How Exposure to Injustice Has Made Me an Advocate for Change

How Exposure to Injustice Has Made Me an Advocate for Change

Journey in South Korea and the Philippines

By Maelyne Abrenica

(Presented at Diwa ng Kasarinlan in Toronto, July 27, 2013)

My name is Maelyne Abrenica.

I was born and raised in Toronto to Filipino parents.  I identify myself as Filipino but I am very Canadian.  As much as I am connected to the Filipino community I realized that there was a lot going on back home that I was not aware of.

Last year in June I had the amazing opportunity to go on a trip to Korea and the Philippines. I heard about it through a fellow member of my church, Saint Luke’s United.  It was to be a joint study between the United Church of Canada and the PROK which is the Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea and the purpose – a study on empire, peace and economic justice.

The United Church group I went with consisted of me, the Asia coordinator, Bern Jagunos, and six other church leaders and Reverends from BC, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and New Brunswick.

It was a little intimidating – these were all people who work for the church full time and I was going to be one of only 7 people representing the United Church of Canada!!  But there was no time to think about that because as soon as we landed in Korea we hit the ground running.

First we visited the mass media producer who was a labour union leader.  At the time of our visit he was on Day 15 of a hunger strike and so was very weak.  While we were there a local politician had stopped by and promised he would fight for the cause and we got our photo in the local paper.

Another group on strike was the Jaenung Education Tutors who had started their strike five years ago and who had set up makeshift tents right in the middle of downtown Seoul.  They were fighting to be recognized as legal union workers.  They had tried to negotiate but the company hired goons to beat them, rape them and intimidate them.  A lot of the women died or got ill due to the stress.  At the time of our visit they hadn’t seen any sign of progress but were still optimistic despite their setbacks and I remember feeling deep admiration for them.

We attended a presentation on Hanjin Industries – this was a Korean ship building company operating out of Subic Bay in the Philippines.  We learned about the human rights abuses they inflict on their workers and not being held accountable for it.  Supervisors had been secretly videotaped beating their workers. Health and safety standards are disregarded and injuries not compensated.  It was difficult to see some of the images they showed us but I’m glad they did – it evoked something in me that was a mix of anger and of sadness and was very thought-provoking.  It also set the tone for the rest of that day as we also attended a labour protest that evening.  It was a huge rally with a LOT of people and police had surrounded the area in their riot gear in case things got out of hand. Luckily the protest ended without any incident.

That evening we had a debriefing session and debated about how far we would or should be participating in events like the protest where we could potentially get hurt.  We agreed that we wanted to show solidarity with all workers who were suffering – but to what extent?  We decided that we should err on the side of caution.  We were there to offer support but to also make sure that we make it back home safe and sound.

Not every visit was a heavy one.  We went to go see a migrant workers support centre to tour the facilities and meet with the founder who had started the centre.  He was a man who had been beaten up 12 times by the police in an attempt to stop him from building such a place.  What started out as a small operation now boasts a facility with classrooms, a call centre, a medical office, a day care, a computer lab and two worship sanctuaries.  It was truly inspiring to see this man build a place in which the sole purpose is to help people.

An equally inspiring event was visiting Hanshin Seminary to give a talk on Canada’s role in the church and the empire.  We all took turns speaking – I talked briefly about the Occupy movement and the G20 summit held here in Toronto – and had a really interesting question and answer period after that.  The students I found had the same questions that I hear whenever the subject of human rights comes up and that is, “What can we do?.. It’s such a large scale problem; how can we be effective?” To which I replied that it didn’t matter on what scale it was, that all help and every action makes a difference.  I suggested not to doubt his actions and that with good intentions will come some good.

We held a press conference.  There were various Christian media representatives who came to hear our report.  I was part of the speaking panel, which I didn’t volunteer for but I remembered that our goal was to get our message out and that was our focus.  We talked about all the struggles we heard about and the labourers who were hopeful for positive change and also that we supported all of them in their fight.  We expressed admiration for them and their tenacity.  We spoke about how we were glad we had an opportunity to share our stories from the Canadian context and that the dialogue should somehow continue.  We closed off the press conference on a thankful note for the partnership the United Church of Canada has with the PROK.  That week in Korea really laid the groundwork for the upcoming trip with our church partners in the Philippines.

