Philippines activist priest in joining “Atin Ito Christmas Mission” takes chance to remind of faithful’s responsibility to country

Philippines activist priest Fr.  Robert Reyes has joined the historic Atin Ito Christmas mission earlier this month (to give gifts to frontliners stationed in the West Philippine Sea), where he presided over a Eucharistic celebration on December 10 aboard civilian vessel TS Kapitan Felix Oca.

More than 40 people, mostly young leaders and fishermen, joined the Akbayan-led mission of civil society, which the Philippine Coast Guard was guarding. 

The mission vessel had to return to El Nido in Palawan after shadowing Chinese boats.  “But Atin Ito’s supply boat slipped [past] Chinese marine vessels arriving at Lawak Island on December 11 at 5:00 a.m. Nakalusot (It got through)!"  said Atin Ito in its statement.

Despite a ruling in 2016 by an international court that said the Philippines has sovereign rights over features located within its exclusive economic zone or 12 to 200 nautical miles from the baseline of its territorial waters, Chinese bullying of Philippine fishermen continues to be reported.

Concerned about sovereignty
“The reason why I joined (the mission) is because I have been concerned forever about sovereignty,” said Reyes to Radio Veritas Asia (RVA) News in a phone interview.

He said there were different levels of sovereignty when he was involved in the 1970s, when he was concerned about the internal colonization of big families and dynasties. 

“The Marcoses replaced the external colonizers like the Spaniards, Americans, then the Japanese then, after Liberation, the Filipino Republic, where dynasties took over,” cited Reyes. 

“This is to make people realize that the kingdom of God is not a pie in the sky.  So the EDSA revolution was completed, but it was still the same,” he said. 

He held the view that the Philippines were being handed over to China on a silver platter through the government's compromise with Chinese authority, which infuriated him because it implied that internal colonization was still ongoing within the nation.

“I was just waiting for an opportunity to join a powerful activity that will assert our rights over our own country.  Initially, I said to this activity ‘no’ until I realized how important it was so I joined.  In order to also link up to different groups for sovereignty so we can do things together,” said Reyes. 

The challenge on 500 years of Christianity
Reyes said that 500 years of Christianity was finished, and he regrets that a lot of concerns could have been tackled.  “Like all unfinished business of the church, like the things that the colonizers did well and also wrongly.  The colonizers had sinned—the Spaniards and the friars who came in with the colonizers,” he said.

“In other countries, starting with Pope John Paul II, there was already an attempt to admit the sins of the colonizers and the Church.  So he already had apologists, continued by Benedict and Francis—for what the Church has done blindly as she became part of the enabling force for the colonizers,” said Reyes.

He referred to the history of the Spanish colonial period up to the 1700s, when the church and state were one because the colonial powers were in close coordination with the Catholic Church. 

Pilgrim Cross
Asked what his bringing the 'Pilgrim Mission Cross of the next 500 years' for planting in the West Philippine Sea meant, Reyes said he thought “to create some kind of challenge to whomever he can reach—priest, religious, lay, bishop, ordained people—and to challenge them not to forget the first 500 years but to look back and see what has not been done, should be done and begin, and what was done wrongly and repaired.”

The pilgrim cross is an “offshoot of the conclusion of the celebration of the 500 years of Christianity.  It ended not with a bang but with a whisper.  But we cannot blame the church because it ended within the period of the pandemic,” he said.

“So the pilgrim cross is all about doing what we failed to do in the first 500 years, so its name is ‘Pilgrim Mission Cross of the next 500 years and the motto has replanted the cross, replanted the faith, rebuild the nation,” said Reyes. 

On the topmost part of the cross, or above the head of Jesus, was the sun, while three stars, distributed on the left, right, and bottom parts of the cross, stood for the Philippine flag.

“The cross, being a symbol of faith, is no longer the strong, stable, and firm cross; it is now losing its stability and its groundedness. There are many challenges to weakening the Catholic faith.. the Catholic culture, and Catholic spirituality.  This has been a concern of Benedict; the faith is becoming weak and relativized by secularism, consumerism, etc. But for us, there are other factors that we have to look into—why faith weakens,” said Reyes.

Engaging the political leaders
“For me, we fail to engage our political leaders properly.  They are mostly Catholics, but we fail to engage them properly.  Instead of us influencing them, it’s they influencing us.  

The priest stated that it was his opposition to the president's plan to exploit the hierarchy that landed him in difficulty with the hierarchy. To undermine the bishops, he believed the government had tainted the people's funds with corruption.

“Kaya nawala ako, (I hid myself from the public eye) 11 years from 2006 to 2017, because the bishops became uncomfortable and critical of me.  Now, they are not comfortable, but they realized they can’t do anything about me.  I’m not doing anything immoral, uncanonical, unorthodox, or anti-dogma or heretical.  I’m just really being faithful to the social teachings of the church,” said Reyes.