The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN - Episcopal Church in the Philippines

assEt
BasEd
The Philippine
April-July 2012
E p i s c o p a l i a n
VMG 2018
congrEgation /community
dEvElopmEnt: a road map
towards vmg 2018
sIn this Issues
sPB’s Message sThe Point C Spiral sSC Upholds
Ownership sUpdates sEvents sOpinions sABCD sPrayer
for the Nation sNews in Pix

FROM THE PRIME BISHOP “And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
-Joel 2:28-29
Pentecost Message
Go forth and make disciples of all nations”
(Matthew 28:18). This was the great
commission given by Jesus to his disciples
before his ascension. Did the disciples immediately
embark on this given mandate of the risen Christ?
No. They had to wait for the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit promised by Jesus. When this happened on
Pentecost Day, their situation radically changed.
Not only were they given strength and renewal.
They were given courage as well to proclaim the
story of Jesus and they realized deep in their hearts
of the gift and importance of unity to be effective
ambassadors of Him thye were preaching.
In this season of Pentecost, I will fervently pray
for the help of the Holy Spirit to give more vigor
and determination to the Episcopal Church in the
Philippines (ECP) to become more diligent and
courageous in the search for people with vocation
and inclination towards the ordained ministry,
and to encourage and support them to come to
Saint Andrew’s Theological Seminary for training.
I will also fervently pray that all organizations of
the church, lay and clergy, and all its institutions,
national and diocesan, will be enlightened by the
Holy Spirit to work together in perfect cooperation
and collaboration to make easier the achievement
of the mission of God we all would like to achieve,
i.e., the VMG 2018. Lastly, I would fervently pray
and ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit so
thal all Episcopalians in this country will be given
that Pentecostal “tongue of fire” with boldness to
proclaim Jesus with the sole purpose of making
more disciples for our Savior and Lord.
There are many other things I would like to pray
for in relation to our Church not included here.
And you, my sister and brother in the faith, what
would you like to ask from the Holy Spirit in this
Season of Pentecost for the betterment of the life
and work of the ECP? l

The POINT C SPIRAL constitutes the 8th
Phase of the Community Based Development
Program or CBDP of the Episcopal Church
in the Philippines [ECP], which will be implemented
within the three-year period from 1st July 2012 to 30
June 2013.
This particular phase is referred to as the “Point C
Spiral” because it seeks to work with communities and
households as they move from an economic survival
mode [point A] or subsistence [point B] to self-reliance
[point C]. Under the “receivers to givers” policy of the
ECP, partner communities which receive external
resources for particular development projects, are
enabled to eventually raise similar resources and
share the same with other communities in a continuing
spiral of enabling and sharing.
The Point C Spiral adopts the ABCD [asset-based
community development] approach where the assets
and resources of communities are considered the
primary building blocks and determining factors
of sustainable development. This is a complete
reversal of the “needs-based” or “problem-based”
approach that has long characterized development
planning in the ECP. Indeed, while such approach
has been very effective in identifying “deficiencies”
in the communities and in crafting the project that
would directly fill in such needs and thus enabling
communities to gain more access to legitimate
entitlements and economic resources, it oftentimes
also had the effect of furthering dependency and
mendicancy since, by emphasizing needs and
problems, it reinforced communities’ helplessness
about such needs and problems and strengthened
their belief that their only hope in addressing them
are external resources.
The differences between the two approaches are as
follows:
Needs Based Approach Asset-Based Approach
Focuses on community
“deficiencies”, what are
lacking in community
resources and capacities
THE POINT C SPIRAL
Phase VIII of the Community Based Development Program
of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines
Focuses on community
“strengths and
achievements” in terms
of resources, skills and
relations
Relies on external
resources and experts
Community members
are “consumers” of
development goods and
services
Relies on community
resources and skills to
drive development action
Community members
are “producers” of
development goods and
services
CBDP’s adoption of the ABCDP approach shall be
complemented by the aforecited policy of the ECP
entitled “From Receivers to Givers”, which seeks to
transform communities from receivers of external
resources to givers, who are able to share positive
results [consisting of a portion of proceeds or income,
skills and experiences] of their projects with other
communities. Under the new program, a variation of
this policy was made so that “grant backs” made by
a participating community shall first be utilized within
such community to support other internal initiatives.
Upon attainment of self-reliance, the community is then
positioned to share with and give to another community
in the latter’s pursuit of a similar thrust.
The goals of the Point C Spiral are: a] to partner
with households and/or communities for the purpose
of enabling them to attain a certain economic level
that assures a stable source of livelihood sufficient to
meet basic needs; 2] to enhance, hand in hand with
the economic improvement thrust, the communities/
households’ values of sharing, caring and witnessing
as well as gender awareness and environmental
stewardship, and, 3] to mobilize institutional assets
and resources and broaden networks to ensure the
successful implementation of the CBDP Mission.
Goal No. 1 covers the desired results of the program
in terms of actual improvement in the socio-economic
conditions of participating communities. It shall be
measured quantitatively in terms of actual increase in
income and livelihood and employment opportunities
that are particularly valued. Goal No. 2 refers to
the qualitative aspect of sustainable development.
Improvement in socio-economic conditions must not
be pursued at the expense of positive values that
nurture a community. Goal No. 3 refers to the desired
improvements internally within the CBDP organization.
The PoinT C SPiral.......continued on page 4
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PoinT C SPiral ....from page 3
Thus, it covers improvements among staff, volunteers
and leaders as well as the capacities of the organization
itself.
The components of the program are:
A] ABCD PROCESS
This process is intended to prepare the ground for
developmental action. With the change in approach
from “needs-based” to “asset-based”, this process is
the most critical as it involves a complete reversal of
long-held perspectives and expectations. When ECP
first implemented this approach, many communities
balked at the process, insisting instead that the Church
immediately discloses how much it can give to address
community needs and problems. Some community
leaders even accused CBDP staff of wasting the time
of the people by doing a process that is completely out
of their expectations and have actually walked out of
meetings.
The process therefore requires time and patience in
engaging and convincing communities to reflect on
the “dependency-creating” ways of working to which
they are so used and attempting to look at another
way of looking at a realities and challenges”– “from a
half-empty to a half-full cup”. It is process that looks
at “God’s abundance” that are extant within – those
assets and resources, often unrecognized, that are
found within communities and to explore opportunities
that such assets can create and/or bring about. It is
these identified assets and resources that then drive
the development process.
ABCD process starts with a series of bible studies
which are intended to show that Christians are
mandated to engage with each other and with the world
from an ABCD approach. For example, in the story of
the feeding of the five thousand, when Jesus Christ
was faced with the challenge of feeding the multitude
who have gathered to listen to his teachings, his first
question was, “What have we got?” Also, in the Five
Talents story, everyone is commanded to appreciate
his or her talents and capacities and connect the same
with those of neighbours in order to move communities
forward. And Jesus emphasized gifts and capacities
that were abundant in the least likely people – beggars,
prostitutes, tax-collectors, little children, etc.
The ABCD process then moves on to gathering and
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The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN
sharing stories on how the participating community has
similarly utilized its gifts and capacities to nurture and
strengthen itself. In this story-telling process, people
experience a “rediscovery” – an appreciation of the “halffull”
reality that they have actually connected with each
other and come up with creative actions to move their
community forward. Story-telling can be done within
small and informal groups but a community gathering
is eventually convened to validate and summarize the
stories, usually as part of the asset-mapping exercises
[that follows the story-telling process].
While the story-telling process is going on, active and
committed community leaders are spotted and invited
to form a core-group that will facilitate the succeeding
processes of ABCD. This group will work with the
CBDP staff in the task of documentation, organizing
meetings, doing preparatory inquiries and connecting
the households with each other. It will also assist the
CBDP staff and volunteers in baseline data gathering
which is also done simultaneously with the story-telling
process.
The next step is mapping the capacities, strengths,
assets and resources of the community, its individual
members, associations and institutions. This is an
extensive process, using various tools such as: “Gifts
of the Hand, Head and Heart”, “Categorizing Skills”,
etc. to look into individual gifts and skills; “transectmapping”
to identify physical assets and natural
resources; analysis of local economy; inventory of
associations, etc.
The mere identification of local gifts, capacities and
resources can be liberating and empowering as it gives
some sense of thanksgiving and pride and opens up
the community to vast possibilities. The asset-mapping
exercise however is more than just listing of data. The
more crucial part is how to engage people so that they
would be committed and willing to contribute such gifts
and resources towards the common good. In today’s
economic environment which is fixated with economic
gain or advantage, there is a strong tendency for people
to look at every economic activity as an opportunity
to advance personal interests. For example, an
individual would readily list his or her vehicle as a
ready resource for mobility within the community but
is actually expecting that he or she would be paid by
any community project which would utilize the vehicle,
Point C Spiral ......continued on page 16

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS
ECP OWNERSHIP OF SAGADA
PROPERTY
The Episcopal Church is the true owner and lawful
possessor of all its lands in the town center of
Sagada, Mountain Province. This was declared
by the Supreme Court in a decision promulgated on
June 27, 2012 which has finally wrote finis to a 23year
old controversy that has become the most closely
followed legal proceeding in the municipality. A contrary
judicial finding would have opened the floodgates
for private claims against various portions of Church
property not only in Sagada but in other places in
Northern Luzon.
What was involved in the legal case were three
parcels of land separately located in various portions of
the Church property in Sagada which the family of the
late Ambrocio Decaleng forcibly entered and claimed
as their own way back in 1987. Despite several
representations and appeals for them to vacate the
subject parcels, the family stood their ground and even
sold one parcel. Complicating the matter, several other
families in Sagada subsequently came out claiming
ownership of other portions of the Church property.
The Church was compelled to sue the said parties in
the regional trial court of Mountain Province to stop
them from further occupation and cultivation of these
claimed portions but in a decision in January 1995
which stunned the entire constituency of the Episcopal
Church, the said court ruled that the Decalengs
were the rightful owners and possessors of the three
portions of land. Further, it also ruled that the Church
has not acquired ownership of the Sagada property,
except for those portions where its buildings actually
stood, thus lending legitimacy to the claims of all other
private claimants. Such ruling of the trial court further
emboldened additional parties who subsequently came
up with a joint declaration that much of the property
being claimed by the Church in Sagada is accordingly
owned by them.
On appeal to the Court of Appeals, the decision
of the trial court was reversed and the appellate court
instead held that the Church is the true and real owner
of the entire property covered by its certificate of title
and approved survey plan. This decision of the Court
of Appeals however did not deter the claimants from
continuing their bold assertion of ownership of the
disputed portions.
When the Church
attempted to repair
its building known
as “Doctors’
Quarters” to
improve the
residence of
doctors of St.
T h e o d o r e ’ s
Hospital, the
Decaleng family
Inside the famous St Mary’ the Virgin
Episcopal Church, Sagada
blocked the entry of carpenters and effectively stopped
the renovation work. Similar efforts to develop the said
portion were also questioned and obstructed by them.
Meanwhile, the Decalengs brought their case
to the Supreme Court. Forty-six other families followed
and similarly filed a petition before the court of last
resort. Ordinarily, the Supreme Court entertains only
cases that involve legal issues as it is not a trier of facts.
In the appeal of the Decalengs and the forty six other
families however, the said Court made an exception
and returned to the evidence on record to make its own
evaluation. Thus, it took the court almost six years to
decide the case. Finally, in the aforecited decision, it
resolved to dismiss the petition of said private parties
and to affirm the decision of the appellate court which
declared the Church as the true and real owner of
all its properties in Sagada poblacion covered by its
certificate of title and approved survey plan. The court
found that these documentary evidences as well as
other proof of ownership presented in the trial court
were more than sufficient to establish the right and
interest of the Church in the said property.
Lawyer Floyd Lalwet, counsel for the Episcopal
Church, reiterated his declaration before the Supreme
Court that the said Church is seeking to recover
the property from the private claimants not for the
satisfaction of some institutional purposes of its own.
Rather it is for the benefit of the whole municipality and
people of Sagada who use the property for various
public purposes as well as those thousands of visitors
who come to seek and enjoy invaluable offerings of
peace of mind in the place. The signage appearing
in most local Episcopal Churches which reads, “The
Episcopal Church Welcomes You” most aptly conveys
the institutional policy that Church lands and premises
are wide open for the use, enjoyment and rest and
comfort of all pilgrims in this journey of earthly life.
[Episcopal News Service]
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN 5

