Group Justifies Violence in Christ’s Name

 It has all the trimmings of  a regular soap opera—villains, victims, and a plot that thickens at every turn but not quite enough so as to foretell the episode’s final season.

 

Saying they will refuse even the help of court-appointed lawyers for their defense, members of the group that calls itself Jesus Christ Followers say they will let their students defend them in court, in effect pitting six students aged between 11 and 19 years, against seasoned government prosecutors.

 

Guarded by teams of policemen in combat fatigues and armed with assault rifles, 13 members of  the Jesus Christ Followers, hand-cuffed in pairs, nevertheless remained obstinately defiant when brought to court Tuesday for an inquest proceeding at the office of Prosecutor Lorimer Delima.

 

Charged with direct assault, disobedience to persons of authority, serious physical injury, and obstruction of justice among others, the thirteen were transferred  to the Lumbia City Jail Wednesday, still mouthing threats liberally laced with invective.

 

“We will turn this country upside down,” Emilinda Tiongco, Jesus Christ Followers School owner and one of those arrested, said.

 

Tiongco said they intend to showcase their students as proof of the school’s superior academic standards by letting the six students defend them in court. Calling the state prosecutors “garbage,” Tiongco said the group is confident  that their students, though lacking in legal training, will shame the prosecutors with their eloquence.

 

“We demand that every case (they have) against the JCF be reopened and we demand a public trial,” Tingco added, promising fresh twists to the already week-long drama.

 

Calling themselves modern-day apostles of Jesus Christ, the group’s aims are a curious mix of spiritual doctrines and secular aspirations. The Jesus Christ Followers School was  established  by former Middle East OFWs Onofre and Emilinda Tiongco in 1999. Convinced that the solution to the financial difficulties of the average Filipino is to find work abroad, Onofre Tiongco said they were driven by the desire to provide people with the means, through education, to that end. This and the compulsion to spread an unusual interpretation  of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

 

Contrary to the conventional Christian doctrine of loving your enemies, the group finds violence and acceptable alternative. The group believes Jesus Christ was a violent as well as a non-violent man-god. And violence in response to oppression or perceived oppression is justified according to the group’s interpretation of the Bible. 

 

 This explains the group’s stubborn resistance to authorities. Wielding steel pipes, sticks, rocks and human excrement wrapped in plastic, the group fought local police on Jan 28 leaving three police officers injured and the arrest of twenty-two members of the group, many of whom likewise sustained injuries.

 

The violent confrontation  was triggered by the refusal of school officials to hand over one of their students, a 16-year old, to her parents. The child had sought refuge inside the school compound, where several of the teachers also reside, after quarreling  with her parents. School officials repeatedly  refused to release the child  to relatives  prompting the parents to seek the help of local police authorities.

 

Fourteen JCF students aged between nine and 16 who were inside the school premises when the confrontation took place last Friday were subsequently placed under the custody of the office of the  City Social Welfare and Development. Ten of the 14 were later ordered released to their parents after three days in CSWD custody.

 

Jackson Adonis, whose four children aged 9, 10, 12, and 16 were among those held, questioned the authorities’ reasons for preventing them from getting immediate custody of  their children after Friday’s clash. But he says they have no plans of suing.

 

“I am a jeepney driver. My wife is a market vendor. We can not fight the government,” Adonis said.

 

The clash was the latest of  a series of confrontations that began in 2003. The incident, however, need not have occurred had a previous Department of Education (DepEd) recommendation urging the school’s closure been executed, according to local police officials who wish to remain anonymous. The DepEd had recommended the school’s  closure two years ago after finding the school deficient in complying with DepEd requirements.

 

According to Rosita Cang, Education Supervisor III, DepEd Region 10, the school’s temporary permit to operate had lapsed and school officials, led by owner Emelinda Tiangco and school administrator Rhapsody Dacudao, refused to apply for recognition. The school, too, had adopted a curriculum different from the DepEd-prescribed curriculum for primary and secondary instruction.

 

“This office does not have the right to close schools. We only recommend to the PNP,” Cang said when asked why the JCF school continued to operate two years after the closure order.

