Columban Sister Kathleen Melia: 'Just one more on someone's hit list'

Sr Kathleen Melia SSC [Sunday Examiner]

Columban Sister Kathleen Melia SSC, from County Leitrim, Ireland, was attacked outside her home in Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines, on the evening of Ash Wednesday. She is now recovering in Manila. Below is an article from the 19 March 2017 issue of Sunday Examiner, the English-language weekly of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. It is slightly edited and used with permission.

OZAMIZ CITY (SE): 'The wound in the people’s minds is deeper and more painful than the wounds in the body of Sister Kathleen Melia,' Columban Father Sean Martin from Ozamiz City in the Philippines told the Sunday Examiner after the 70-year-old Columban Sister was bashed in her home on 1 March, Ash Wednesday.

Sister Kathleen has worked among the Subanen people in the hills of Zamboanga for over 30 years and the unexplained attack is being described by the people as one more step in the chain of evil that is maligning their lives.

Sister Kathleen returned home to Midsalip on the afternoon of 1 March. Around 9.30pm she went out to close windows when she was attacked.

A hand was clamped over her mouth and the other hand began choking her, but she was able to get at her attacker’s face and, in protecting himself, he took his hand off her mouth—she screamed. He then thumped her on the chest and she fell the 30 centimetres from the raised pathway, hurting her leg and losing consciousness. He then ran off.

Sister Kathleen lives in a compound of three houses, the other two are community homes for the Subanen people to gather and speak in their own language without being mocked, derided or laughed at by others. After 30 odd years she speaks their language well and the people came to help her, then the police arrived. As people wondered whether the attacker intended to kill or frighten her, the police sent security with her to a hospital in Ozamiz City.

Midsalip

Sister Kathleen needed a blood transfusion, but the search for a donor was arduous and time consuming, with a seminarian eventually having to travel the five hours from Cagayan de Oro to match her B negative blood type. (Fewer than one percent of Filipinos have RH negative blood).

Then a boat trip to Manila, as flying was problematic. The morning boat had not arrived by nightfall, but there was faith it would come eventually.

Fr Sean Martin

Father Martin, who spent many years in Midsalip, says that this is just one act of violence among many in the volatile area of the nation, where the politics of the gun reign, the rich plunder and grow richer and the poor are squeezed out of even the little they have. But this is how politics and industry operate in Mindanao and deaths related to conflict of interest among various groups does not come as a surprise.

Father Martin related that in the previous week, Rosing Arnosa, who ran in the election last May against the incumbent mayor, Leonida Angcap, was shot five times in front of his house in Midsalip around nightfall. Although badly wounded he did not lose consciousness and recognised the gunman, who is now the murderer, as Arnosa later died of his wounds in a hospital in Pagadian City around 1.00am. He believed that the barangay captain, Eduardo Selim, from Matalang, was angry because his son was arrested and charged with being a goon (violent enforcer) for Angcap. Bail was set at Php120,000 (US$2,400, €2,200).

Picketing area in Midsalip

In the small town of Midsalip alone nine people were killed in the run up to the elections in May last year. Four were goons, thugs or hitmen of another mayor and five worked for Conrado Lumacad, who also ran against Angcap.

Father Martin adds that although the mayor has two charges of plunder against her, it does not seem to concern her, even though President Rodrigo Duterte has used some rhetoric about the crime. He seems more intent on killing the poor and did not complain when the congress removed the charge of plunder from the 'Kill Bill' that was passed in the lower house on 7 March.

'But in these remote areas, killing witnesses and scaring opponents is the usual way for powerful people to keep control,' Father Martin explained. He also remembered that Angcap’s son killed five road workers while driving under the influence in the early hours of the morning in 2013, but it was hushed up and did not even make it to the newspapers. He still holds his job with the municipality.

'Plunder, manslaughter with impunity is the name of the game in the world of the mayor and it just increases the brazenness,' Father Martin reflected.

It is all a warning to Sister Kathleen not to stand in the way of mining and logging companies that come to rape the countryside, mostly illegally. She is just one more person on someone’s hit list.

Columban Father Vincent Busch, of Subanen Crafts and seen at the beginning of the video above, recently sent an update on Sister Kathleen's situation. Here is the last part of his report.

