Father Joe alive thru ‘candles’ lit

Fr. Joe Dizon was a national leader whose consistent advocacy for human rights assumed a larger-than-life figure for many of us.

In behalf of the University of the Philippines, I express the deepest condolences to the family and friends of Father Joe.

I too personally grieved the passing of Father Joe, who was a childhood friend and elementary school classmate in Caloocan City.

The outpouring of sentiments for Father Joe online within a few hours of his passing shows a man who has touched the lives of so many people. I cannot add much to what has been said. And I cannot do justice if I try to show the numerous and varied personas of Father Joe.

But I think we will all agree when I say, “We are all orphans with his passing.” We grieve the loss of a father.

With him, a man of the cloth, by our side, people knew of a God who watched over and gave grace to mass movements. His was a God who loved the poor, and who is one with the working class, the oppressed and the exploited. With his prayers, blessings and participation, people sallied forth against truncheons, hoses, tear gas and bullets as they fought for true liberation.

We remember him as a priest fighting against the dictatorship for his flock. He chose to stay on the ground, organizing communities, assisting workers and supporting grassroots movements.

After the fall of the dictatorship he could have gone up the hierarchy of the Church and assumed positions of influence. But he decided to stay on the ground, with the people, communities and

advocacies that are close to his heart.

Was there ever a place he served that he did not serve with so much dedication and fervor, as befits a true follower of Christ?

And thus, we remember him being a staunch, many times lonely, crusader for discernment in the Church. With him, we remember that the Church of the poor is alive.

Through time he assumed a bigger presence in the civil disobedience campaigns on the street and on television, as he continued to demand accountability from national leaders. We remember him leading prayers at Edsa and Rizal Park against the misuse of public funds, supporting the search for truth which we in the university also demanded.

But there is no filling that void in me—he was a friend and an ally in the advocacies we shared.

We were both antifraud advocates, he helping convene Kontra Daya while I engaged in AES Watch in the run-up to the country’s first nationwide automated polls in 2010. We will miss him, as we face the gargantuan tasks that still lie ahead in electoral reforms.

We lost an ally in the Church. But more than that, I’m afraid we lost a spiritual anchor.

But, Father Joe, we may mourn and grieve and cry today, but in our hearts and minds, your memory will remain alive.

Your candle may have burnt out but you have lit a million candles that will go on spreading the light. As you never left us during our many struggles in the last 40 years, we will not leave your legacy untended.

We realize we have gained much from your life. Your life has become eternal through the inspiration you have given us.

Father Joe, we will sorely miss seeing you around.

—ALFREDO E. PASCUAL,

president, University of the Philippines system