6
News Updates
Newest ECP Diocese Convenes
Primary Convention,
Elects Casimina First Bishop
“AND ON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH…”
Matthew 16:18.
Guided and inspired by Jesus’ declaration to
Peter many centuries ago, 60 lay and clergy
delegates trooped to Davao City to lay the
initial foundation of the newest diocese of the Episcopal
Church in the Philippines.
The Episcopal Diocese of Davao officially
convened its Primary Convention at St. Philip and St.
James Episcopal Parish and the Davao Episcopal
Mission Center, Matina, Davao City on June 27-29,
2012 highlighted by two landmark decisions--- to
approve the Constitution and Canons and adopt its
official name: the Episcopal Diocese of Davao (EDD).
The new episcopal jurisdiction which is the
seventh in the ECP is carved out of the Episcopal
Diocese of Southern Philippines covering mostly the
southern and northeastern portion of Mindanao and
the island of Cebu, including the other Visayan islands.
In the same Primary Convention, EDD duly
elected the Rev. Jonathan L. Casimina as its first
diocesan bishop. Fr. Casimina, 46, was chosen on the
fourth ballot over his closest rival, The Rev. David B.
Tabo-oy, when he garnered a concurrent majority from
the clergy and lay delegates voting separately. Two
other nominees – The Rev. Johnny Labasan and The
Rev. Tony Mokudef – were dropped from the race after
consistently getting less than 20% of the concurrent
votes of both orders in three consecutive ballotings.
The bishop-elect hails from St. Francis Parish,
Nuro, Upi, Maguindanao, one of the oldest parishes of
the ECP. Born on April l4, l966, he is the youngest of
five children of Herminigildo D. Casimina (deceased)
and Elena T. Labasan. Fr. Casimina was a consistent
honor pupil since his grade school at the Nuro
Central Elementary School. He proceeded to take his
secondary education at St. Francis High School also in
Upi and graduated as the Class Salutatorian in 1984.
Inspired by the commitment and religiosity of
his grandmother, the late Valentina T. Labasan and the
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN
then seminary intern Rex B. Reyes, Jr., he decided
to enter the ministry right after graduation from high
school. He took up Associate in Arts at Trinity College
of Quezon City then proceeded to St. Andrew’s
Theological Seminary for his theological studies. He
finished his Bachelor in Theology at SATS in l990.
Aside from his present assignment as rector
of the St. Philip and St. James Episcopal Parish, Fr.
Casimina’s other stints in the ministry included: St.
Bartholomew’s Mission, Kiga, Upi, Maguindanao;
All Saints’ Mission in Timanan, South Upi; and All
Saints’ Mission in Malitbog, New Corella, Davao. In an
interview, the soon-to-be youngest addition to the ECP
House of Bishops expressed that he plans to lead the
diocese in “fulfilling the goal of Vision 2018 and beyond
as a solemn faith commitment to propagate the Gospel
and proclaiming the Kingdom of God.”
He also said that the fledgling diocese, which
may be the smallest in membership but the biggest in
geographical area, needs to commence its ministry
with immediate concerns to putting up its basic
infrastructure and physical plant. Further, he, together
with the other duly constituted bodies of the church,
will identify and appoint qualified and faith-driven staff
to serve as the “forefront ministers” of the new diocese.
According to Bishop Danilo L. Bustamante,
who has opted to remain as bishop of the continuing
diocese, the new bishop may be installed as early
as September this year as soon as a majority of the
ECP bishops and their respective diocesan standing
committees shall have given their consent for the
solemn occasion.
Bishop-Elect Casimina is of Ilocano parentage
but he can fluently converse in Tagalog, English,
Cebuano, aside from Ilocano – all prevalent languages
spoken in the new jurisdiction. He is happily married to
Jennifer O. Apostol, a government employee working
as Administrative Officer IV
of Upi Agricultural School
– Provincial Technical
Institute of Agriculture.
They are blessed with
two children: Jan Paolo, a
second year high school
student and Jan Joshua
who is on his fourth grade.
– (by George G. Gewan, Sr)
The Reverend Jonathan L Casimina, Bishopelect
of the new Episcopal Diocese of Davao

SKEP EDNL MEETS IN
ASSEMBLY 2012
Faced with fund shortage, 110 young people from
all over the diocese came together for their 2012
Biennial Diocesan Youth Assembly and Camp at
Advent Church, Balantoy, Balbalan, Kalinga on May
28 – 31, 2012 with the theme “Lord Teach Us: Make
us Faithful Disciples”. The four days gathering once
again became a venue for the youth of the diocese for
Corporate prayer; learning [from inputs on Discipleship
and Stewardship]; for sharing through workshops and
fellowship games and for service through community
work. Set in the context of the ECP Vision 2018, the
workshop, business and planning sessions resulted to
a 4-tiered activity to which the SKEP-EDNL committed
to undertake for the next biennial. They are, 1.
Commitment to the Church [in terms of Altar Guild;
Sunday School Volunteers; Choir; Lay Readers]; 2.
Commitment to Members [Bible studies and fellowship
and ministry to inactive youth]; 3. Commitment to
environment/community [tree planting programs] and
4. Commitment to Raise funds [strengthening of the
Diocesan Youth Endowment Fund and Annual Dues
program with the addition of the “Piso a Sunday
Program”]. This years’ youth gathering ended with
a solemn closing service where the message of
challenge from the father of the diocese, the Rt. Rev’d.
Renato Abibico was read and the new set of SKEP –
EDNL officers were commissioned and inducted.
/padijunjun
Youth delegates to the EDNL Biennial Youth Assembly & Camp
Diocesan Events
EDNP GRADUATES 2,111
VCS PUPILS THIS SUMMER
By: Padi Lioba Agnapan-Achawon
This summer, the Episcopal Diocese of Northern
Philippines graduated the highest number
of children who participated in the Vacation
Church School(VCS) Program compared to the
number of graduates in the previous years. There was
a total of 2,141 children who graduated, a total of 199
volunteer teachers and a total of 53 local churches
who participated coming from all the seven deaneries
in the diocese.
Last year, we had a total number of 1,714 children,
187 teachers and 47 churches who participated
in this particular program. Indeed, the increase of
children, volunteer teachers and churches taking part
in the spiritual formation of children through the VCS
program is an indication of spiritual growth in terms
of sacrificially providing resources (like finances,
donations for food and snacks, other materials)
voluntarily giving their time and talents in serving the
children as well as moral support from the people in
the local churches.
It is very inspiring to note that the Vacation Church
School Program despite all the problems encountered
such as lack of volunteer teachers, facilities, etc. has
been remedied to facilitate the program annually. This
manifests that this program can really be done if we all
contribute our resources- time, talents and gifts for the
purpose. In various ways, we are putting into practice
our responsibilities as stewards of God in this earth.
On behalf of the diocese and the members
of the Christian Education Committee, we wish to
thank and congratulate all those who in one way
or the other contributed to the success of our VCS
Program. We wish to congratulate and give thanks
especially to the St. Alfred’s and St. Hilary’s Church
Young People in Tambuan and Dandanac, Besao
who volunteered to climb the mountains to teach the
children in the remote area of St. Cyril’s Mission in
Bab-asig, Patiacan, Quirino, Ilocos Sur. As a result of
these young people’s desire to serve in the church, 72
eDnP GraDuaTeS 2,111....continued on page 10
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN 7

SKEP Celebrates the 8th National
Youth Assembly, with a cold touch.
One of the opportunities that a youth in the
church should never let pass is attending
a national youth gathering, and one is the
National Youth Assembly. A nation-wide event that
gathers all the youth leaders of the church from the
various diocese of the ECP, once every three years, to
come together as one, to forge ideas, have fellowship,
share experiences, learn from each other, all for the
betterment of the Samahan ng Kabataang Episcopal
sa Pilipinas (SKEP), the youth organization of the
Episcopal Church in the Philippines (ECP).
This triennium, the 8th National Youth Assembly was
held on the 16th to 20th of April 2012, carrying the
theme “SKEP as faithfull witnesses to Vision 2018”.
We were all blessed to have done it at the Benguet
State University Buguias Campus, Loo, Buguias,
Benguet, said to be, one of the coldest parts of the
country that made us escape the summer heat on our
respective places of origins. However, this didn’t hold
back the participants, from taking a feel of the ice-cold
water, on their morning bathes.
The young people had some serious talk during the
Business session; one might not imagine finishing it,
with some already dozing off and boredom striking
us one by one like cupid looking for a heart to dart.
Youthful strategies came to the rescue, making
us manage to carry through, especially during the
Constitution and By-Laws Amendments if you may
ask, that was set on the sleepy hours of the afternoon
on the 2nd day. Laughter created by pun-intended
jokes that most of the old people (known as tanders for
us SKEP) can relate to made it even more enjoyable
for the young people. Some highlights during the said
CBL Amendments portion are; the (1) placing an age
bracket of SKEP members ranging from 13 yrs. old to
35 yrs. old, (2) to still include the single parents who are
still willing to join the SKEP, (3) a new Article describing
the SKEP Organizational Structure, (4) lessening of
the voting members of the NCSMSJ from 10 to 5, (5)
stating 18 yrs. old as the lower limit of the age of the
SKEP Executive Committee, and (6) merging of the
Constitution and the By-Laws for it to be more concise
and simple. It is terrific to know that the resolutions
coming from the participants are getting more and
more serious and excellent with every assembly that
passes. Some highlights: (1) there will be a creation
of an Assembly Journal, one that is comparable to the
8
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The 8th NYA participants and staff with the Most Rev. Edward
Malecdan on the 4th day of the Assembly.
Journals made every after a Diocesan Convention,
(2) concerns for the Youth Sunday were also brought
such as that there must be a Liturgical Guide for it
and Guidelines on its proper celebration, (3) on the
Diocesan level, it was resolved to allocate budget
per Diocese coming from the National SKEP for their
activities and (4) to have an Altar Guild Trainings every
Diocese.
On the third day of the Assembly, the SKEP had an
exposure to the various places that face issues on
mining and farming and problems related to it. It has
opened our minds to the reality of what our fellow
Filipinos are experiencing; their grief, sadness, and
struggle to defend their rights and of how Mother Earth
is being slowly ruined. Now for the lighter side of it, we
were amazed greatly, especially the ones who are used
to the hot weather in the metro, with the wet, misty,
smoky and 0 visibility fog (just an exaggeration) that we
saw, on our way going to our respective destinations
and coming back to the University, while riding at the
back of our dump truck (no, this is not an exaggeration)
after the day-long exposure.
The election of officers for the next triennium, 2012-
2015, placed new faces to lead the National SKEP and
they are as follows;
President: Maria Adelina Wandag (EDS)
Secretary: Kairos William Anggadol (EDSP) ‎
Treasurer: Oliver Ybas (EDCP)
Auditor: Charles Gawidan (EDNCP)
Adviser: CS Gideon Bustamante (EDSP)
Chaplain: Dcn. Ronald Bantas (EDNCP)
SKeP CelebraTeS.....continued on page 10

