Sunflower Reflections
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Sunflower reflections
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Greetings to all!
I just arrived from a 7 day journey interaction in Mindanao…. in a meeting with the provincial coordinators and regional coordinators. ..we confirmed that Mindanao has 623 registered members….. a strong core of leaders from all walks of life .
Targets had been set to expand membership to at least 5,000 by first week of August. They have lined up a series of orientation workshops on Change Politics, candidates forum, deliberation on candidates qualifications, voters education towards vote buying free zones…..they divided the time lines from July 15 to the First Vote and final vote. September to November 30, 2009.
It was a very encouraging meeting and discussion. Below is the reflection piece I wrote…hope all is well….sunflower wishes,
dinky
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Corazon Juliano-Soliman (dinky)
Sunflower reflections
July 13, 2009
Davao City
I arrived in Cagayan de Oro airport in the afternoon of July 8, 2009; I left immediately after our commemoration event as Hyatt 10 in St. Jude Church where we heard Mass and lit candles to pray to the patron of Making the Impossible Happen… the miracle of Faith in the Positive Change….that is it is possible.
It is indeed possible for change to happen, to be led by citizens….ordinary citizens…..from the poor and marginalized areas….from the professionals in the provinces…from people in the land of promise, struggling and shaping the promise to become a reality….from the people of faith….in their own God….spiritually grounded….drawing courage from their solidarity with each other and their God.
I am inspired by the interaction and dialogues I had with the people who participated in the workshops and orientation sessions on Change Politics Movement. I was a resource person in Iligan for the workshop organized by the diocese. The participants were farmers, teachers, and small entrepreneurs from Iligan diocese. They were very engaged in the process; asking questions, sharing their ideas on politics, raising concerns about safety in relation to taking back politics from politicians who betrayed the trust of the people, proposing ways to convince their neighbors not to sell their votes, making plans on how to begin the process of conscientization, ….yes it was a very engaged group of people who just experienced a bomb blast in their city.
From Iligan, I went up to Bukdinon to a town called Pangantucan; it is the border town to Lanao Del Sur. It was going down memory lane to my sunflower community organizing days. There were no sunflowers because it is not the season; they usually bloom in November through February. The warmth of the people and their interest to change the politics were my sunflowers. Again, the participants came from different towns of Bukidnon. We held the workshop in the seminar house of the Parish compound; a spartan structure surrounded by colorful flowers. They were farmers, members of PALAMBU – farmers’ organization that Ka Rene headed, leaders from coops such as AADC, retired government workers, teachers, parish workers and village councilors. The challenge of poverty and its effect on the people was the main block identified by the participants; the obstacle to truly changing politics because of the patronage system. The need to address the hunger and illiteracy is urgent if we want to have informed choices in the 2010 election. They agreed that the roots of transactional politics is deep so indeed 2010 is a first step….then we will continue to build the Change Politics Movement so that by 2022 candidates for national and local elections can come from the womb of the people’s movement…..a farmer can be President just as an auto mechanic became President in Brazil and a Lumad became President in Bolivia. Yes we talked, shared laughter and dreamt of the time when one of them can be governor of the province and mayor of the town.
I am encouraged by the fact that these workshops were supported by the people themselves with some support from the Church and kind individuals. In Iligan the fifty participants brought one kilo of rice each to augment the support of the diocese. In Bukidnon the people of Pangantucan opened their homes and the participants slept in the houses of participants from Pangantucan. I slept in the house of Pinay and Elvis. One person donated cassava cooked for snacks and we had organic vegetables from the backyard farm of Jun and Elvis…and of course, we had the famous moringa juice because Jun is an advocate since his cancer of the colon was cured by moringa (malunggay).
From Pangantucan, I traveled to Davao City. Before taking the journey, I went to Mass in the Monastery of the Transfiguration, the Benedictine monastery in Bukidnon. It was an uplifting experience, the church was on top of the hill and it had glass walls so we can see the mountains and clouds from all sides. The altar was a big rock adorned with wild flowers…..the ambience reinforced the calmness inside me that had been growing since July 8…..we will overcome the evil plans and ways of the politicians who continue to betray the trust of the people, who continue to lie, steal and kill…..goodness will reign and better times will soon come.
Every second Sunday of the month, the Benedictine monks organizes Brunch with the Monks….they set up tents and for Php 150.00 people have a treat of flowing coffee of Monk’s Blend and four viands, noodles and rice and dessert. It was such a festive and endearing event. I met Dom Martin who told me that they were praying for Tita Cory everyday. Former President Cory had visited the Monastery and had slept there. The visit to the Monastery was such a nice send off to the land travel to Davao City…..BUDA road was such a scenic ride interspersed with a reflective conversation with Jun Mabaso, a farmer leader from CPAR days who have crossed over and won a Vice Mayor seat and have cross backed to head the Agri Aqua Development Coalition of Mindanao.
As I write this, we are going through a workshop with the regional leaders of Change Politics Movement of Mindanao. We are refining the development and change agenda…making it concrete and doable….we have learned from past agenda making exercises….my faith in the peoples’ wisdom have once more been affirmed…..inspite of the challenging situation of our country…inspite of the callousness of the current political leadership and yes in spite of the disappointment on the news that Obama is meeting GMA…..there is hope ….because people power is growing..Not in the ways we expect to see it…..in their own time and by God’s grace…..the Filipino citizens will prevail and will hold politics in their hands.
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