Don’t let Jordan’s death be in vain

An 11-year-old boy on his way to school is riding a motorbike behind his father. On the way, they are ambushed. The father is wounded, but the son is killed instantly by a bullet.

This is what happened to young Jordan and his father Lucenio Manda in the morning of Sept. 4 in Bayog town in the Zamboanga peninsula. Jordan nurtured the dream of being like his father, a timuay (leader) of his own Subanen people. That fatal bullet also killed all his dreams.

In a statement issued later, Lucenio said: “In my effort to assert our rights and to protect our people and ancestral domain, my beloved son was sacrificed. It is very painful, and I thirst for justice. I vow to continue my struggle in order not to (render) my son’s death in vain. I need your support in this most trying time of my life as a father and a leader.”

Hear the cry of a grieving father and leader, the wounded cry of a barangay captain whose cousin was killed in 2002, after he, together with Lucenio, questioned the entry of logging and mining firms in their ancestral domain without their people’s free, prior and informed consent. Hear the man defending his community which is covered by eight mining permit applications, three approved mineral production sharing agreements, one approved exploration permit, and numerous small-scale mining operations. Hear the man who dares to oppose the systematic immolation of life, property and patrimony on the altar of capital and profit.

The death of young Jordan and the frustrated murder attempt on his father may never make the front pages or prime-time news. Yet to people aware of the struggle of indigenous peoples to protect not only themselves but also us from self-destruction, this latest assault increases the resolve of the defenders of our patrimony to persevere.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines has heard Timuay Lucenio’s cry. The death of his son and the attempt on his life are an abomination. Pray we must that the culture of impunity comes to an end and the ways of God’s justice sweep through this land. We mourn unconsolably the killing of the child Jordan and grieve with his family.

May the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples take the lead in seeking justice for Jordan and his father. May President Aquino take to heart the plight of the “little ones”! May our partners here and across the seas harken to the cry of Timuay Lucenio and all indigenous peoples.

“Thou, O Lord, art my hope, my trust… I have been as a portent to many; but thou art my strong refuge” (Psalm 71:5, 7). Move me to proclaim that whoever “looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts shall be blessed…” (James 1:25)

—THE MOST REVEREND

EPHRAIM S. FAJUTAGANA,

Obispo Maximo 12,

Iglesia Filipina Independiente and

NCCP chair; REV. REX RB REYES JR.,

general secretary,

National Council of Churches

in the Philippines,

[email protected]