St James HS Burning!
A PART OF ST. JAMES WAS BURNED TO ASHES
BUT ITS TRUE GEM WILL SHINE FOREVER
St. James High School is burning! This was the
shocking message conveyed by the loud and
crazy ringing of the school bell at about 8:30
pm on 2nd June 2012, a dark and foggy night in the
midst of Typhoon Ambo that has brought heavy rains
over the eastern parts of Luzon. People heard the bell
and ran to the school where a ball of fire has already
enveloped a wing of the L-shaped main building.
St. James’ main building was burned! This structure,
housing the administration office and faculty lounge,
convention hall, classrooms, kitchen, workshop and
canteen, was totally turned into ashes. Gone were
those walls, halls and corners on which were etched
hundreds of thousands of memories dearly treasured
by faculty, students, parents and administrators who
have roamed the place for the past 99 years. Despite
the typhoon, there were no rains that particular hour
and the sky has cleared. But the faces of the multitude
which have gathered on the ground were drenched
with tears as they stood helpless amidst the raging
inferno.
Mr. Norman Tamulong, SJHS teacher-in-charge who
resides in a cottage about 200 meters away from the
building, recalled that he heard furious dog barking
outside at a little past 8 pm. As was his practice,
he went outside to inspect and noticed something
seemingly flickering inside the canteen on the first
floor of the main building. Peering from a window, he
saw fire creeping at a corner but the door was locked
and nobody was inside. Thinking he can put off the
flame, he rushed back home to get his key but when
he returned the fire was already on the wall. He ran
to the school bell to announce the incident and then
rushed to the administration office on the second
floor where he opened the files and got the student
records from the early 80s up to the latest graduate
and brought them out. By the time he went back he
could no longer enter the office as fire was eating up
the entire L-wing. People started coming but a wall of
fire has blocked entry to the office and faculty lounge
which contained historical documents, student records
and class graduation pictures displayed on the walls.
While the fire raged to the other parts of the building,
people arrived from the barangays of Kin-iway, Payeo,
Before the fire.....
......after
Padangaan, Besao East and West and as far as Soquib
and Banguitan on the eastern side of the municipality
and Agawa and Lacmaan on the west. They formed
long lines from water sources and did a relay of pailed
water with the objective of saving the other building
located above the burning one. Aided by a firetruck
from nearby Sagada municipality, they were able to
keep this building intact.
THE BEGINNINGS
St. James School first became a speck in the
wide expanse of Besao mountains in 1913
when an Episcopal missionary, Deaconess
ST JameS...... continued on page 11
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN 9

SKeP CelebraTeS ..... from page 8
As the days passed and the Assembly nears its end,
we all shared the same mixed emotions of happiness
and sadness. Happy because the Assembly that
made us haggard will finally conclude, the goals that
we have set beforehand were attained, and that the
whole thing was another fulfilment and experience for
the members of the SKEP. Sad, for we have to say
goodbye to the centralized air-conditioning system
the place has offered, sad for it will take another year
or two before we gather again as a big group and sad
for we have to say goodbye to the new friends we
have made along the way, but you know what they
say, the hardest thing about hello is goodbye.
The Assembly once again proved that the young
people in the church are a voice to be heard, a driving
strong force to be reckoned, and a mind that wants to
partake in the development of the church and of the
society.
To every individual and institution that helped in
making the 8th National Youth Assembly a success:
a toast to all of you! Words could not express our
deepest gratitude. To every youth in this country, that
we may be successful in continuing our every step
in this lengthy journey towards Vision 2018. And a
freezing KUDOS to all of us!
/by Kairos Anggadol and Maria Adeline Wandag
The SKEP officers of the past and next triennium, from the L;
CS Gideon Bustamante, Kairos Anggadol, Benny Mendoza,
Maria Adelina Wandag, Oliver Ybas, Larry Chase Gayag-a, and
Charles Gawidan.
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eDnP GraDuaTeS 2,111....from page 7
Selected VCS pupils present a number during the closing program
children were blessed with the VCS program this year.
It is also worth mentioning that the local churches
located in far-flung areas like Butbut, Loccong, Basao,
Bugnay and Tulgao in the municipality of Tinglayan,
Kalinga were able to conduct VCS classes in their
respective areas even if some of their volunteer VCS
teachers who were mostly young people did not join the
Teachers’ orientation last April. Again, may God bless
their generous ministry to our children in Tinglayan.
We hope and pray that eventually, all our churches
will take this program as a continuing challenge to
pursue. It is always a joy to serve the children for the
Lord. As our young people who always volunteer as
teachers for the children’s ministry, “Aye, makaan nan
bannog no ilaen nan ado ay o-ngong-a ay maki-oskila.”
Artworks of VCS participants