 

Cang explained that the DepEd does not have enforcement powers and can only recommend to the proper authorities for appropriate action. She added that she finds the school owner’s refusal to comply difficult to understand considering that any educational institution in the country must as a norm follow the standard requirements for operation. Otherwise, Cang said, schools that do not implement the DepEd guidelines will be denied recognition and as such, graduates as well as students who wish to transfer to another school will not be given credits for courses taken.

 

The JCF school, aside from skirting the DepEd requirements for operation, follow the British curriculum for primary and secondary education, JCF school officials say. But Tiongco admitted that they only lifted their system of instruction from the Internet and there was no direct communication with British educational experts.

 

“We teach subjects that are offered in Britain, we do not follow the DepEd system,” Tiongco said.

 

There are no Filipino subjects, however, as these are deemed not important.

 

“Why do we have to study it when we already know it?” Tiongco said.

 

Tiongco explained that their goal is to produce graduates that will pass the entrance examinations of the best universities in the world. To judge their students competence, Tiongco said instead of the customary 70%, passing mark at JCF is 90% for all subjects.

 

“We are going to raise that to 95% and eventually to 100% and we are not going to graduate any student who can not attain the 100% passing mark?”Tiongco said.

 

With these standards, Tiongco said their system of instruction is far more superior to that prescribed by the DepEd adding that it is the DepEd  that should scrap its own system and adopt the JCF system.

 

But just who constitutes proper authorities for the implementation of DepEd  recommendations for schools operating without licenses is murky. City Police Director S/Supt. Honorio Cervantes of the Cagayan de Oro Police Office (COCPO) said that the police has no direct authority to close schools in the absence of a clear directive from local authorities.

 

 

first published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 27 February 2005

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White Water Rafting in Cagayan de Oro

It is 5:30  on a Monday morning and Rupert Domingo is awakened by the insistent pinging of his cell phone. He had deliberately set the alarm 30 minutes early the night before. He wanted to start early, re-check the equipment, and make sure everything is in order.

He reaches for the phone, turns the alarm off, and swings his feet from  bed and stands somewhat shakily. He really should knock off a can or two from his customary 8 cans. But yesterday was a particularly good run and a guy is, afterall, entitled to some good time with his friends.

He walks to the kitchen and fixes himself a strong cup of coffee. Twelve years, he thinks, and he still gets butterflies in his stomach at the thought of yet another day shooting the rapids.

Soon the rest of the guys from the Cagayan de Oro Whitewater Rafting Adventure Company will begin to arrive at his home which also serves as an office of sorts for the group.

Seven AM. The three other active members of the company—Tata Bioco, Chisum Factura, and Babars Barreto—have arrived together with the two hired jeepneys bearing all the necessary equipment. All are clad in shorts and rubber sandals,  the preferred “office” attire, and a short meeting is called to order by Domingo.

Domingo, the godfather of Cagayan de Oro whitewater rafting and the unspoken leader of the group, begins by asking if any of the two jeepney drivers smoke.

“You cannot smoke the whole time you are with us,” he tells them.

Domingo explains that smokers often pollute the environment without even their knowing it. Most of the guys that make up the CDO White Water Rafting Co., Domingo says, are former smokers but they all quit the habit after realizing the foolishness of proclaiming themselves avid environmentalists one minute and lighting up the next.

Seven thirty. With the briefing done, the group packs into the two jeepneys carrying six rafts. They are joined by two more river guides, friends from the Northern Mindanao Mountaineering Society (NORMMS), and the group proceeds to DV Soria to meet and pick up the day’s clients.

 

The CDO White Water Rafting Adventure Co. was established a decade ago by a group of intrepid outdoorsmen, bonded by years of alcohol-induced camaraderie on mountain top campsites,  whose desire to share the love for the outdoors became the cornerstone of  a thriving business.

All of the incorporators of the company were members of the Northern Mindanao Mountaineering Society (NORMMS) and in between climbs, society members would often try other activities related to mountaineering.

