Chapter 23
The Unfortunate CPBC Decision to Terminate the 4 UIM Staff
The decision of top CPBC leaders to terminate the services of the 4 UIM staff without valid cause and started training 34 new staff for UIM, was I think one of unfortunate incidents in mid- 1988.
The 4 UIM staff, were terminated as their 3 years contracts was about to end. I believed it was a wrong decision made by the top CPBC leadership. The four UIM staff have made very good records in their works in UIM. I recommended them in the new proposal, to served as leaders of the 30 new staff that were recruited and trained for UIM, the Panay Integrated Develoment Project.
Their skills, training, experiences and capacity to managed people were very important for the new project to succeed. The new project was approved for funding by the Protestants Association for Cooperative & Development (EZE), West Germany and Diakonia of Sweden. Behind the Panay Integrated Development Projects were Heinz Haverkorn of EZE, Bo Forsberg of Diakonia, Olof Lindstrom and Leo Liljengren of the Baptist Union of Sweden.
The four UIM staff were needed for the implementations of the expanded project, Panay Integrated Development Project, a UIM program that need 34 full time staff for 1988 -1991.
The four terminated staff were Rev. Job Santiago, Project Coordinator, Hernani Bautista, Project Agriculturist, Hector Belloga and Bonifacio Castronuevo, Community Organizers. There terms as staff of the project were ending, but they were part of the new project proposal that we wrote, presented and approved by the CPBC Board of Trustees.
As Director and head of the UIM & NFM. I was the key persons to train the 30 new recruited staff, assisted by the 4 UIM staff. The new trainees came from Central Iloilo, Aklan and Capiz.
Our project proposal in 1988, was approved for funding with P3 million a year for 3 years.
It was the biggest project of the New Frontier Ministries with 34 full time staff.
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With proper directions and implementations of CPBC projects, we saw a brighter future for CPBC churches and the communities they will served. With a components of well trained and highly committed people, the possibilities for success was very high.
One evil in our country, was the land ownership system of the Spanish era, used in the Philippines and perpetuated by the Americans from 1898. These evil systems of land ownership, was the major causes of more than 200 revolts by the Filipinos against Spain in different parts of the country. It was also the cause of the continued wars by the communists and other rebel forces against the Philippine government until today, year 2017.
To help alleviate the economic and social situations, the New Frontier Ministries, expanded with economic development projects that covers areas in the country where CPBC churches were organized and operates. It provided project participants with development education, leadership formation, peasants, workers, fishermen organizing, community based health projects and labor education.
It carries trainings and developments of the physically disabled, appropriate village technologies. organizing of cooperatives and farmers associations, legal & labor education, rehabilitations projects for victims of disaster and defense of human rights violations. These trainings were needed, as most farmers and farm workers in many parts of the country were landless.
The lands were already owned by big land owners, who owned big parcels of lands, some by the thousands of hectares. Even they small huts they were living, were owned by the big landowners.
Our Biblical studies sometimes, touched the evils of Roman Imperialism experienced by the people of Israel, who continued the struggles and fought for many decades, that was exemplified by the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. These struggles was similar to the Filipinos struggle from the Spanish time and the American rule that were fought hard by the nationalist Filipinos and the Communist Party of the Philippines for more than a century.
With the CPBC Assembly mandate, despite some apprehensions and fears, under Marcos martial rule, we undertook the implementation of New Frontier Ministries and Urban Industrial Missions, pushing to make it a real national development arms of the Convention. It started with building Core groups in different municipalities, that covered Panay Island, Negros Occidental, Romblon and Mindoro, some part of Manila and Luzon and some areas of Mindanao.
From the experiences of these involvement, we move fast and organized development projects in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Central Negros, Upper South Negros, Romblon and Northern Negros, as a response to call of the Convention Assembly for a dynamic program that responds to the need of the people under martial law.
We started preparations for the implementations of “ Panay Integrated Development Project” jointly assisted by Diakonia of Sweden and EZE of West Germany, thru Rev. Olof Lindstrom of BUS & Bo Forsberg of Diakonia and Mr. Heinz Haverkorn of West Germany.
With the implementations of UIM – Panay Integrated Development Project, the resources committed by International funding partners in Iloilo and Capiz will be transferred to Mindanao where CPBC churches and communities were already organized.
The New Frontier Ministries with strong financial resources and a potentials of nearly a hundred full time staff trained in organizing and mobilizations, was becoming a strong spiritual, social, economic and political force in the Baptist Convention.
Three things have developed in the social and political situations during these times.
First, the top leadership of the Baptist Convention from 1984 to 1986, has started to weaver. There were two things that they were deeply concerned. They began to feel their traditional leadership was being weakened with the emerging strength and political forces from the UIM and NFM staff that have strong holds on the leadership of churches in the provinces. Some top leaders of the Convention began to feel their leadership were being threatened by the emerging new social forces.