ST JameS.....from page 9
Anne Hargreaves, arrived to become the first resident
missionary in the area. At that time, Episcopal Church
mission which opened in the area with a first service
in 1906 was already established at a place, now the
poblacion barangay called Kin-iway, and which was
then about a kilometer away from the nearest village.
Villages surrounding the mission center were deeply
entrenched in an indigenous way of life, that has
evolved over hundreds of years and where political and
social decisions affecting the community were made
by a council of old men. How a lady missionary was
able to bring forth the idea of a school to the attention
of these elders, whose only concept of learning or
formation was for children to join their parents daily
in working the rice and camote fields, was a story in
itself, especially interesting in today’s gender advocacy
work where the role of women in development of
communities is being emphasized. 99 years ago, this
lady literally “pushed and pulled” with parents and the
feared old men, some even with bolos and sharpened
sticks stuck in their g-strings ready to be used against
an enemy, to get children to a thatched structure which
served as the church in the area and which she called
a school. Incumbent Episcopal Prime Bishop Edward
P. Malecdan, the Church’s historian, noted that it was
the first co-educational Episcopal school in the country
and when it opened on 2nd March 1913, the deaconess’
“headhunting” forays into the villages to get enrollees
bore fruit as 24 curious children paraded to its grounds
at opening day. Recalling the report of the deaconess
published in the Episcopal Journal of Convention in
1913, the bishop noted that the number of enrollees
soon increased to 38 boys and 23 girls or a total of 61
in a week. At one time, she had to “refuse admittance
to as many as 19 boys in one day”, as they could
not be accommodated in the thatched structure. This
structure, with grass roof over wooden walls and dirt
floor with stone seats, was the forerunner of the edifice
that would soon rise and later burn 99 years after. For
almost 14 long years, Deaconess Hargreaves waged
a daily battle with the villages whose grudging respect
she would later earn. Stories of how every morning she
would make a headcount of the little girls and boys she
had pulled out from their homes and when some of
them had ran away or had been “stolen” back by their
parents in the middle of the night, she would set forth
to look for them, many times wading in the wet paddies
to “snatch” the run-aways from their parents. In the
end, she emerged victorious as the little school with
the thatched roof thrived and soon “graduated” Igorot
children who would later find their mark in the bigger
world. So deep was her affection for her pupils that she
chose to be buried in the place where she would, even
up to this time, cherish that victory. Her successor, Rev.
Vincent Gowen, writing in his diary in 1927, recalled
the work of the deaconess in the following words:
“Yet, there were echoes of life. Beyond the thin walls the
steady, drenching rain could not muffle completely the
clatter of classes in progress. Balconies looked down
on a sala, an all-purpose sala that could serve (I was
soon to discover) as classroom, chapel, or dance-hall.
In earlier days, the formidable little English deaconess
who had founded this mission and, uncowed by priest
or bishop, ruled the L-shaped building she called, with
cockney aspirates, her ‘little h-ell,’ had utilized these
balconies to house the girls in her charge. They had
addressed her as “Ina” – Mother. She was dead now,
buried in the Campo Santo under a stone cross visible
from the upstairs windows when the mist cleared. Her
spirit lived on. It pervaded the chattering informality
of a building more home than school, filled it with her
deep personal concern for her Igorot children, with
love that spread out to the village, to the old men and
women whom she petted or cajoled or scolded with a
salty vigour they respected and adored.”
Gowen arrived with his family at St. James in 1927
and continued the school, setting off a “golden age”
of mission work in the area. In his writings on ECP
history, the Prime Bishop notes that part of the work
of the Episcopal missionaries, despite their sincerity
and good faith to preach the Good News, had some
disastrous effects on native communities as it was
premised on the said missionaries’ view that the
Igorots were “worse than primitive people living in a
world of darkness”. However, as revealed in his diary
published in a book, From Sunrise to Sunrise, Gowen
had a completely different worldview and perspective.
He wrote,
“The time was to arrive when the dearest privilege I
could think of was to call Besao home and to have its
people welcomed me as one who belonged.”
Bishop Malecdan noted that “no missionary has ever
lived in an Igorot home, appreciated the Igorot food,
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worn Igorot clothing.” He said that according to the
missionaries Christian faith was supposed to be
embraced and practiced in the setting of the western
way of life. Christianity was supposed to come hand
in hand with western civilization and so the natives, in
order to be converted into the Christian fold, had to
completely shed off their indigenous cultural ways. For
example, a headmaster of another Episcopal school
in Baguio at that time said, “They [referring to Igorot
children] must stay in our dormitories until living like an
Igorot to them becomes an impossibility.” For Gowen
to recognize the Igorot way of life and to even take pride
in being welcomed as one who belonged was indeed
revolutionary at his time. His view on the education of
the Igorots was equally ground-breaking. He said,
“In a single generation we had to ferry these Mountain
people across four thousand years. We did not intend
by this process to create imitation Americans. We did
little to raise, or to interfere with, their standard of living.
Undoubtedly the change would come, but it must come
of their own volition, and no sooner than they were able
to support it. We did not wish these students to turn
their backs on their own past, nor to accept without
discriminating judgment the novelties – often the most
uncultured novelties – of Western culture. They must
choose their own destiny. In the process they were
encouraged to examine their own customs, to appraise
them, and determine what should be retained, what
adjusted, what discarded. Similarly, they were to figure
out what customs from the West could be valuable,
what harmful. Only clear-headed, unbiased teaching
could them make these decisions prudently.”
This is the Gowen legacy that St. James has proudly
bannered through all these years and which has
made it a strong advocate of peoples’ right to selfdetermination.
A CENTER OF ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
The thatched church structure which served as St.
James School had seen improvements over the years
and soon the church building was separated from
the school. Just after the war, a one-storey wooden
school building would replace the thatched structure
and later, additions were made until it became a twostorey
edifice with an L-shaped wing, that was named
the Rev. Vincent Gowen Building. With the school’s
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growing enrolment, another building was constructed
above this main building to house more classrooms.
This building was named Deaconess Hargreaves
Hall. In the meantime, as government opened
public elementary schools in the villages, St. James
became a secondary school, graduating its first batch
of seniors in 1969. It was in these buildings that St.
James evolved as a center of academic excellence. It
had a 96% average passing rate in the (then) National
College Entrance Examination [NCEE] and in 1977, a
senior student got the highest national rating of 99.9%
that remained un-surpassed up to the discontinuation
of the said examination. It distinguished itself as the
producer of scholars and academic top-notchers
and in recent years, it made back-to-back sweeps of
the top awards in almost all categories in the annual
Mountain Province Math and Science Festival. In
the 2009 Festival, the school garnered all the 1st
and 2nd places in all year levels for private schools
in Science-Damath. Likewise, in the Science Quiz,
it got the 1st and 2nd places in the first year level,
2nd and 3rd places - second year level, 1st and 3rd
places - third year level and 1st and 4th place - fourth
year level. In Damath, the school got the 1st places in
the second and third year levels and the 3rd and 2nd
places in the first and fourth year levels, respectively.
For the Math Quiz for both public and private schools,
SJHS was over-all champion for 1st and 3rd year
levels. The high-achievers went to compete in the
Cordillera Regional Science and Math Festival and
brought home three (3) 1st places [First and Third
Year levels in Science Damath and First Year Collage
Making], three (3) 2nd places [First and Third Year
Levels in Science and Third Year Level in Math], two
(2) 3rd places [Second Year Level Science-Damath
and Fourth Year Level Science], and one (1) fourth
placer in Science-Damath [Fourth Year]. Two of the
top placers in Science-Damath represented CAR in
the national quiz and one of them landed in the top
ten.
The following year [2010], St. James repeated the
feat in the province when it captured the top awards
in almost all categories in Science and Math. It swept
the Science Quiz for private schools, capturing the
first place in all year levels and garnered the top
spot in all year levels in Science-Damath also for
private schools. The schools’ academic top-notchers
represented the province at the regional festival
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and two of them bagged the first prizes, earning the
right to represent CAR at the national competitions
where they eventually both landed in the top ten. [At
the Teachers’ Congress in August 2011, DEP-ED –
Mountain Province announced that it was scrapping
the academic festivals.] Last March 2012, the school
got the top awards in two out of four competition levels
in the Mountain Province Math Challenge sponsored
by the DEP-ED, MTAP and the METROBANK
FOUNDATION.
The plaques of awards and certificates of merit proudly
announcing such academic achievements were
displayed in the walls of the administration office and
have burned to ashes forever.
A MISSION-ORIENTED INSTITUTION
Being a school of the Episcopal Church in the
Philippines, St. James shares the latter’s vision of
establishing a caring, witnessing and mission-oriented
community of faith. In numerous occasions, the school
was able to demonstrate that this vision is not just
some nice-sounding statement written in its walls.
Notable of these demonstrations of vision commitment
was its position on a certain issue that almost led to its
closure. Being the only high school in the municipality
since 1956, it had a captive clientele, thus averaging
480 students annually and reaching a peak of 530 in
the early 1980s. In the late 1990s, however, a public
secondary school, later officially constituted as the
Besao National High School [BNHS], was opened
right in the poblacion about 300 meters away from St.
James. This led to a drastic reduction of enrollment
and by the early 2000s, St. James’ average student
population went down to 230. But rather than oppose
or question the opening of the public school which
was “eating” into its student population, it threw its
full support to the same, considering such opening as
one of the good things that has ever happened to the
country in terms of education in the last decade of the
century. In 2001, the (then) congressman for the lone
district of Mountain Province, who was making a priority
listing of public high schools for regular inclusion in
the General Appropriations Act, consulted St. James
about the priority that should be given to the BNHS.
The congressman, who was expecting St. James to
express its position along its institutional interest so that
it would justify his putting BNHS in the last priority, was
surprised to hear that the latter was strongly pushing
for high priority in budgeting for its public school
counterpart. Thus, BNHS landed in the congressman’s
top 5 priorities. More significantly, as the government
opened additional public schools in the municipality but
did not have the budget to construct school buildings,
the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines, which
was then directly managing St. James, turned over
to the Department of Education the St. James High
School Annex, located in Tamboan barangay, at lock,
stock and barrel. The building and its facilities as well
as the land on which it stands were completely turned
over to the Department of Education at no financial
cost whatsoever.
By the late 2000s, three public schools operated in the
barangays of Kin-iway, Panabungen and Tamboan. By
school year 2011-2012, two other public high schools
were opened in Agawa and Banguitan barangays,
further constricting St. James’ feeder schools. But,
again, rather than lobby with government officials
to stop the opening, it joined these barangays in
celebrating the coming of free secondary education
right in their respective backyards. It welcomed this
development as an opportunity to re-think its role at a
time when free secondary education has become much
more accesible to the Besao people. It compelled it to
go back to its original mission which was to reach out
to those who do not have such access to educational
opportunities. When the Episcopal Church first set foot
in these islands, they did not put up all their schools
in Manila where there would have been no problem
with enrollees. Rather, they went to areas where even
eagles dare not fly. And that was exactly what St.
James set forth to do.
It set its sights to and expressed an invitation to
Episcopal congregations in mission expansion areas
or those that have been opened in recent years in
more remote villages [as contrasted to traditional
Episcopal congregations], which presently find
themselves in a relatively backward state both in
terms of congregational and community development,
largely owing to lack of access to educational and
formational opportunities. As of the first day of classes
yesterday (June 5), St James had 238 enrollees (and
more coming), still the largest enrolment among all
the Besao Secondary Schools. In fact, St. James’
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student population continues to be bigger than the
number of students in all the public secondary schools
combined. Among this new school year’s 65 enrollees
as incoming Grade 7 students are 20 young persons
from the various tribal villages of Tinglayan, Kalinga;
Butigue, Paracelis, Mountain Province and the upland
barangays of Quirino, Ilocos Sur. They will participate in
the school’s Youth Leadership Development Program,
a deliberate and systematic effort to deepen knowledge
and mission consciousness and develop the leadership
capacities of young people from these areas. Two of
these young persons [from Lamag, Quirino] hiked for
10 hours in order to reach the school while four rode
on the “top load” of the bus all the way from Paracelis
to Bontoc on a rainy afternoon. It was precisely these
kinds of difficulties that St. James wants to address
by providing opportunities for strengthening young
people’s chances for upliftment . True to its tradition,
it wants communities to continually affirm their positive
tribal values while “erasing” what its founding father,
Rev. Gowen, referred to as “harmful” and should be
discarded, like the tribal war consciousness which
continue to plague Tinglayan villages. But St. James
also recognizes that it is these students that have
saved it from possible extinction as they have come
to occupy the seats emptied by those who went to
the public schools. And so it is a positive mutual
engagement for which it will be forever grateful. [The
20 students were initially accommodated in a room in
the school while host families were preparing for them
and the last batch of 4 have actually left such room of
temporary shelter and went to their new homes barely
3 hours after it was burned.]
A MODEL FOR FINANCIAL SELF-RELIANCE
From full financial support by the Church, St. James
was able to internally generate resources from tuition
and other fees which increased over the years.
However, such fees, including government support
under GATSPE, were not enough to cover costs and
thus the school continued to be heavily subsidized
by the Church. Yet, despite the subsidy, it continually
incurred annual budget deficits since the early ‘90s.
In 2006, DEP-ED required the school to incorporate and
establish a legal personality distinct from the Church
so that it can directly receive GATSPE remittances.
While this was initially considered a matter of formality,
St. James’ leaders took the incorporation seriously and
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The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN
considered it an opportunity to wean itself from the
financial support of the Church and stand on its feet so
that it can grow and mature by its own resources and
potentials. The suggestion however was immediately
met with strong opposition from various quarters
who understandably considered it an impossibility
for a school, receiving subsidy and yet was incurring
annual deficits, to actually become financially selfreliant.
But it proceeded to do so and upon receiving
its Certificate of Incorporation from the Securities and
Exchange Commission, it boldly declared that starting
school-year [2006-2007], it shall forego the subsidy
from the Church and operate on what it could raise.
What subsequently happened was almost miraculous
because while almost everyone was foreseeing a very
grim scenario with the cut-off of the budget subsidy,
the school was able to survive and actually end up
the school year, for the first time in many years, with
even a net budget surplus! It was indeed a fruitful
exercise of operation by faith and by will. The school
has realized what the Episcopal Church, a year earlier,
had also known – that it is only when it stops looking at
others that it can look into itself, appreciate what it has
and use what it has to develop itself. That experience
was a concrete success story of ABCD [asset-based
community development] that is now gaining popularity
and experimentation in the development world. In fact,
the school was to model this experience by hosting and
participating in the Church’s community development
learning center for propagation of the ABCD framework,
starting SY 2012-2013.
PREPARATION FOR K-12
For the past months, St. James has participated in
workshops coordinated and facilitated by Dr. Dennis
Faustino, an Episcopal lay leader and educator, to
prepare Episcopal schools for the implementation
of the K-12 curriculum. Dr. Faustino also specifically
emphasized and advocated for a Student-Centered
Instruction which, while built into the K-!@ curriculum,
must be actualized and internalized by the teachers.
Through the workshops and learning experiences and
through its partnership with other Episcopal mission
schools, St. James was positioned to implement the
new curriculum not through a mechanical application
of a government-mandated program but having fully
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embraced, welcomed and appreciated the underlying
philosophy of the said curriculum. Coupled with a
resolve to institute a more student-centered learning
experience, planned to be closely monitored by Dr.
Faustino, the school’s readiness for the new curriculum
bordered on excitement and hope for more fruitful
academic experiences.
The workshops and trainings concluded in the Episcopal
schools’ strategic planning held 29th – 30th May, which
resulted in what is considered to be a clear and unified
complementation program within the framework of
ECP vision, the first time that said schools looked to
the future together and resolved to work together.
Following all these learning and planning exercises, St.
James closed the week [28th May – 1st June] with a
final systems check for the opening of the new school
year. As the administration and faculty closed the doors
of their offices that late Friday afternoon, they could
only smile in thanksgiving as they were all set to give a
full GO for the school’s Youth Leadership Development
Program, the institution of ABCD in its curriculum and
its embrace of K-12 and Student-Centered Learning
when classes opened two days after.
28 hours later, an inferno descended upon the place.
LOOKING FORWARD
While the fire was raging, people texted, emailed and
facebooked each other so that friends from all over
were watching or reading what was happening in real
time. By the time the fire was finally extinguished at
about 4 in the morning of 3rd June 2012, members
of the school community scattered all over the world
knew about it and were expressing sadness and great
distress over the loss. But when the light of day broke
out that new morning, people have come to realize that
the real gem that St. James has painstakingly built in
99 years was not in the building but in the hearts and
acts of those who have passed through its portals. It
was a gem that could never be gutted by fire and its
spread was much more contagious as Sunday services
all over the Episcopal Church that day offered prayers
while everyone comforted each other and offered
whatever else they could.
The gem shone brightly on Monday, 4th June, as more
than a hundred men and women, armed with clearing
and cleaning tools, converged and started clearing
the place. The elders of barangay Payeo, the oldest
village in the municipality, declared the traditional day
of mourning and sent its men and women to join the
multitude. Despite the noise and blasts of the clearing
operation, what happened was a solemn display of
the traditional communal work whose reward lies in
the strengthened spirit of oneness that every i-Besao,
wherever he or she is, longs to be a part of. It was
therefore not surprising that despite the school being
an Episcopal Church institution, there were, among the
multitude who joined the water relay that Saturday night
and in the succeeding days of clearing and cleaning,
people of other religious denominations, including a
pastor of a Pentecostal church and his flock. Also, a
businessman who recently established residence in the
place but had no prior attachment or engagement with
the school whatsoever joined the multitude as he found
their enthusiasm to do something totally irresistible.
The clearing operations continue (as of this writing)
as more men and women come to participate and the
the Besao municipal government providing lunch and
refreshments for the weary souls.
The gem shone beyond the municipality as sister
Episcopal schools under SPRINT, led by its president
Mrs. Ursula Daoey, assistant headmaster of Brent
International School Baguio, joined in the prayers and
offers of comfort and assistance. St. Mary’s School
in nearby Sagada, Mountain Province, proved to be
a dependable sister institution when it readily shared
its comforting presence and offered its facilities. Soon,
another sister school, All Saint’s Mission School in
Bontoc, Mountain Province, joined the group in lifting
sagging spirits. Even the Department of Education
went beyond its expected role, with its head travelling
all the way from Paracelis to Besao to assess the
damaged and lost records and to offer its assistance
in their reconstruction. The DEP-ED regional director
committed to assist in the need for textbooks. All these
efforts enabled the school to open classes today, 5th
of June, and to re-affirm its resolve to follow the green
light in its various programs discussed above.
Come to think of it, maybe the ambitious programs that
St. James has resolved to pursue cannot kick off with
just a “soft opening”. Maybe, it needs a loud bang so
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it could be heard by everybody so they could join the
excitement. Maybe, the fire has done exactly that!
It’s Tuesday afternoon and through the voices of
students who had their first recitation today, the
introductory greetings from teachers who are already
starting to practice student-centered learning, the
emails and text messages from all over, a collective
dream has started to emerge – that of a new building
that shall rise from the ashes, like the mythical bird that
has gloriously flown and reigned.
St. James will celebrate its centennial in 2013. At the
lighting of the centennial torch on 25th July 2012, it
hopes to break ground for this new building which must
be finished when the grand centennial celebration kicks
off on 2nd March 2013. It is now a privilege to respond
to the countless inquiries on what must be done and
we say, Come and Let us Build the School!
THE RT. REV. BRENT H.W. ALAWAS
Bishop of Northern Philippines
Chairperson, SJHS Board of Trustees
[POSTSCRIPT – To coordinate the acknowledgment
of participation in the re-building project, Mrs. Felicidad
Talabong, bookkeeper of the Episcopal Diocese of
Northern Philippines, has been appointed to set up
a separate and distinct account for this purpose and
to manage the financial aspect of the project. She will
set up a facebook account where she will daily post
receipts and disbursements for full transparency. She
can be contacted at line number 074-6021026, mobile
phone no. 09203211992 and email ad at ednpfely@
yahoo.com. The management, account ting and
audit of all cash donations shall be subject to church
financial policies and procedures. A concrete building
of about the same size is estimated to cost P6 to P7
million. St. James with EDNP will endeavor to put up
the first P1 million. It is also expected to receive P3
million in insurance payment. The balance is expected
to be raised from donations of generous hearts through
piso-piso campaign and other fundraising activities.]
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The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN
even if such project would also benefit him or her.
[In CBDP, the willingness of community members to
contribute freely their respective gifts and resources
is in itself considered a valuable asset and, absent
the recognition of such an asset, CBDP may opt to
withdraw from the community.]
B] COMMUNITY VISIONING
This is still a part of the ABCD process [but is made
a distinct program component for emphasis].
Identified assets and capacities are connected and
matched with each other to create combinations that
can propel the community to a much more desirable
state. Such creative combinations enable the
community to form its own Vision of Development - a
set of concrete, desirable changes in the community,
basically referring to economic self-reliance and
positive community values, that can be reasonably
realized over a foreseeable period of time. This
Vision is translated into an Integrated Community
Development Plan which consist of specific programs
or projects that harness the said creative combinations
into actual results or benefits. Evolving these programs
or projects entail the conduct of participatory feasibility
studies and value chain analysis of the possibilities
or potentials offered by the creative combinations of
assets and capacities.
C] COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
This is also a part of the ABCD process and
consists of a series of activities [organizational
workshops, leadership trainings, project management
trainings, etc.] directed at strengthening awareness
of the desirability for people to work collectively and
evolving the appropriate association that will manage
the resulting programs or projects. The end-result of
this particular component is the establishment and/
or strengthening of a local financial institution [LFIs],
which is an organizational mechanisms through which
a community can undertake, administer and manage
development projects and activities. An LFI can
either be a formal organization or existing indigenous
structure or system where the collective interests of
a community have been traditionally determined and
promoted and addressed.
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For CBDP VIII, it is projected that 25 cooperatives
would be established while 35 community or peoples’
organizations shall be established or strengthened.
D] ASSET-MOBILIZATION PROJECT OR PROGRAM
This is a socio-economic or entitlement project or
program that the community or group of households
within the community has found to be feasible and
viable in terms of mobilizing their assets and resources
towards a compelling vision. This project or program
is aimed at enabling households to have sustainable
sources of livelihoods that allow them to a] meet basic
food requirements; b] have access to decent shelter; c]
have the capacity to send children to school]; and, d]
have the capacity to meet basic health requirements,
and thus enable them to become economically
self-reliant. The project or program is the concrete
grassroots initiative to pursue to a redistributive asset
reform, gain more access basic entitlements and
resources and engage in stronger participation in
governance and decision-making.
An entitlement project [e,g, potable water project] may
involve the entire community. A socio-economic project
however may involve a group of households within a
community which is interested in a particular activity.
For CBDP VIII, a total of 54 community projects [either
consisting of one community integrated program or a
combination of socio-economic activities of two or more
groups of households within the same community].
A major innovation in CBDP VIII for this particular
component, aside from the use of the ABCD approach
to generate the community project or program, is the
application of the ECP’s “From Receivers to Giver’s
Policy”. Under this scheme, participating communities
who receive external resources for their respective
projects are mandated to share positive project
results, consisting of skills evolved, income generated,
experiences gained, etc., with other communities. More
specifically, the original participating communities are
required to: a] “grant-back” the amount of external
fund for project materials; b] share livelihood skills;
and, c] share their experience on ABCD, with other
communities [who have yet to participate in the CBDP].
A variation of the original ECP policy was made so
that “grant backs” made by a participating community
shall first be utilized to support other internal initiatives
[within the same community] directed towards the
Point C Thrust [self-reliance]. Upon attainment of selfreliance,
the community is then positioned to share with
and give to another community in the latter’s pursuit of
a similar thrust.
A part of this component is the process of leveraging
activities, investments and resources from outside
the community to support the project. With the use of
the ABCD approach and the ECP’s “From Receivers
to Givers” policy, an external fund assistance to a
community project or program is not a grant but an
investment that will spark a spiral of fund-sharing from
one community to another.
E] COMMUNITY ADVOCACY AND PARTICIPATION
IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE
This component is aimed at building up or enhancing
and sustaining an empowerment and sustainable
“The ECP has donated several
properties for government projects that
benefit local communities. Partnership
with local government units in
community development is the norm in
CBDP and for its phase VII, a total of
P 1,001,425.00 has been accessed from
LGUs as their counterparts for such
projects. “
development consciousness among the participating
communities and the wider public. It seeks to increase
peoples’ awareness of their basic rights and entitlements
and mobilize them to assert such rights and exercise
legitimate claim-making activities. It is through these
component that ECP and participating communities
take grassroots efforts at public policy advocacy for
sustainable development and social justice.
The ECP considers the national government and
local government units as partners in development
continued next page
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN 17

