. The following Sunday, I went to church. This was our home church. I took a Bible. But when I start to go, I remember, I will pass several houses to church. I seem felt ashamed to carry the |Bible on my hands. I put it on my back and cover it with my shirts. I walked to the church. I attended Sunday School that morning. I shared my thoughts. And we have a lively sharing and discussions.
We went on to our worship service. Pastor Glory Forro Bullo preached. She gave an inspiring message. It was my first worship in church for about a year. The following Sunday, I went again to Sunday School and joined the worship service. We have a good sharing at Sunday School again.
On the 3rd Sunday, Pastor Glory Bullo, asked me to lead the Sunday School the following Sunday. And also the next. I continued as Sunday School teacher. A few weeks later, Pastor Glory Bullo, who was teaching in Carles National High School, asked me to preach on worship the following Sunday.
About two months later, she asked me to serve as Assistant Pastor of Cawayan Baptist Church. She said: “To Rudy I am very busy in school. I need your help. I asked the church officers to call you as Assistant Pastor. Please accept the church request.” I told Pastor Glory Bullo, I will accept the request. A day or two, I was given a call. I was called, Assistant Pastor of Cawayan Baptist Church.
I began visiting and sharing with the adults. I organized the Deacons to join me in visiting and calling on other church members. We visited Baptists members who have not joined worship servives. We use this visits as a time for sharing. During visitations, I often read short verses. Then simple words of reminding God’s faithfulness. And closed our visit with a prayer. On Wednesdays, we have prayer meetings. And Saturday afternoons, we go to some homes where we preached at home of a non-church members.
After visiting church members at their homes, I found many families has chickens. The chickens were just roaming around. In nearby villages, we heard many chickens have died. They were hit with Avian Pests, a deadly chicken disease we called “aratay”. When Avian Pest hit a village, a few chicken, two or three only survived.
I called the Baptist Men for a meeting. We must work to help ourselves against “aratay” chicken disease. We discussed what we will do. They said: “We will immunized all the chickens of our church members. Then we will immunized the chickens of the community.” They church gave me expenses for Iloilo City.
I went to the Department of Agriculture’s Vetenirary /Sections in Iloilo City. I requested Avian Pest Vaccines. They provided me free vaccines for all chickens we need. They told me. “Put the vaccine vials inside a plastic cup with cover and put it inside a plastic bag with ice. When you arrived in Carles, you looked for rotten banana trunks and put the vaccine vials in the rotten banana trunks. The coolness of the rotten banana trunks will preserved the vaccine for several days or weeks, until you will use them.” I took a bus back to Carles, 148 kms away.
When I arrived in Carles I looked for an old and rotten banana trunks and buried the Avian Pest Vials inside the rooten banana trunks. There was no refrigerator in Cawayan, Carles that time.
The following day, all the Baptist Men and other church officers met. We have a training on chicken immunizations for Avian Pests. For small chicks we use 1 drop of vaccine on the nasals or eyes.
For chickens more than a month old and up, we will put 2 drops of vaccine on their rectums. For adult chickens and roasters, we will injected a about 2 drops of vaccine on their body muzzles. We immunized all the chickens of church members. Then we immunized the chickens of all the village people in Cawayan.
In 3 days we have immunized all the chickens of the village against Aratay. After we have finished immunizations, we came together to share our experiences with the church and some members of the community. I told them, in 6 months time we will immunized again all chickens with Avian Pest. And thereafter, every six months. We closed our sharing with Bible reflections. Then we prayed.
For strenthening of relations, we tried to reach out to the Elementary school teachers. There were 8 teachers in Cawayan Elementary School. Two were married - Mr. and Mrs. Romeo Bellosillo, the head teacher. All the other six teachers, all females, were single.
I invited the teachers to join us visit some homes in the village. We will eat young coconuts in some homes. We call this “pangolabo”. Two teachers joined us the first week. Then some others, joined us on the 2nd and third week. We began to get closer.
We planned to go swimming. We went early. At 7:00 AM we were already in the beach. We walked about 1 kilometer. We gathered on the beach. We have some singings and Gospel reflections. With us were Young people. Young adults. The teachers. Older people and the Deacons. About 30 of us on the beach that morning. We sing gospel songs. We asked each to share the things the want to thank God for last week. Each shared the things, they want to thank God for. We have Bible reflections. Then we prayed together.
During our prayers, we were setting on a circle. We prayed. The leader, said each will pray for the man on his right. One was requested for Closing Prayer. Then we have our snacks. And we ran to the waters. The friendship and relationship has strengthened
We invited them also to go swimming With the young People leading, Elma Bantillo and Nancy Villanueva, we asked the teachers to go Night Swimming. We thought it would be good fun. It will be an adventure in our search for relevant faith. Few people go night swimming in Carles. When I was in Manila, often we go night swimming in the beach. And in swimming pools. It’s good for relaxations after days of works. Dayhagan, Carles was one of the beautiful beaches in the municipality. The evenings were very lovely, sun starting to setting down –the sun’s rays still seen on the western horizons.
The young people prepared our snacks. The womens group prepared home made drinks. The teachers brought something for us to share. I realized, sharing our Christian faith, when we’re closed was easy. And the sharing were deep and led to helpful conversations on the meanngs of faith. The importance of life. How to relate our lives to God.
Night swimming with young people, young adults and some Elementary school teachers was great fun. It helped build close relationship. Night swimming was new experiences for most. These simple things played a role in strengthening relationship and helping our ministry.
The young people and young adults prepared for this activity. They prepared snacks. The women brought some home made drinks. There were boiled bananas and root crops. They have their Swim Suites. Some have their "patadyong". Then we went swimming. We just made sure that we do not go to deep parts of the beach.
While on the beach we saw big tree trunk carried by waves to the beach. We carried it down to the waters. We rode the big tree floating on the sea water. We have some short conversations on the water, holding on the tree trunk. We looked at the beautiful sights under the covers of the red horizon.
The two elementary teachers, hold on the tree trunks with me, as we allow the gentle currents to carry us, drifting for some times, under soft coolness of the moonlights. All the teachers were now close friends. But I cannot remember their names now, except two, Miss Racimo and Miss Erlida Gonzaga. Miss Racimo, taught at Cawayan Elementary School until her retirement. Miss Gonzaga, transferred to Pavia and taught in the towns elementary school. I have not met her again.
After our night swimming, around the flames of the burning woods, we have short reflections on life and God’s purpose for us. It was a simple sharing. But it touched our hearts and minds. Then we go home, reminded of God’s grace along our way.
Part of the series The Ministry Years (chapter 1 of 48)
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