Category: Filipino Focus

For Fr. Pedro “Pete” Montallana, OFM (Order of Friar Minors), all started with a fire. Unlike St. Francis, who met and kissed a leper during an encounter at the countryside, Fr. Pete only heard about informal settlers who were left homeless by the fire that razed their community near the St. Gregory the Great Friary in Barangay Del Monte in Quezon City where he lived. Thinking of the families left homeless by the fire, Fr. Pete started to feel uncomfortable with his supposedly comfortable life inside the friary. “I could not take it in my conscience to be living in the comforts of the friary while there are homeless people nearby. I asked for permission to live outside and was given a one-year leave that started on November 11, 2011,” he said.  Fr. Pete had already imbibed simple lifestyle from the indigenous people he has lived with during his previous pastoral assignments in Isabela and Quezon Province but the Franciscan priest didn’t know there is a simpler way of life when he opted to live among the informal settlers. The 62-year-old priest didn’t exactly sought to live with the homeless victims of the fire but he rented a six square-meter room under a two-story wooden apartment that is connected to many other makeshift dwellings near a creek in West Riverside corner Apollo St. in Barangay Del Monte. He shared a communal restroom with four other families and has, for his neighbors, families living under the bridge since they could not afford to rent a proper dwelling given their scarce source of income.  “Right at the beginning of my stay there, I felt a process of conversion starting when I was ‘led’ to sweep the street in front of my house. Inside me, I struggled because I found it below my dignity as a priest. Strengthened by the humility of St. Francis, I forced myself to sweep the street as I saw my neighbors do. It did not take long before I would even smile at the people watching me,” Fr. Pete shared.    Liberating experience It took sometime for Fr. Pete’s neighbors to get used to seeing a man clad in a brown habit going around the community. But when they eventually got to know the priest, Fr. Pete would celebrate Mass with them or organize them for Bible sharing sessions whenever his hectic work schedule with indigenous people permits. But it was not a simple immersion or exposure with the poor that Fr. Pete had wanted when he moved in to live with informal settlers. He didn’t exactly know what he was looking for in the community but the uncertainty led him to something greater. “When God liberated Francis through the leper, he showed the Church the power of poverty. (Similarly), the Lord, through the poor squatters, gave me a gift of deep conversion experience as I felt the liberating power of poverty,” he said.  The condition of the informal settlers made Fr. Pete realize that, despite their scant

The 21st century saw the “Korean invasion” of the Philippines. But unlike their Spanish, Japanese and American predecessors, people from the Land of the Morning Calm continuously come to the Pearl of the Orient not to occupy but primarily to learn the English language and, subsequently, to tour the country of 7,107 islands. In fact, government records show that South Korea was the top source of tourist arrivals in 2012. The reputation even reached a milestone when the Philippines welcomed its one millionth South Korean tourist last December.  The growing number of Korean migrants in the Philippines has caused Korean restaurants, grocery stores, salons and entertainment centers to sprout like mushrooms in the capital town of Manila and even in other nearby provinces. The Koreans have also subtly influenced their host with the introduction of Korean TV novels, fashion, arts and culture to the Filipinos. One would wonder how Filipinos are able to sing along Korean songs like “OppaGangnam Style” or why they would flock concerts of K–Pop artists as if they comprehend Korean songs. Learning the English language may be one of the major reasons for the Koreans’ exodus for the Philippines. But there is more than that. While most Koreans come to the Philippines for education and tourism, some of them travelled here just to help.    House of Mary Some Koreans found home here in the Philippines. The first group of Korean missionaries came to the country seven years ago. The Seoul–based Sisters of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help were in search of a community to help and found it in Navotas under the Diocese of Caloocan. Although classified as a first class city, Navotas is relatively poor. The city occupies a narrow strip of land spanning 10.77 square–kilometers along the eastern shores of Manila Bay, making fishing and fishing–related industries as the primary sources of livelihood for its residents. Records of the National Statistical Coordination Board revealed that Navotas has a population of 245,344 as of 2007 and has a 0.87 annual population growth rate. The NSCB also classified Navotas as one of the poorest municipalities in Metro Manila based on its 7.4 poverty incidence rate.  “When we came to the Philippines in 2006, we looked for a good place for our mission and we, eventually, chose Navotas. We came over after Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez formally invited us to establish missionary work here,” said Sr. Kim Lucia, one of the three Korean missionary Sisters in Navotas. The mission of the Korean Sisters started with the establishment of a pre–school institution that gives free education to five to six–year–old children belonging to poor families under the parish of San Lorenzo Ruiz and Martyrs Church in Kaunlaran Village, Navotas. They put up Tahanan ni Maria (House of Mary) within the parish grounds in 2006 is now second home to some 106 pre-school students.  With the help of Korean donors and benefactors, the Korean Sisters in Navotas are able to hire teachers for the pre–school children and feed