“We began thinking about white water rafting in 1993 after seeing the sport in the Discovery Channel,” says Tata Bioco.

Bioco recalls their first run 12 years ago, from Taguanao to Carmen Bridge (a distance of 8 kilometers), and laughs hysterically with the rest of the group.

“We had no helmets, no life vests,” Bioco says.

“What we had was a Sevylor still-water raft, wooden paddles salvaged from bangkas, and lots of bravado borne out of inexperience,” Bioco says.

“We had so much fun that right after that first run, all of us were hooked on rafting,”Bioco says.

A year later, the group experienced its first flip. By then, they had tried runs from farther up river, where the rapids ranged from challenging to downright crazy, considering that they had no safety equipment whatsoever.

“That first flip, on June 14, 1994, made us realize the value of  having safety gear,” Bioco says.

And so the group scrounged around for life vests (most with names of shipping companies prominently printed in front) and helmets (of the sort worn by BMX riders).  They also made the inevitable decision to buy a raft specifically designed for white water rafting. They bought their first raft, second-hand, for $900 in the US.

The following year, out of the prodding of friends, eight NORMMS members decided to pool their money and invest in a company patterned after the outfitter companies in the US—companies that provide outdoor guides and equipment  for clients, for a fee of course. And so began the Cagayan de Oro White Water Rafting Adventure Company.

Ten years later, from the unbelievably cheap initial fee of P100, the group now charges P1200 per person. With 12 white water rafts, each with a carrying capacity of 9 paying clients, the group averages 3-4 runs per week, year-round. The group also no longer uses what they call “tora-tora” safety gear (gear “requisitioned” from various sources) and has invested in a complete line of safety equipment designed for the perils of white water rafting.

Out of the largesse of white water rafting, the group was able to form Sinkhole Ventures last year, a subsidiary that runs the Macahambus Adventure Park. The park is located at the 150-feet deep Macahambus Gorge, the site of a famous battle between Filipino revolutionaries and American soldiers at the turn of the 20^th century.

But financial success has dulled none of  the group’s core concerns; the group’s passion for the outdoors has lost none of its luster.

“The river is the lifeblood of our business,” Rupert Domingo says.

To minimize the environmental impact of river runs, the group, with the help of local officials and volunteers, regularly conducts river clean-ups twice a month. They also encourage communities along the river to avoid dumping their wastes in the river. Partly to prod local initiative and partly to help uplift the livelihood of locals, the group distributed livestock to various families, most of whom are also porters for their clients, in exchange for their commitment to keep the river clean.

“It is a pity that not too many people realize the ecological importance of this river,” Chisum Factura says.

“Cagayan River serves as a refuge for several plant and animal species,” Factura says.

“Kaingin farming, logging, quarrying, and the irresponsible dumping of untreated sewage all do damage that may prove disastrous in the long term,” Factura says.

 

“Eeeasy, eeasy, easy,” Domingo tells the paddlers in his raft as they approach the last of the 14 rapids. As with each of his 600 runs, his eyes squint in the sunlight, picking out the surest way through the frothing, churning white water. He could feel his muscles, hot with adrenaline, go taut in anticipation of the sudden, frantic, almost hysterical paddling ahead.

“Hard left! Hard left! Hard left!” He calls from astern, quickly adjusting the tempo and direction of his paddling to correct the raft’s course. The raft’s bow rises convulsively as it crests the foaming water and is jarred by another and still another and another till it settles in the water, clear at last of the swirling backwash that would have held it.

All cheer as they hold their paddles high in a gesture of jubilation and, to some large extent, relief. And then the silly, sheepish grins at the sight of each other’s foolish bravado.

It is now 2:30 PM. The last four hours has been one of easy, quiet paddling one moment, so quiet one could almost hear the swish of fish underneath, and thundering, roaring paddle strokes battling the white water the next. Domingo smiles as he watches from his perch the satisfied grins of his clients and he thinks, with luck and good health, he could probably do this till he’s too old to lift an aluminum paddle. He nods to Factura in the next raft, smiles at the river and thinks”, God it’s good to be alive

first published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer

27 March 2005

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