This was what I was waiting for.  Stepping off that plane onto Philippine soil was powerful and I know most of you know what I’m talking about.  There is something that hits you deep inside when you step on the land of your ancestors.

The events we had planned in the Philippines proved to be just as packed as Korea.  Upon arrival we had our briefing session with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. Bishop Marigza was there to greet us and we met a slew of people affiliated with the program and who would be accompanying us on our exposure visits.  All of us were divided into three separate groups.  One group was visiting the Cordillera region in the north; a second group was going to the central region, Calabarzon and the third group – the one that I was a part of – would be going to Davao City, in the southern island of Mindanao, represented in green on the map.  Aside from me in the group there was HyeRan and Jake, Amy Calumpag and Michael Salem from the UCCP National Office, as well as two Korean ministers – Reverend Byung-Sang Jeon and Reverend Hyung-Mook Choi.

Our very first day we met with 12 small scale miners who had travelled 12 hours to meet with us.  They described how big mining companies – most of them Canadian – had come in and basically took over their land, using large scale mining methods to extract ore from the ground.  We were presented with poignant and alarming bits of information.
The biodiversity in Mindanao is huge; the freshwater provides 60% of energy to the island and the mineral resources are abundant in gold, copper, nickel, among others.  This is what the mining companies are after and the Mining act of 1995 basically opened the doors for foreign companies to come and exploit the land.  All the profits go back to the home country and the Filipinos and their land are left with the waste.  Understandably, this gave rise to the people’s resistance to the destruction and pollution and intimidation … and so mining companies use heavy militarization to protect their investment.  We heard stories of people being abducted, killed, houses being burned down and what really hit home for me was when each of those miners who visited us said that they were on the military’s hit list.  Any one of them could be harmed at any point in time and took great risk to meet with us.

There was one piece of good news during this whole conversation.  Exhausting all other avenues, the protest has gone to social media for exposure, which I think is brilliant and necessary in this day and age.  An organization called Mobit Mindanao was initiated by a group of Filipino Canadians based in Vancouver.  They send old mobile phones to indigenous group leaders who then use them to send messages, photos and updates on what is happening on the ground; the information is uploaded immediately to the Mobit website.  The hope is that this information can be used to help lobby for new laws.

I felt incredibly guilty, being Canadian and knowing that there are Canadian mining companies responsible for this problem.  So when we presented the leaders with hats and t-shirts that had “Canada” on them and I told them that hopefully one day in the future they can associate Canada with positive change and not the destruction and grief that I was sure it currently does.

The uncomfortable feeling I felt that day didn’t compare to the day after when we visited the Tadakaolo tribe in Malalog.  We were accompanied by Pastor Dan of the UCCP in Digos City and  Albina Rombaoa, a muslim UCCP member.  We had to travel along dirt roads and walk through a huge banana plantation to get to this tribe and it reminded me of the movie Avatar – they had a huge tree in the middle of their village and it defined their space, with their huts all around it.  The people of the tribe were warm and friendly and they fed us! With cassava, corn, bananas and native coffee.  They even did a native dance for us.  We handed out toys for the kids and t shirts and hats and we were enjoying a friendly exchange of words of encouragement when an ATV pulled up and three people approached the village.

It turned out it was a barangay captain, who was actually a political representative; these captains are placed in various regions and villages and act as a low level government official.  He was angry because our visit had not been “approved” by his office and that we had no right to be there.  Our representatives explained that we were members of church just visiting but he was not backing down and in fact the conversation had turned quite heated in a matter of minutes.

There was clear animosity between the tribes people and this barangay captain to the point where we had decided to diffuse the situation by leaving.  It was only at the end of the day when we had our debriefing session that we were told that the situation was more serious than we had thought.  I hadn’t noticed that the tribesmen grabbed a hold of their weapons and were ready to use violence if necessary.  When they escorted us to our vehicle we thought they were being polite; it was an act of protection in the event that the captain and his men decided to come back with reinforcements.
It was a huge relief that we were safe but also left us with a fear for this tribe who had become our friends.  Were they now going to experience more harassment and be in more danger because of this confrontation?  In my recent conversations with Amy at the National UCCP office the tribe as far as we know is still OK and no one has been hurt.

Unfortunately, because of this incident we could no longer visit a mining site as previously planned.  It was too dangerous and because of the confrontation at the village we were probably being watched too.

