Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo
The phrase
“preferential option for the poor” came out prominently in the 1970s as a
result of the gathering of bishops of Latin America where so-called liberation
theology supposedly began and took root. Hereabouts in Asia, it was the
Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences that first pushed it although the
spirit behind it is as old as the gospel that Jesus preached and embodied in
the Catholic Church’s encyclicals and in social teachings in centuries past.
It did not
take long for the phrase to become like a motto, a mantra among grassroots
theologians and church workers, many of them suspected as subversives because
they cried out, on behalf of the poor and marginalized, against unjust social
systems and structures.
Why is this
old phrase swirling in my mind at this time? Well, partly because in a few
months Christians of this country will be commemorating the 500th
anniversary of the coming of Christianity to these islands. I leave the pluses
and minuses of that long-ago event for historians, theologians and social
scientists to point out.
The other
thing is something that at first seems remotely related. It is about the outcry
over the illegal acquisition and administration of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine by
the Presidential Security Group. And their defiant Commander-in-Chief,
supposedly out of the loop, defending and justifying the use of the contraband
for his close-in security and even threatening to get in the way of a senate
investigation.
The vaccine contained
in millions of vials is now being rolled out to countries ready to pay. Hereabouts, there is not a clear scenario
from the government on the what, where, when and how much resulting in people
harboring studied skepticism if not nonchalance. Our Asian neighbors have beaten us to it.
But it has been touted that the most vulnerable would be the first in line to get the vaccine, healthcare frontliners foremost among them because as one thinking official said, “We have to vaccinate our healthcare workers so that they can save lives without risking their own.” But not with contraband vaccine, he could have added.
Among the
most vulnerable would be the undernourished poor who are constantly exposed to
all kinds of infections, their supposed hardy immune systems notwithstanding.
“Preferential
option for the poor” certainly applies to this underprivileged sector but in
this country where “preferential option for one’s interests” thrives, one
wonders if the most vulnerable would actually make it to the top of the vaccination
list before the virus gets them first.
Now that it
has been revealed that 100,000 Chinese nationals in the Philippines, most of
them working in gambling establishments, have been also injected with smuggled
vaccine, will they also have the President’s protection? If yes, then that
would be called preferential option for the Chinese, something that grates on
the nerves of Filipinos who’ve had enough of China’s intrusion in Philippine
territory and the Filipinos’ everyday lives.
It is good
to know that Mayor Joy Belmonte of Quezon City (where I live) has signed a
tripartite agreement with the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and
the National Task Force Against Covid-19. This is for the city government to
purchase 750,000 doses that QC citizens can avail of free of charge.
On top of
the priority list are the city’s 10,000 health workers, 300,000 senior citizens
and 20,000 adults with disabilities. A report said that from the city’s 2021
budget P1 billion would be allocated for the vaccine.
And speaking
of the marginalized, it is heartbreaking that when we were about to ring in 2021,
brutal happenings were unfolding among the tumandok
in Panay island. Read about the killings
in https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1379138/house-probe-sought-on-killing-of-9-tumandok-leaders.
Tumandok refers
to the indigenous people of Panay Island. In Mindanao they are referred to as
lumad. Tumanduk is the name of an alliance of 17 indigenous communities in
Iloilo and Capiz provinces.
Many have
fled their homes and are in need of support. Will we be seeing a repeat of the
military-style “hamletting” that was enforced in Mindanao during the Marcos
dictatorship? I dread the thought of it.
If you want
to send help please contact these numbers: 09396325572 or 09489929027. They
belong to people I know.
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