Second, the leadership wavered at the strong pressure of the military on them. With the four (4) raids and arrests made by the military -- at CPU College of Theology, the raid of Rudy Bernal, as Pastor of Cawayan Baptist Church in their home, raids and arrest of UIM staff and seminar participants in Cabudian Baptist Church in February 1984.
These was followed by the 4th raids of the UIM, NFM and URM staffs and seminar participants in Guevara Beach, Oton, Iloilo in April 1984.
The UIM Guevara Beach raid, was followed by a daily barrage of news and commentaries,for nearly 2 weeks, from different Radio and TV commentators, partly hitting CPBC leadership for keeping mum and silent, despite the human rights violations of her people. I believed the CPBC leadership felt grave apprehensions.
Together with these incidents, was the arrest of Rev. Nestor Bunda at restaurant near Jaro Plaza one night, brought to unknown places until he was left at the rice fields near the Iloilo airport, with hundred Baptists and ecumenical groups looking for him, visiting the police stations, calling radio stations asking for his where abouts through the night, lead by an American missionary, Mrs. Sandy Mosher was an event the time.
These was further followed, several months later, when an ecumenical rally of some 50 people were arrested and detained at Jaro Police Headquarters for two days together with Pastor Sharon Joy Ruiz Duremdez, CPU College of Theology professor in Jaro, Iloilo City.
In the national level, the arrests and detentions of several NCCP staff and raids of NCCP related projects in Luzon, Visayas and in Mindanao, has chilling effects on the top leadership of the Convention in those days.
By that time, the military have succeeded in their propaganda that the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), where the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches (CPBC) was a member, together with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and the Philippine Independent Church (PIC), with some 30 other national organizations in the country, were communist’s front organizations.
The military propaganda, affected the faith of some CPBC leaders. Pastors and church leaders who showed the spirit of militancy were forced to be submissive to President Marcos’ martial law regime. Some were subjected to possible job terminations, if they were employed at CPBC.
The CPBC leadership decided to terminate the UIM and some NFM who were militant in their orientations, and staff whose contracts of 3 years were ending. The first group targeted for termination were the UIM staff. These will be will be followed with the possible termination of Urban Rural Mission staff –Rev Felomino Mosquera and Eupresito Galuego. Rev. Joel Valdes was on next line, as coordinator of the CPBC Woodcraft Project.
The 4 full time UIM Staff were sent official termination letters. Their contracts was ending that month.
The termination letter of Rev. Sacapano was clear. Their works will end that month. They were advised to return the Honda Motorcycles assigned to them. They will work until the end of this month
When I came to the General Secretary and asked him why I was not involved in the training of the 30 new UIM staff, he told me, that was the instruction of the President. When, I went to Rev. Lopez and asked why he did not involved me in UIM Staff training, he told me it was the instruction of the President.
I felt, I was given a strong message. I am not needed in the job anymore. I have to resign from my job. It was a painful feeling. But it sometimes happened in some organizations, both in secular organizations and church organizations.
I left the room where the 30 UIM staff were having their training at CPBC Board Room. Rev. Edwin Lopez was leading the training. I looked at them. I have helped identified some of trainees. I have helped find the financial resources for this project. Now I have also to leave them. I have no choice!
The CPBC leadership have done to us, what they had done previously to other CPBC projects, like the “Health Aid to the Needy for Development (HAND)” headed by Johnny de la Fuente, former President of CPBC. The same thing happened to “Center for Education and Research (CER)”, formerly headed by Rev. Conrad Brown, now headed by Rev. Sammy Formelleza - two potential development and educational projects of the Convention.
I made the decision to resign as Director of the New Frontier Ministries. I felt the pressures. It was a hard for the heart. To continue working under this situation will be impossible. I will be Director of the 4th Program of CPBC, without authority. I will be a big “Flower Base” in the CPBC Office.
After my silent prayer, I wrote my resignation letter. I gave it to Rev. Penuelito Sacapano. A copy of the resignation, I left at the GS Office for the President and the Chairman of the New Frontier Ministries Committee.
I sat on my desk. I looked out of the window. I looked at the blue skies that was growing a bit darker with heavy clouds. I felt sad and lonely. It was not sadness for myself. Neither was it sadness for losing a job.
It was sadness for a lost opportunities of service we could have worked together for the future. Me and the 4 staff of UIM, the 3 staff of Sacada Development Project that will soon, be terminated their contracts ending in 3 months time. I felt sad for the 30 new staff being trained for the Panay Integrated Development Projects. I felt in my heart, they may not get the job.
I felt sad for the lost opportunities we and CPBC could have done for our churches and the people of communities we have committed ourselves together to serve.
Again, I prayed for God’s guidance and strength after I gave my resignation letter. It seems, I heared His voice, whispered in my heart: “I will not leave you, nor forsake you.” I closed my eyes again. I tried to capture the deeper and wider meanings of the Lord’s words, whispered in my heart.
Part of the series The Ministry Years (chapter 23 of 48)
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