The last event I want to share with you was from our very last day together in Manila.  We went to the Bilibid prison to visit with a group of political prisoners being held there.  We were accompanied by Fr. Tony Tayco and former political prisoner Angie Ipong.  After leaving our passports with security and being searched, we entered the compound and were met by a group of men all dressed in blue shirts.  They were so friendly and initially I thought they were volunteers escorting us, but these WERE the political prisoners.  I don’t recall seeing any bars, in fact it was very open – open grass, open walking area – anyone could have approached us but we had our escorts and we were fine.

We settled under a covered seating area and we got to know each other.  We all introduced ourselves and then we heard how each prisoner had trumped-up charges which ranged from firearms possession to terrorism to rape and murder.  Then they told us stories of what life was in prison; how some of them were tortured and how one of them had been there for over 20 years and had experienced shocking acts of torture.

After the stories the prisoners said they wanted to sing for us and I remember thinking, “Oh.. how nice that they practiced a song for us!”  They had more than one song and what I didn’t expect was how emotional it would be to listen to them sing.  One was a song to a mother telling her he was thinking of her and not to worry about him; another was about hope and staying strong… It was so emotional and before we knew it all of us were in tears.  I couldn’t stop crying!  I don’t know if it was the culmination of everything we had seen and then having prisoners in front of us, sharing their pain through song? But it was pretty overwhelming.

We composed ourselves eventually and the prisoners then brought out bags of handicrafts – all items made from wood that they make by hand.  There were bookmarks, coin banks, ships in a bottle.  Making these items keeps them busy and it allows them to stay in contact with each other and share news under the guise of being productive. They sell the items and money goes to help their families. Upon leaving, our new friends escorted us out and we said good-bye but not before one of them gave me another item they had made.  It’s the necklace I’m wearing today, a carved piece of wood in the shape of a scythe, a hammer and a rifle.  Meeting those prisoners was a life changing experience and one that I will never forget.

On our last day together as a group we had a huge debriefing session.  It consisted of a whole day of sharing – our experiences, stories, events and people we had met.  We also challenged ourselves to answer some key questions – What is our calling?  How do we take what we learned and put forth actions to create positive change?  It really forced me to think about the world a little differently, but especially, it made me think about my place and my role in the world too.  Being exposed to so much hardship, destruction and fear then coming back to Canada made me feel guilty at first.  I have a roof over my head, a job, friends and family and a lot to be thankful for.  I said that I would never, ever complain about any hardships in my life because I don’t have to live in fear every day.  I also had the urge to tell every single person that I know about everything I had experienced during my trip.
I’ve learned that writing letters is important.  Government officials need to be aware that their actions or rather inaction is being noticed.  Pressure is being put on the Philippine government to release all political prisoners.  Letters have been sent already on behalf of the United Church of Canada.  Personally, I also feel a great need to help in practical ways as well.  I was asked if I wanted to or if Saint Luke’s United Church wanted to adopt the political prisoners at the Bilibid prison.  It’s still in the early stages of the program but I’m excited to keep in touch and help keep the spirit of hope alive in my new friends.  Some of the initiatives are as simple as sending messages, post cards and letters offering our support.. We can sell their handicrafts to help raise money to give to their families… and we can write campaign letters demanding their release.

Changes are happening, slowly but surely.  Recently I read an article on SRIs – Socially Responsible Investments.  As an investor you can choose to put your money into companies that act responsibly in the environmental, social and governing sectors.  This is good news and I believe that all companies will have no choice but to be accountable for all their activities, especially for those abroad that aren’t in the spotlight right now.

I also just recently learned that in Nueva Vizcaya, the town council ordered the shut down of the Oceana Gold mine that was set up in Dipidio!  Unfortunately Oceana Gold is concentrating on a gold mine in El Salvador.

I am hopeful; I do have faith.  I will do what I can to be a part of the process for positive change.

So I ask you all to take a moment and ask yourself if and how you see yourself contributing to the fight for human rights.  Maybe we can arrange to gather as many used cell phones as we can and send them to the Mobit organization I mentioned earlier.  We can write letters.  Use social media – it’s an important tool and get messages out globally within an insane amount of time!  Visit websites of organizations that are trying to bring about awareness.  See how you can contribute.  With our collective efforts we CAN bring about positive change!!

Thank you!  And God Bless!