THE Second National Rural Congress which is slated sometime this year is being convened to celebrate the first rural congress organized in 1967. Forty years have passed since then, and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) through its January 2007 pastoral statement “The Dignity of the Rural Poor – A Gospel Concern” issued a call for a Second Rural Congress (NRC II) “to review the continuing issues confronting the majority of our people in the rural areas.” The pastoral statement stressed that the rural poor, especially the farmers should take center stage in this particular congress. This time they have to do “the speaking by themselves, the discerning, the proposing of their own ideas, the planning of how we must as a people come together to work for the common good of the country…”
Consultations on the local level
Two parallel tracks of consultations have been organized at the local level where representatives from the rural poor (farmers, fisherfolks, IPs and BECs) met to discuss and analyze their current situation.
The Diocesan (ad intra) consultations centered on the role of BECs in rural development, and facilitated by the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA), the Episcopal Commission for Indigenous Peoples (ECIP) and the BEC Office.
The sub-regional (ad extra) consultations took up rural poverty issues among basic sectors. Involved in these consultations is a coalition of non-government and people’s organizations engaged in rural issues, the Philippine-Misereor Partnership (PMP), the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), and the Rural Poor Solidarity (RPS).
The consultations on the diocesan level started in September last year. Although initially expected to finish by the end of March, some adjustments have to be made as a number of dioceses have yet to conduct their own local assemblies. Meanwhile, the sub-regional consultations that began in November are still continuing, reports of which are to be consolidated sometime in April or May.
Regional Congresses
The consolidated reports from the local consultations (Phase I) will be brought to a higher level of discussion (Phase II) in the five regional congresses to be held in major regions of the Philippines—Luzon North, Luzon South, Western Visayas, Central and Eastern Visayas, and Mindanao. Bishop-convenors are Bishop Guillermo Afable (Mindanao) with the assistance of Auxiliary Bishops George Rimando and Jose Colin Bagaforo; Archbishop Jose Palma of Central and Eastern Visayas, assisted by a Cebu secretariat; Archbishop Onesimo Gordoncillo for Western Visayas, assisted by a Jaro secretariat; Archbishop Ramon Arguelles for Luzon South; and Bishop Ramon Villena for Luzon North.
The Central and Eastern Visayas Rural Congress is slated on May 21-22 in Cebu City. Each diocese will send five delegates, which include the bishop; person in-charge of the NRC; two sectoral representatives, and a priest (social action director).
The Mindanao secretariat scheduled its Regional Congress on June 10-13 in Davao City with eight representatives that will include small farmers, indigenous peoples and other sectors.
The schedule of the South Luzon congress has yet to be determined. Fr. Junjun Ramos, social action director of Lipa has been tasked by Archbishop Arguelles to convene the Congress for South Luzon, although no definite date has been set yet.
The Diocese of Bayombong, in charge of organizing the North Luzon Rural Congress, has yet to finalize also its schedule and other details for the regional congress.
Objectives
In his guidelines prepared for the convening of Regional Congresses of NRC II, Archbishop Antonio Ledesma (NRC II chair) presented the objectives of the Regional Congress thus: 1) to present the collated and consolidated results of the diocesan ad intra and sub regional ad extra consultations; 2) to deepen the analysis on the factors and root causes of rural poverty; (social, economic, political, cultural, etc.); 3) to reflect on the current situation in the light of the Social Teachings of the Church and to discuss the challenges to Church and Society; and 4) to arrive at concrete recommendations and action plans, addressed to: a) dioceses; b) basic rural sectors; c) government agencies; and d) civil society organizations.
Final Phase
The third phase of the NRC II will take place in Manila sometime in July. The final assembly expects to gather around a hundred delegates from the five regional congresses. A corresponding number of bishops will peruse the regional reports. The congress is also expected to come out with a final statement on the NRC II.
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