continued from previous page
and as resources or assets that must be tapped for
community development. As a partner, the ECP works
with government to advance positive programs and
initiatives; challenge policies, projects and activities
that run counter to sustainable development and
social justice and strongly advocate for peoples’ rights
and concerns.
The ECP has donated several properties for
government projects that benefit local communities.
Partnership with local government units in community
development is the norm in CBDP and for its phase
VII, a total of P 1,001,425.00 has been accessed from
LGUs as their counterparts for such projects. CBDP
has also conducted joint local development planning
with the municipality of Besao, Mountain Province and
Cabiao, Nueva Ecija, and hopes to replicate this model
of joint action in other municipalities and areas.
The ECP has also made known to the government its
opposition to large-scale mining and logging operations
as well as development initiatives [such as geothermal
plant explorations] that are destructive of communities
and the environment. It shall continue to play such
advocacy role.
F] VALUES FORMATION AND GENDER,
HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS
RAISING.
Values Formation: With the success of community
development work being measured in terms of
financial or economic viability, successful projects
revolving around “money matters” have tended to
weaken positive values and brought about selfcenteredness
or self-focused worldviews at the same
time heightening divisions among the people. CBDP
has underscored the fact that development intervention
must contribute towards the formation or strengthening
of systems and relationships that embody the values of
the Kingdom of God. It attempts to give programmatic
support towards building an authentically caring, loving
and just community through the fortification of values
of cooperation and helping one another so that each
person will be able to exercise his or her full potentials
– physical, social and spiritual.
For CBDP VIII, the values formation program shall be
intensified as a distinct and major component of every
community development project. The specific values
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The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN
Atty Floyd Lalwet, CBDP National Coordinator, gives input on
the ABCD approach.
that shall be enhanced are: a] Faithfulness to God;
b] Integrity in every aspect of work; c] Respect
for the created order and human dignity; d] Faithful
stewardship of resources; e] Creativity and hard work;
f] Relational reciprocity; and, g] Caring for and
service to others.
Gender Sensitivity: CBDP adheres to the basic
principle that women and men have equal responsibility
for positive social change and development and,
correspondingly, must equally benefit from such
development. This principle assumes utmost
significance in light of the inequality that continues
to characterize gender relations in the Philippines in
terms of social, economic and political opportunities.
In rural villages, there are chores which are traditionally
assigned to women (and children) in addition to their
usual farm work. Among the most common of these
are: fetching of water for domestic use and manual
pounding of rice. In phase VII of CBDP [as of June
2011], 263 women have been emancipated from the
chore of water-fetching from a source at least 300
meters from their respective houses; 905 women have
been emancipated from the same chore from a source
less than 300 meters, and 771 women have been
emancipated from manual pounding of rice. There are
also activities where women are traditionally prohibited
from participating, such as community decision-making.
During CBDP VII, there are two (2) cases among Igorots
continued on the next page