On 14 March Sister Kathleen’s operation began at 11am as scheduled.  The surgical team was led by Osteopathologist Doctor Vicente Gomez.  For two hours Dr Gomez tried to take out the old pin that was inserted in her leg during a previous surgery years ago. That pin is now obsolete and the instruments used to extract it were no longer readily available. The doctor knew that the previous pin was old so he asked the manufacturer of the pin for the proper instruments to remove it.  Even with the proper tools the doctor couldn’t remove the old pin.  

He tried alternative instruments but these instruments also did not work.   What he had planned to do was take out the old pin and replace it with a new and longer one. In the end, he inserted the new pin next to the old one.  The old pin had adhered to the bone.   Ordinarily it would have taken only 1 1/2 hours to fix the fracture; instead the surgical procedures lasted from 11am to 6pm.  Sister Kathleen will not be able to put weight on her repaired leg for three months.  She will need to use a walker until the leg and bone have healed and strengthened.

Through all these past three weeks Sister Kathleen has been aware of her situation. She was and remains calmly involved in her recovery.  While in Ozamiz she had many Subanen visitors who have known and worked with her for decades, as well as visitors she knows from Ozamiz.  I visited her every day and on Sunday 5 March 5 celebrated Mass with her in the hospital, with the Columban Sisters of the Ozamiz City community present.

On the morning of 15 March Sister Kathleen had her first therapy session in which she managed to sit on the side of her hospital bed. 

This chronology presents the events following the attack on Sister Kathleen.  It reveals her calm resolve in facing her ordeal, and it brings to light the efforts of the Subanen Ministry and of Columbans, especially the Columban Sisters, to tend to Kathleen’s needs.

Sister Kathleen with friends in Midsalip

Misyon, now MISYONonline.com, the magazine of the Columbans in the Philippines of which I have been editor since October 2002, published an article by Sr Kathleen Melia in the May-June 1998 issue, Mining: Threat to our Tribes.

In an article by Mary Joy Rile, editorial assistant of MISYONonline.com, in the November-December 2011 issue, Hope for Midsalip, Sister Kathleen is quoted: If a Subanen cuts down one tree, he is charged for breaking the law. But what about the loggers who move freely? The Subanens have been oppressed in their own land. When mining is permitted, the companies will claim the land, the water, the trees and the rest. There is no justice here in Midsalip. 

Rice land, Midsalip

God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good (Genesis 1:29-31).

Proposed drilling site, Midsalip

Environment department nominated for most sickening event of the year

The men who risk their lives and livelihoods to protect the environment, (from left) Terso, Richardo, a biologist known as 'Doctor Jong', and Danilo, with Timoay Barlie Balibes and his son Gerry, both of hwom have already paid the ultimate pricne for their dedicated work with their lives.

God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good (Genesis 1:31). We listen to those words every year in the Easter Vigil. They are the fundamental reason we should have profound respect for God's creation, irrespective of any talk about possible environmental disasters. This profound respect is expressed beautifully in God's inspired word in Psalm 104 (103) and in the Canticle of the Three Young Men (Daniel 3:46-90), used in the Church's Morning Prayer on Solemnities, Feasts and on the first Sunday of the four-week cycle.

In the story below it's difficult not to see our Creator being mocked by those who see creation simply as a source to satisfy their greed, even if it involves killing people, as has happened here in the Philippines (photo above), as well as killing part of God's creation.

Pine forest, Benguet, northern Philippines [Wikipedia]

The following article is from the the 13 July edition of Sunday Examiner, the English-language weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Hong Kong. It is featured in the Mabuhay section. Fr Sean Martin, who is extensively quoted, is a Columban priest who has been in Mindanao for almost 40 years.

MIDSALIP (Mabuhay) : If there is an award for the most sickening event of the year, long term missionary to Mindanao, Father Sean Martin, says that he wants to nominate the Department for the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Fr Sean Martin (r) [A Vicious Cycle of Destruction]

He said that its decision to present awards for the National Greening Programme to the big time illegal loggers in Mindanao at a ceremony held in Oroquieta City on June 4 is one of the sickest things he has seen in decades.

“Witnessing this expression of solidarity with those who continually destroy the environment was a depressing experience for the few who continually risk their lives to protect the environment who attended the ceremony,” he told Mabuhay.

Destruction of lowland area of Sierra Madre, Philippines [Wikipedia]

Awards were presented to Nova Wood Forest Industries, Third Millennium Oil Mills Inc., Misamis Occidental Wood Processing Association, Jim Santos, Manuel Animas, Bejamin Lauron, Joy Ong and Jocilyn Capirig.

Father Martin accused each and every one of the award recipients of pretending to protect the environment that in actual fact they are destroying on a daily basis.

