The Ministry Years: Chapter 21: New Frontier Ministries Consolidated Projects from 1978-1987 (Part 1)

Chapter 21

New Frontier Ministries Consolidated Projects from 1978 -1987

(PART 1)

The first phase of my ministry with CPBC started in 1977 with the Pilot ministry on Urban Industrial Mission (UIM) under Rev. Moley Famillaran and Rev. Edwin Lopez, CPBC President and General Secretary respectively, with community organizing and labor education.

Our UIM ministry in Central Panay operates in 6 municipalities - Duenas, Passi, Lambunao, Bingawan and Calinog in Iloilo and Tapas, in Capiz. UIM was assisted with funding from the Protestant Association for Cooperation in Development (EZE), a church program in West Germany.

During the CPBC General Assembly in Roxas City, May 1977, the delegates “expressed grave concerns on specific areas of life –poverty, malnutrition, ill-health, human dignity, environmental problems, violations of human rights and mental and physical tortures” suffered by many Convention Baptist constituents and the general populace under the military rule of President Marcos dictatorial regimes.

To respond, the CPBC leadership expanded the ministry of Urban Industrial Mission (UIM), and organized the New Frontier Ministries (NFM), with wider mandate and coverage to meet the pressing needs of our people. The aim of NFM “was to help provide relevant and responsive ministry to people presently struggling and suffering under an oppressive, unjust, and exploitative economic and political system.”

These exploitations, existed since the colonization of the Philippines by Spain. These was followed under the imperial designs of the United States from 1898 to the present, a colonial rule that took more than 2 million Filipino lives, killed by American soldiers’ bullets and by, sickness and diseases all over Luzon, Visayas and Muslim Mindanao.

These situations were aggravated further with the imposition of martial rule by President Marcos starting 1972.

The exploitation of the Filipino people expanded under the colonial government of the United States, with the Treaty of Paris of 1898. The Filipinos could have improved their lives after they defeated the Spaniards in 1897. But the Americans came, took over power and returned all Spanish properties already won by Philippine revolutionary forces.

The Americans returned all properties in the hands of the Filipino revolutionaries, including properties of the Roman Catholic churches that were already in hands of the Iglesia Filipina Independente (IFI).

The Americans returned these properties to the Spaniards and their descendants in the Philippines. These evil land ownership system of the Spanish era, was the major cause of more than 200 wars and rebellions fought by the Filipinos against Spain. It was also the cause of the continued wars waged by the communists and other rebel forces against the government of the Philippines since 1946, until today, 2017.

The New Frontier Ministries, CPBC’s development arms, now expanded with projects that were implemented in strategic areas in some parts of the country. It provided beneficiaries & partners development education, leadership formation, peasants, workers and fishermen organizing, community based health projects, projects for the disabled, practical farmers training, appropriate village technologies, organizing of cooperatives and farmers associations.

It also started labor education and organizing of sugar workers in villages with sugar cane plantations.

Our Biblical reflections in seminars, often touched the evils of Roman Imperialism, experienced and suffered by the Israelites, who continued their struggles and fought the Romans for many decades. These Jewish struggles against Roman Imperialism, was exemplified by sufferings, executions and death of Jesus Christ under the Roman rule.

The Jewish revolutionary struggles against the Romans, were similar to the struggles of Filipinos fighting the Spaniards in some 200 revolts in nearly 400 years, from about 1550 - 1896

The Filipinos in 1898, again fought the Americans, to regain the lands given them by God, but taken by the Spanish, and later by Americans and their descendants. Filipino nationalists, the communists and Muslims freedom fighters continued the fight for these lands for nearly 5 centuries, until the year 2000’s.

With the CPBC Assembly mandate, in 1977, despite apprehensions under Marcos martial rule, we implemented the New Frontier Ministries. We pushed it hard, to make it a real development arms of the Convention. It started with building Core groups in different municipalities, that covered some areas in Panay Negros Occidental, Mindoro & Romblon and some areas in Mindanao.

There were the 8 major development projects undertaken by the New Frontier Ministries that were implemented and ongoing those times. All NFM projects have well trained staffs, relevant and needed activities and a strong financial resources from partners abroad, ready for effective implementations in Convention areas and the communities.

With successful implementation of the projects, we foresaw that in 20 years, the rural and urban communities will be lifted economically, socially and politically with enough social force and political forces, capable of influencing decision makings in local, provincial and national politics. The following were the major projects NFM undertook.

(1) In 1977, the Urban Industrial Mission project was started in 6 municipalities in Iloilo

and Capiz – in Duenas, Lambunao, Calinog, Bingawan, Passi and Tapas, Capiz. The project has

a component of 5 full time staff. It’s program were: Community education, people’s

organizing, practical farming, village appropriate village technologies, animal dispersals and labor

education and building cooperatives.

The staff were Rev. Job Santiago, Project Coordinator, Hernani Bautista, agriculturists, Hector Belloga and Bonifacio Castronuevo, community organizers. To enable them to move fast in the areas of operation, they were provided each with a 125-CC Honda Motorcycles with assistance for gasoline. After working for 3 years, they have strengthened village churches and have reached out to motr than 1,000 villages in 6 municipalities, with strong influences in churches and communities.

(2) In 1978, NFM started a small project in Upper South Negros with Pastor Samuel

Antonio. We started with 3 female carabaos to help provide labor for farmers. Also 3

female cows were provided the community and Five (5) horses.