continued from previous page
and one (1) case in a Muslim community where CBDP
was able to change this practice and institutionalize the
participation of women in community meetings.
CBDP VIII shall continue with the task of identifying
gender imbalances within the community and the
institution of programs and activities that address such
imbalances. It shall also continue with capacitation
activities that shall enable women to assume leadership
positions both in the projects and in the wider community.
It shall deliberately measure the contribution of women
in household income [by putting values on household
work] and attempt to increase such contribution by
ensuring their participation and enjoyment of benefits
derived from the projects. Finally, CBDP shall make it a
deliberate practice to give at least 50% of employment
opportunities in institutional projects to women.
Health and Environment: Among communities where
CBDP has worked, relatively preventable diseases
[e.g. water-borne diseases, malnutrition, etc.] are high.
In many of these cases, disease prevention can be
instituted by adoption of basic health and sanitation
practices. Hence, CBDP continues to incorporate in all
its projects awareness raising activities on communitybased
preventive and curative health practices.
The CBDP has established policies relative to
environmental stewardship, as follows: a] economic
development must always be balanced with ecological
sustainability (for example, in water projects, it is
required that a watershed must be established and
protected); b] establishment of physical structures
as part of a project must undergo an environmental
assessment; if it involves minor clearing of vegetation
without cutting of trees, the implementing organization
can certify as to environmental feasibility but if it
involves major earth-moving and clearing operations,
an environmental clearance from an acceptable
environmental agency must be secured.
For Phase VIII, environmental stewardship will continue
to take the form of deliberate and concrete projects
that have a higher impact in addressing environmental
destruction and related issues. /FL
l
News Brief
Pension Fund allows lump sum of
frozen benefits
In its meeting held on June 15 at the National
Office, the Board of Trustees of the ECP Pension
Fund approved a new policy which allows a
voluntarily separating employee, with at least 120
credited monthly contributions, to be paid a lump sum,
consisting of total premiums paid plus accumulated
interest income less costs. [Accumulated interest
income is computed based on the average
investment rate of the Fund for the last preceding five
years while cost is the ratio between expenses and
revenues for the preceding year.] Prior to this action,
a member of the Fund who voluntarily separates from
employment in any of the participating employers
before reaching the age of 60 and who is credited
with at least 120 monthly contributions upon such
separation, is entitled to “frozen benefits”, which refer
to pension benefits that the separated member will
receive upon reaching retirement age. The option
to be paid a lump sum however depends upon the
positive performance of the Fund in the preceding
year as the separation benefit will be sourced from
net income.
In other actions, the Board also approved a policy
which confers a suspended status upon any clergy
who takes a leave of absence from a participating
employer regardless of credited contributions. The
status shall be re-activated at any time that the clergy
is reinstated in the active roll unless he or she is
permanently taken out of such roll by virtue of a letter
dimissory or for any other cause. This policy allows
a clergy who moves out of ecclesiastical employment
to maintain his or her membership in the Fund./FL
Stewardship - it’s
not just about giving
money.
It is about EVERYTHING
- googled
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN 19

20
EDD 2012: A MISSION OPPORTUNITY
“And on this rock I will build my Church”
Matthew 16:18
A Biblico-Theological Reflection
By Rev Jonathan L. Casimina
Opinion
Understanding our Mission
The greatest act of mission in the history of the
universe was God’s act of sending his Son into the
world to assume our humanity in the incarnation;
to live a perfect life as he shared the experience of our
race; to win and train those who were to carry on his
work; serve the needs of the common people of his
time and in the end to die on the cross and rose up
back to life, thus, establishing the Kingdom of God in
the world. In the first post-resurrection appearance,
Jesus conveyed very clearly the mission the disciples
were to assume as he said: “As the Father has sent
me, so I send you” (John 20:21). This, too, is our call
for mission today.
The Church as the Bearer of Good Tidings
Such a view of God’s mission undergirds the Church’s
view of her own mission. From one point of view, the
Church is a company of fallible but forgiven sinners, but
from another, it is the Body of Christ on earth. As such,
the Church may be seen as the sign and instrument of
the Kingdom of God. As the Body of Christ, the Church
will seek to be involved, in a redemptive way, with
human beings, the structures of their societies, their
culture and the ways in which they relate to the rest of
creation. The Church has to model and announce the
Good News that God has a purpose for creation as a
whole, for society, and for each one of us. This purpose
has been revealed in the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the
Church has been commissioned to be the bearer of
the good tidings to all.
An ecumenical affirmation has put it that “the
proclamation of the Gospel includes an invitation to
recognize and accept in a personal and corporate
decision the saving Lordship of Christ.” Each one of
us needs to turn away from a life of self-centeredness
and rebellion against God to an acceptance of his love
and forgiveness in Christ, a vision of God’s purpose for
us as revealed in the Gospel and a humble following in
the way of Christ.
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN
The ECP-EDSP Context
The Episcopal Church as a Body of Christ called for
mission in this part of the world has been ministering in
the Philippines for more than 100 years now. The scope
of the mission work is mostly located and concentrated
in ‘traditional missionary’ areas inspired with Bishop
Charles Henry Brent’s marching order at the turn of
the century: “Do not build an altar against another
altar.” History would bear to us that, given the Church’s
potentials and the surrounding circumstances, we have
been successful enough in our ministerial interventions
in the communities we serve. The ushering of the new
millennium, however, offers a paradigm shift of mission
strategy largely encouraged by, but not necessarily
limited to, the recently-held National Evangelism
Summit of the ECP: “Go and open new frontiers of
mission in ‘unserved’ areas throughout the islands of
the Philippines!” To some extent, this makes sense
and relevance considering the words of Jesus when he
reminded his disciples “to read the signs of the times.”
Most importantly, the call draws the Church back to
the mission imperative proclaimed by Jesus Christ, the
Lord of Missions: “Go, therefore, and make all nations
my disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching
them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
And, remember, I am with you always to the end of the
age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
“And on this Rock I Will Build this Church”
At the midway point of his ministry, Jesus laid down the
foundation of his Body on the Rock, the Church. It is in
this sturdy, solid foundation that he entrusts the mission
imperative to proclaim the Kingdom God, a kingdom of
love, peace, justice and salvation. The Church then is
founded, empowered, and then sent out to the world
for mission. Just as Simon Peter confessed his own
faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of the Living God, the
Church is summoned to call all people to do the same
confession.
It is in this particular context that EDD is inspired,
conceptualized, articulated and established as one
of the constituent ministerial bodies of the Episcopal
Church in the Philippines. Jesus is the Builder, We are
His Workers.
l

Opinion
YOUTH OF THE CHURCH, I COMMEND YOU WITH A CHALLENGE
My young brothers and sisters in Christ, Good evening!!
At the onset, allow me to thank you all for coming to this 2012 BIENNIAL DIOCESAN YOUTH CAMP
AND ASSEMBLY. I am inspired as your Bishop by your presence and active participation in the whole business
of this youth assembly. For what else can your presence prove than the fact that there are indeed young
people in this diocese who take seriously their respective roles in the life and work of the Church? At least, I am
assured that the youth organization of this church is not about to have its requiem as others may have thought
but is very much alive, vibrant and dynamic. I salute you all.
Your three days life together as young Christians in this youth camp is for sure full of significance that is crucial
to your maturity as Disciples. Let alone your theme that says, “LORD TEACH US: MAKE US FAITHFUL
DISCIPLES”, to express in no uncertain terms the fact that you are gathered to learn for our Lord Jesus how it
is to become faithful stewards. To an older generation like me, such a theme for a young people’s gathering is
surely very revealing of your desire to grow into the full stature of Christian Discipleship. And that young as you
are, how inspiring indeed it is, for us leaders of the church and who belong to the older generations to take note
of your desire that is a positive sign that you have taken the right steps in your faith pilgrimage.
As I salute you today, I also pose to you a challenge.
This challenge is posed within the context of our ECP 2018 Vision, “BY THE YEAR 2018, WE ENVISION
A VIBRANT AND DYNAMIC CHURCH OF CARING, WITNESSING AND MISSION ORIENTED PARISHES.”
You will note that our vision is all about building a church of the future. And by description it is a church that is
robust and healthy – a vibrant and dynamic church because it is a caring church, it is a witnessing church and a
mission oriented church. No one would certainly disagree with me that such a picture of a church that we must
build for the future is a wonderful church – one which we could all be proud of.
This is the task of the hour that we as Christian Disciples cannot evade, nor take lightly, because we would not
want to be judged by upcoming generations. At the same time, it is a compulsion that is born out of our sincere
sense of discipleship.
What would be in concrete terms the kind of robust and healthy church that we should build?
The church to be robust and healthy must have a sound membership. This is in consonance with the theological
view point that the main task of evangelism as the business of the church is the proclamation of the good news
of the Kingdom of God and the invitation for people to enter into the life of that Kingdom. In ordinary language
therefore, we simply mean that we should strengthen our membership by calling more people to become
members of the church and nurturing them so that their faith may have quality. There is strength in number so
they say, and we believe in that.
The challenge I now pose to you young people of the church is for you to assume an active role in our
membership build up. And that such an active role shall begin by your active involvement in the ministry of
your respective congregations. In concrete terms this would mean regular attendance of church services,
participation in activities that would enhance the life of the church and living out the meaning of your faith in your
daily life. We need not deliberately convince people to come to our church because that is pure and simple act
of proselytism which we frown as a church but I believe that the good things that we do in our church could by
YouTh of The ChurCh.....continued on page 22
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN 21