He said that each and every one of them is acting in contravention of Executive Order No. 23, which was issued in 2011 by the president, Noynoy Aquino, to safeguard the environment in the rainforests of Mindanao.

Fr Sean Martin with friends in Midsalip [A Vicious Cycle of Destruction]

The order explicitly bans the cutting down of any trees, yet, Father Martin says that the local offices of the DENR routinely issue logging permits for operations in forbidden areas to the very companies and people whom it is now decorating for protecting the environment.

“These people give out permits to cut logs for a huge fee to people who are involved in logging,” the feisty Columban priest says. “The scrap of paper gives a semblance of legality, which is often enough to prevent concerned citizens in rural areas from protecting the environment.”

Midsalip picket area [Hope for Midsalip]

He says that trucks heavily laden with hardwood logs can be seen on a daily basis returning from areas where logging is banned, which in its turn causes more soil erosion and more flooding, while making the dry season longer and the water supply less reliable.

“The cutting of hard wood trees continues, the floods get bigger causing more damage and the dry season gets longer making it harder for poor people to survive,” he said.

He then quoted an indigenous Subaanen person, who lives in a rural area, as saying, “The officials and loggers are blind to the destruction that they are causing.”

He said that the sickening feeling in the stomachs of all people who work to protect the environment in Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur, as well as the members of the Alliance to Save the Integrity of Nature (ASIN) is on a par with those who were subjected to the farcical presentation of awards by the DENR.

Father Martin described how members of ASIN presented themselves to the department over three years ago and asked to be deputised to look after the environment. He added that several of their members gave their complete bio-data, as requested, and were told that they would be notified in the near future.

“But nothing has happened since then, except that relatives of the barangay captains in Sigapod and Matalang in Midsalip, who are involved in logging, have been nominated as the official protectors of the environment,” Father Martin said in disgust.

Sierra Madre mountain range, Philippines [Wikipedia]

He described how this effectively thwarts any attempt by honest officials from the main office in Pagadian City to respond to reports by ASIN when they come to investigate what is really going on.

He said that the barangay captains simply inform their cronies in advance that there will be an inspection and all evidence is hidden.

“The efforts of powerless people to safeguard the environment by planting trees and reporting destruction are ignored,” the Irish missionary says.

He then directly accused officials from the municipal office in Midsalip of cooperating with Nova Woods in conducting illegal logging. 

“Two saws for cutting timber are installed along the main road to Midsalip in Barangay Bakahan (five kilometres from the town) and in Eastern Sominot, about 15 kilometres from the town of Midsalip, where Nova Woods has its truck depot,” Father Martin explained.

He described officials from the DENR as scauldies (young birds in the nest with their eyes closed and their mouths open), waiting for whatever those who can plunder the environment will give them.

“It is often money, like the official from the town of Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental, who clarified during a meeting in 2013 with concerned citizens that his family had a permit to cut trees and had paid hundreds of thousands of pesos for the permit, and so their seven band-saws are operating legally,” Father Martin related.

Filing petition for writ of kalikasan at the Supreme Court [Hope for Midsalip]

The missionary priest says that the worst of the matter is that the damage being done is forever.

He quotes a detailed geological study done by an English mining engineer and a geologist, Clive Wicks and Robert Goodland, as saying, “Past willful negligence of the fundamental connection between natural resources management and food security has cost The Philippines dearly.”

In their study, The Philippines: Mining or Food? Wicks and Goodland say, “As a result of this, the country has suffered from two massive hemorrhages: the loss of most of its forests from the 1950s to the 1980s; and the loss of much of its fisheries since then.”

They point out that the loss leads to a drop in rice production and affects rainfall and water supply.

“The unnecessary and nationally unprofitable loss of forests and fisheries are akin to killing the goose that would have laid golden eggs in perpetuity,” they say, adding that they are the golden eggs that sustain the poorest people in the land.

“The structure of evil is strong,” Father Martin says.

He added that those who protect nature are highly likely to get shot or have their land and possessions destroyed, while those who destroy the environment are in line for government decorations and accolades, which he said mocks both the president and the people in one sickening handshake.

... relatives of the barangay captains in Sigapod and Matalang in Midsalip, who are involved in logging, have been nominated as the official protectors of the environment.

Outside the Supreme Court [Hope for Midsalip]

You may read more about this situation on MISYONonline.com:

A Vicious Cycles of Destruction by John Din;

Hope for Midsalip by Mary Joy Rile.