The carabaos will enable the groups to earn by plowing the fields and preparations for

planting. The cows were raised, until it gave birth. Then, the cow will be given to another family

to raise.

During that time, Pastor Samuel Antonio and his father, Rev. Antonio were working in 24 mountain churches, under the Upper South Negros Conference. After two, years the horses, cows and carabaos were expanded and doubled. A fund from the American Baptist Churches, USA was received for the project’s expansions. The projects were invisioned to help strengthen our ministries in the mountain areas of Upper South Negros.

Pastor Samuel Antonio, due to intensified military raids in Upper South Negros, and under suspicion by the military as subversive, later joined the New People’s Army together with his wife.

(3) NFM have also started 1979 SACADA Development Project, serving churches and

hinterland communities in 7 municipalities of Antique—Barbasa , Culasi, Vaderama,

Patnongon, San Remigio, Sibalom and San Jose.

Two full time staff and 2 parttime workers were employed for 3 years - Rev. Felomino Mosquera and Eupresito Galuego, a CPU agriculture graduate. They were assisted by two part time workers.

The project has labor education and organizing components, pigs and chicken dispersal and livelihood assistance. It was first assisted by the Board of International Ministries of the CPBC. Years later, in 1986, it was supported with funds from the Baptist Union of Sweden.

It was designed to enable the sacadas who go to Negros every sugarcane crop season to be trained and organized and involved in unionism in Antique before being recruited for Negros. And those who remained in Antique, will be trained and mobilized for skills development and income generating projects

After working, in hinterland villages where NPA operates, the project became hot with the military. But the staff remained committed and worked with ingenuity. They found themselves sometimes training also NPA cadres on appropriate farming technologies and technology transfer.

Despite the hot political situations and military suspicions, the project continued in its

mission.

Rev. Felomino Mosquera, who became politically hot with the military, joined the elections, running for Councilor in the Municipality of Patnongon, under the left political party, headed Bernabe Buscayno, known as Commander Dante, the first Commander of the New People’s Army.

Commander Dante ran for Senator with other senatorial candidates of the Left. But they were not able to win. The cost of elections were too high, for poor, progressive leaders to win in a local, provincial and national elections.

(5) In 1979, at Camp Higher, we started a Pig Breeding Project and Dispersal, that was

conceived to provide sustained sources of piglets for pig dispersals to churches and communities

in Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan and Antique. The piglets provided people, now suffering from ill-health

and poverty due to intensified military and NPA activities, some sources of food, rice, vegetables,

chickens and pigs.

We raised 36 sows and 5 boars at Camp Higher Ground. After 20 months, the project was able to dispersed nearly two hundred piglets to churches and communities in Panay. The dispersed piglets were paid by the projects that were now implemented and existing in different areas in Panay – Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan and Antique.

The piggery project also envisions to provide continues sources of manure and compost fertilizers for use in Camp Higher Ground properties, about 52 hectares, so that it will be made productive and helped provide needed food for the people – upland rice, corns, vegetables, bananas and root crops. In the small river way down, we have started planting maggui plants, for fiber and possible start of weaving projects in the future.

The Camp Higher Ground Pigs Projects in 1978 has two (3) full time staff and 1 part time worker. It was headed by Ptr. Amec Buenafe, a graduate of the Agriculture and a graduate of College of Theology. The project was assisted by the Australian Baptist World Aid of the Australian Baptist Convention under Rev. Geofrey Parish.

We dreamed at Camp Higher Ground be developed a bigger piggery project, that will provide sustained source of piglets for the New Frontier Ministries livelihood projects, under that difficult situations of martial law. We have started to make a nursery for planting seeds of cacaos and rattan to be planted beside the big trees, for future use. The piggery project, will surely provide the needed manure and composts to expand farming in the area of Cam Higher Ground area.

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5) In 1985, the North Iloilo Relief & Rehab Project was organized in response

to the devastation of Typhoon Undang. Three villages in Batad, 6 villages in Estancia, 2 villages

in Balasan and 6 villages in Carles were assisted and supported by the Baptist Union of Sweden

and the Protestant Associations for Cooperation and Development (EZE) in West Germany.

The project has a component of 8 staff—Betty Solacito, Social Worker, Pastor Jessie Albestor,

Susan Panes, Lorna Lapido, a Nurse, Evelyn Saavedra, Social Worker, Melinda de la Cruz,

Teacher, Pastor Rex Abanilla and Ms. Frash Ortiz. Partime Staffs were Ptr. Delfin Domingo,

Pastor Anting Coloso, Ptr. Raffy Lamputi and Ernest Carvajal.

The staff all worked hard to implement the project – rice distributions, cash assistance, providing materials to help build the victims homes -- bamboos, nails, coco lumbers for the “sintas” and “sukog” of the homes. Education and training for livelihood assistance.

The project provide half sack of rice per family and P500 cash assistance . We purchased several thousand pieces of bamboos from Maasin, Janiuay, Badiangan, Pototan, Calinog, Lambunao, San Miguel, Alimodian and Leon with some 15 pieces of bambos per family to help rebuild their small homes.

We bought 4 Chain Saws and mobilized 10 operators to cut fallen coconut trees, making them coco lumbers to provide families with coco lumbers to help them rebuild their destroyed homes. It has a community organizing and cooperative development works.

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Part of the series The Ministry Years (chapter 21 of 48)

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