YouTh of The ChurCh.... from page 21
themselves motivations for others to come and join us.
This is what Jesus means when He says, “let your light
shine before men that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16)
Furthermore, I challenge you to strengthen your
organization as youth of the church. Put to mind that
church organizations are not mere decorations of the
church. Church organizations are considered as allies,
auxiliaries and support groups that would strengthen
the work of the church. Therefore, they should be
functional, alive and active. Otherwise, there is no
point in having these organizations. I seem to believe
that at this point in time, not all congregations in this
diocese have youth organizations. Should I be wrong,
I stand corrected but even then I am still with the belief
that not all youth organizations in this diocese are
active. In fact, many are inactive than the active ones.
I am therefore challenging you all that the first things
that you should do after this youth camp is to begin
strengthening your organization as young people of
our church by seeing to it that no congregation in this
diocese shall not be without a youth organization. I
know it is not easy but we must begin from thereon if
we are to build a robust and healthy organization that
would be the foundation of a robust and healthy church.
The other feature of a robust and healthy church is
that it is financially stable. Let us not talk of a mission
oriented church if it is not financially capable. This is
the main reason why one of the four goals of our vision
is that by year 2018, “all congregations in this church
shall be full parishes”, meaning all congregations are
financially self-reliant and self propagating.
I have noted that one of the topics taken in this youth
camp is about Christian Stewardship in Giving. I
am delighted that this particular area of Christian
Discipleship is given emphasis because it is one of the
basic duties of a Christian Disciple – to give for the
spread of the Kingdom of God. In short, to give for the
support of the financial requirement of the church so
that it could be able to pursue its ministry. Of course,
young and unemployed as you are, the church does
not really expect that you could provide full financial
support to the church. But what is important is that,
in your tender years it is important that you put to
heart the very meaning and inspiration of giving for the
support of the church as a full and pure expression of
Christian stewardship so that you may learn to become
good stewards. What I am saying is, may you learn
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The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN
to love and practice your stewardship of giving for the
support of the church in small ways that you can so
that you can grow with it and love it.
On top of all, and given the gargantuan task of building
a robust and healthy church of tomorrow, I will say
without reservation that we can only be successful in
our faith in the God who calls us all to build His Church
is un-assailed and solid. Our faith in Him must grow
each day. And that I hope and pray that your being here
is a clear sign of your desire to grow in faith. Therefore
guided and inspired by your theme, let us continue to
pray to God to teach us His ways so that we can grow
in grace to become faithful disciples because it is only
then that we can become able and worthy partners with
Him in building His Church. After all, didn’t He say, “I
assure you that if you have faith as big as the mustard
seed, you can say to this hill, ‘Go from here to there!’
and it will go. You could do anything.” (Matt. 17:20)
And that it is in this same faith Jesus said, “Upon this
rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell cannot
prevail against it.” (Matt. 16:18)
I am happy with a dream to see you all as good, able
and committed leaders of our church when the proper
time for you to assert your leadership as adults has
come. How I wish to see the day when that happens.
But while that is a sure opportunity that is opened for
you in the future it would be great and wonderful to
see the youth actively involved in the life and work of
the church. Don’t miss the point that the church of
tomorrow is yours. Come then my young brothers and
sisters, let us join hands and build a robust and healthy
church as an offering to God who has called us all in a
life of discipleship.
Thank you and May God Bless you.
[Message of challenge by the Rt. Rev. Renato M.
Abibico to the SKEP – EDNL gathered in Camp and
Assembly at Advent Church, Balantoy, Balbalan,
Kalinga on May 28 – 31, 2012]
Don’t let the excitement of being young cause
you to forget your Creator: Honor him in your youth
before the evil years come - when you’ll no longer
enjoy living. - Ecclesiastes 12:1

Opinion
Building a Roman Catholic Church in
Sagada
by Bishop Edward P. Malecdan
In the Manila Standard Today issue of May 4, 2012,
Fr. Ranhilio Callangan Aquino wrote an article
entitled “Building a church in Sagada”(p. A2). He
tells of his visit to Bontoc with the Coro de San Jacinto
Choir which he directs as guest of Bishop Rodolfo
Beltran of the Bontoc, Ifugao Vicariate of the Roman
Catholic Church. While in Bontoc he learned that
Sagada, a popular tourist destination “had no Catholic
Church” referring to the absence of a Roman Catholic
Church building or congregation in the area. The other
implication which I hope was not in the mind of Aquino
is: that the Episcopal Church which has been there
since 1904 is not Catholic.
In this essay the words Roman Catholic Church
(RCC) is used to indicate that the RCC is one among
the many churches throughout the world with the
claim of being Catholic. Examples of these other
catholic Churches are the Eastern Orthodox Church,
the Old Catholic Churches of Europe, many Lutheran
Churches, and the Anglican Church as well as the
Episcopal Church in the Philippines (ECP).
Aquino adds that Sagada is “a predominantly
Anglican area” and that the RCC and the Episcopal
Church in the past “arrived at a wonderfully Christian
Agreement” to the effect that for both of these churches,
“no altar would ever be set up against another altar.”
The above statement of not building a church
in places where another church already exists came
from Charles Henry Brent, the first bishop of the ECP.
But Aquino or whoever his source quotes it out of
context. Moreover, Aquino quotes it as if it is common
knowledge and that there is indeed an existing deal. It
is definitely not true that there was and is an agreement
to this effect between the RCC and the ECP. The
misinformation should therefore be corrected. Hence,
this short essay, which also shares some historical
notes on the RCC and ECP relationship in Sagada
during the first decade of the last century. At the same
time, the author makes suggestions on how the two
churches can render greater service to God’s people
without building their church against one another.
The ECP was simultaneously established in the
Philippines with the various Protestant churches when
America took over as the Filipino’s new colonial master
after the expulsion of Spain in 1898. In April 1901, the
missionary representatives of the Protestant Churches
working in the Philippines held a meeting in Manila.
The purpose was two pronged. First, they were to
organize in order “to unite all evangelical forces in the
Philippine Islands for the purpose of securing comity
and effectiveness in their missionary operations.”
Second, “that each mission now represented in the
field accepts the responsibility for the evangelization of
certain well defined areas, to be mutually agreed upon”.
In this geographical division for areas of responsibility,
Manila was considered as an “Open City” which
meant that all denominations were free to establish
their congregations in the city. (R. Pierce Beaver,
Ecumenical Beginnings in Protestant World Missions:
A History of Comity (New York: George H. Dorran
Co., 1925) pp. 205-206). In essence the Protestant
Churches organized themselves into the Evangelical
Union and came up with a Comity Agreement to divide
the country into jurisdictions to avoid overlapping of
responsibilities and wiser use of resources. Since most
of the Filipinos were Roman Catholics an implication
of the agreement was aggressively, if not belligerently,
to convert the people from their religious allegiance to
Protestantism.
The ECP was represented in the meeting by three
of its priests who were chaplains serving the American
soldiers and government civil officials, but they did not
commit their church to the agreement entered into by
the union as they were still waiting for the arrival of
their bishop. On November 24, 1901, Fathers Walter
Clapp and John Staunton arrived in Manila as the first
missionaries of the ECP.
When Brent finally arrived in the country on August
24, 1902, he declined the invitation of the Protestant
Churches to become a member of the Evangelical
Union organized the previous year. He said he could
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The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN 23

uilDinG a roman....from page 23
not agree with “some principles implied or set forth
explicitly by the Union.” He added: “I cannot feel it to
be the duty of the church which I represent to build up a
constituency by deliberately drawing upon the Roman
Church. It is here that I find myself differing from the
Protestant Churches at work in the Islands, and for this
reason, if for no other, I am unable to enter into formal
relationship with them.” (from “The First Annual Report
of the Right Rev. Charles H. Brent, Bishop of the
Philippine Islands, for the year 1902”, p. 6.) From this
statement originated the popular quote, “not building
an altar against another altar”, which appears in varied
forms in many church literatures but with the same
meaning.
Brent was himself a broad minded bishop who
believed that Roman Catholics were already Christians
and that there was no need to re-Christianize them.
As Roman Carter, O.P. said: “Thus for Brent, Filipino
Catholics were simply what they claimed to be. Their
hierarchy was as legitimate as his. Their liturgy, dogma,
morality, though different enough from his own, were
likewise lawfully Catholic and sometimes admirable.”
(Carter’s “Young Bishop Brent: From Boston to Manila
(1901-1902),” in Philipiniana Sacra, vol. XXVI, Number
78 (1991), p.459.)
To Brent there was no need to divide the country
and be at odds with the RCC by converting its members.
Whatever is wrong with the RCC, Brent was confident
that it could rectify itself. “The greatest satisfaction I
could have,” he said in his first report to the Board of
Missions of the Episcopal Church USA cited above,
“would be to see the Roman Church purify its skirts.”
On the other hand the Protestant Missionaries
were disappointed in Brent. Homer Stuntz, a Methodist
missionary very well expressed for the Protestant
bodies his “deep regret … that the Episcopalians
will not enter the Evangelical Union.” Stuntz added:
“it was in the interest of practical unity and fraternity
that the Union was organized. That the (Episcopal)
Church which so strongly emphasizes the necessity of
Church unity will not unite with all others for such ends
cannot but disappoint our hopes.” (Homer Stuntz, The
Philippines and the Far East (New York and Cincinnati:
Eaton and Mains, 1904), pp. 468-471.)
Two other Protestant leaders, commenting on
Brent’s statement asserted that Brent’s policy of “not
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The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN
building altar against altar” was a “remarkable” and
“generous gesture” in the history of Protestantism in
the Philippines. (Ronald Tuggy, Ralph Tolliver, Seeing
the Church in the Philippines (Manila: National Council
of Churches in the Philippines, 1964), pp. 10-12.)
They venture to add that this policy was founded
upon similarities in theological viewpoints between the
ECP and the RCC and that Brent regarded the RCC
as a “sister institution” (Ibid, p.40.). To date the ECP
remains to be guided by these principles of Brent. How
the RCC regards the ECP, this writer has a vague idea.
Episcopalians only know that in some instances, ECP
members are not welcome to receive Holy Communion
when they attend RCC services in occasions such
as weddings or baptisms of their relatives. And,
Episcopalians who marry Roman Catholics and are
blessed in an RCC church are re-baptized. These
practices hark back to the period of reformation in the
16th and 17th centuries which the Episcopal Church
does not adhere to.
There are some truths to the views of Carter
and Protestant pastors regarding the statement of
Brent under discussion. But the unilateral Episcopal
Church policy should be seen in relation to the purpose
of Brent’s mission and his close relationship with and
support to the American colonial government of his
time. Writing to his friend Bishop Hall on Maunday
Thursday of 1904, he stated that “From the first the
nation as a whole has had a single desire for the
Filipinos and that is to share its privileges with them
and put them in the way of self government.” He ends
the letter with a dismal observation of the Filipinos to
wit: “Before I came to the Philippines I was convinced
that the Filipinos were incapable of self-government,
immediately. But I had no idea that they were as
incompetent and feeble as they are.” His mission,
influenced by this paternal attitude which was the mark
of many Americans at that time, was therefore to make
the Filipinos competent enough to become politically
independent. This is a reiteration of the justification by
the Americans to keep the Philippines as its colony.
Brent and America were here to stay to prepare the
“uncivilized” people to stand on their own feet. Of
course we know that the Philippines already fought for
and declared its independence from Spain in 1898 but
which America refused to recognize. Instead, it made
war and subdued the Filipinos.
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uilDinG a roman....from previous page
In his 1904 address to the Church’s annual
conference, Brent also said: “When the American citizen
enters colonial life in the Philippine Islands, he must
remember that his duties as a citizen are … increased
and not abated. Here as well as in America, he is a
co-worker with those in authority…. The rights and
responsibilities of American citizens are unaltered and
unalterable, wherever the stars and stripes wave.” And
so, he said further: “I am sent out to the Philippines on
the ancient principle that ‘the cross must always follow
the flag’, and I feel I am not merely a representative
of the church, but also a representative of citizenship.
It has been impossible for me to make any line of
demarcation between the Christian responsibility and
the citizen’s responsibility.”
While he was a bishop, he was also an American
and as the latter he definitely supported colonial
policies such as making war with the Filipinos and
to educate and uplift their backward civilization. The
Manila Times issue of November 9, 1901 quoted
Brent to have said: “We have a sacred duty to give the
Filipinos the best form of government and our religion.
For God and country is the watchword of this outpost
of our church’s work.” The editor aptly summarized
Brent’s closeness with the government saying: “He
goes (to the Philippines) as an American citizen, he
will stand by all efforts to help the civil service pure, to
support the free institutions of government, to establish
generous education, and also to stand for high type of
righteousness.”
Brent was no doubt a nationalistic and an imperialist
cleric of the first degree which is the main reason why
he did not join the Evangelical Union. He avoided work
in Roman Catholic jurisdictions because he believed
that the Roman Church was with America to achieve the
same goals and purposes especially the preparation
of Filipinos to become independent and to establish
peace and order in the colony at the earliest possible
time. Brent also did not compete with the Protestant
missionaries because they were doing the same as the
RCC was doing together with the government. In other
words, the RCC, the Protestants and the Episcopalians
were at that time having the same mission which was
aligned one way or the other with the policies of the
imperialist government. He would have duplicated what
the government, the RCC, and the Protestants were
doing had he decided to establish his Episcopal Church
altars in places where agents of these institutions
were already doing their work. These were the same
reasons why he was against the establishment of the
Philippine Independent Church, now the Iglesia Filipina
Independiente or IFI of Fr. Gregorio Aglipay. He refused
to grant Aglipay’s request in 1902 for the bestowal of
Apostolic Succession to the IFI. For Brent, to think of
an independent Filipino church was ridiculous and an
impossible dream because of their “incompetence”. He
was also helping to avert an IFI schism from the RCC
because a religious conflict would add to the already
volatile peace and order situation in America’s first
colony. In response to the request of Aglipay which was
sent to the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church
in America in 1904, Brent strongly recommended that
it should be rejected outright which was precisely what
the bishops did. Brent’s recommendation included his
view that it was far better for the members of the IFI to
be reabsorbed into the RCC. (see Edward Malecdan,
“Why the First Attempt to Establish a Concordat
Relationship between the Episcopal Church and the
Iglesia Filipina Independiente Miserably Failed”, in The
Philippine Episcopalian, 4th Quarter 2010, pp. 4-6, 16-
17)
In view of all the above, Brent established
his altars where there was no established government
and no other churches at work. Aside from ministering
to his own people as chaplain which was his priority,
he extended mission work among the Igorots of the
Central Cordillera region especially the people of what
is now the Mountain Province and Benguet. He opted
to do mission in the areas because he regarded the
inhabitants as people like “Adam and Eve after the
fall” and that they were “animals who are advanced”.
In short, they were the most backward people on this
planet and they needed the helping hand of the most
advanced people in the world, the Americans, in order
to integrate them into the more “civilized” lowlanders
and mainstream Filipino society.
Brent’s work in Sagada was established in
1904 by father John Staunton and his wife Maria
Eliza. There was no other church at work except for
a handful of local “Pakumbaba” proto-Christians who
were actually reacting to the pressures of paganism,
the latter being the religion of most of the people. But
the same year, as cited by Staunton in his 1908 report
to Convocation, the RCC bishop of Nueva Segovia,
Dr. Dougherty, came to Sagada with several of his
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uilDinG a roman....from previous page
priests. According to Staunton Dougherty summoned
the Christians of the town, mostly baptized by Staunton
and announced that “the baptism they received was
not valid, that they were not to attend the services of
instruction at our mission, and that damnation awaited
those who accepted any form of Christianity that was
not represented by himself.” Unfortunately, this Roman
Catholic apologetics against the Episcopal Church
still exists among many Roman Catholic clergy and
lay, that is: Episcopal priests are fake, ergo, their
baptisms are not valid. At any rate, Dougherty’s group
re-baptized and confirmed many of those present. In
the same report Staunton said that the Roman Catholic
effort to destroy his work was followed up in 1907 when
Belgian Friars arrived in Sagada to establish their work
less than a kilometer east of the Episcopal Church’s
mission. They were doing the same thing in Bontoc
where Walter Clapp started work as early as 1902.
According to Brent these “incursions” by the
RCC in the two places was preceded by the visit of
the Roman archbishop with the apostolic delegate to
Bontoc and Sagada. He firmly believed that this was
a pre-meditated action and that they would not have
come to the area “if not for the fact that our church has
succeeded in winning these primitive children of nature
to the joy and hope of the Gospel.” (Annual Report of
the Bishop of the Philippine Islands for the year ending
August 31, 1908, p.5.)
Walter Clapp in Bontoc felt the competition with
the friars in 1909 saying: “… not half a mile distant in
our little mountain valley, are men, (Roman) priests of
God like ourselves, who are putting forth every effort
daily to tear down what we have labored to build up,
to allure our unreasoning children by gifts, to make
capital out of Malay fickleness, at our expense – this
is horrible and disgusting, and we sometimes wonder
what the highest charity demands.” (Journal of the
Sixth Annual Convocation …., 1909, p.75, “Report of
the Mission of All Saints, Bontoc for the year ending
July 31, 1909)
In Sagada, Dougherty sent Fr. Jose Schipman
of the CICM to start work. He was later replaced by
Fr. Frances Billiet and was the last resident Roman
Catholic priest in the place. Irregular services continued
to be conducted in their chapel in Ken Buteng, Patay till
it stopped in the 1950’s.
Brent’s strongly worded statement against “this
26
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN
wanton and mischievous course of the Roman Catholic
Church” was printed in the Church Journals of the Sixth
Annual Convention of 1909. Scathingly, he reports that
there are many other pagan Igorots for the friars to
convert and yet they come to Bontoc and Sagada with
foul intention. He said:
“ By a deliberate plan conceived and executed
with the full cognizance and approval of the
Papal Delegate, the Archbishop of Manila, and
the Bishop of Nueva Segovia, a company of
Belgian friars have been appointed to Sagada
and Bontoc with the set purpose of destroying
our work and influence …. These (unchristian
Igorots in other places) are deliberately
passed by in order that this gratuitous work of
instruction may be undertaken by methods
which in an enlightened community
ministers of religion of any name would hardly
dare to use. And yet here it is done – horrible
travesty of religion! – in the name of Jesus
Christ under the direction of men who have had
the largest opportunities that American and
European culture affords. The evil plans and
sectarian purpose of the Roman Catholic
Church, as represented by the gentlemen
aforementioned are worthy of censure than
honest men of even that communion
mete out…. “
With all of the above considered, and if there
ever was an agreement between the RCC and the ECP
on the issue of not building an altar against another
altar, who were the signatories and where was it
signed, and where is the document? The only existing
agreement between the RCC and the ECP is the
“Agreed Statement on Baptism” signed by no less than
the late Archbishop of Manila Cardinal Jaime Sin for
the RCC and the late Prime Bishop Abellon and Bishop
Constancio Manguramas for the ECP on January 25,
1980. This agreement simply states that the RCC and
the ECP recognize the validity of the baptism of each
other. Unfortunately, this was only good on paper. And
there was no follow up dialogue and fellowship between
the two churches after its signing until the agreement
was totally forgotten except in the teaching of Church
History at Saint Andrew’s Theological Seminary of the
ECP.
builDinG a roman....continued next page

uilDinG a roman....from previous page
The hope of this writer in presenting this
short article on the context of Brent’s statement cited
by Fr. Ranhilio Aquino is to debunk the claim that
there was such an agreement, written or unwritten,
formal or informal between the RCC and the ECP
about “not building an altar against an altar”. It was
rather a policy pursued by Brent throughout his
incumbency for 17 years as bishop of the ECP. In
doing the mission of God this strategy is still followed
by the ECP. We chaplain our people who go to other
places in the country but we do not intentionally build
our churches where Roman Catholics or Protestants
are at work in order to belligerently convert people
into the Episcopal Church. This legacy of Brent is the
ECP’s inherited weakness of today.
The anger of Brent over the RCC for the
latter’s incursions in Sagada and Bontoc during the
first decade of the last century was understandable.
Because he refrained from doing mission in places
where there were established Roman Catholics he
expected that the RCC should do the same and
reciprocate his action. It was naïve of him to think
that the RCC was as “ecumenical” in perspective as
he was.
Meanwhile, in Sagada today, the RCC started
building a church in Nangonogan, less than a
kilometer west of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin.
The project started during the last years of the late
Francisco Claver, SJ, when he was bishop of the
Bontoc-Lagawe Vicariate. It remains to be finished
and according to Aquino in the article cited above, it
is for its construction that his choir group performed
at the University of Santo Tomas Parish Church as
requested by Bishop Rodolfo Beltran. According to
Fr. Pablo Lumiwan, a Mission Rector, the church “will
promote devotion to our Lady of Mount Carmel and at
the same time serve as the new center of our mission
at the place. The shrine will also provide devotional
destination for Catholic tourists who are looking for
a church nearby where they can pray and celebrate
the Eucharist.”
It is to be noted that the RCC has a congregation
in Aguid, the northernmost village of Sagada. This
congregation sprouted as a result of a “family
feud” between a few members of the Ignacia and
Juan congregation of the Episcopal Church there.
The conflict, caused by the jockeying for position in
church leadership, would have been healed naturally
under the mediation of Barangay elders and church
leaders which went well at the beginning of peaceful
consultations. It took a different twist when the RCC
came to the place and converted one of the feuding
parties into the RCC. It was an advantage and an
opportunity taken with enthusiasm by the RCC without
looking into the root cause of the problem such that the
Barangay is now religiously split as a result. It made
worst the division among the people and fostered
the ensuing destruction of relationships even among
relatives which could have been avoided if the people
were left alone to solve their own religious problems
with their leaders.
This is a free country because we live under
a democratic form of government. However, the
construction of a Roman Catholic Church in Sagada at
this time does not bode well with the prayer of Jesus
to His Father which states: “Holy Father, keep them in
your name, which you have given me, that they may be
one, even as we are one ….” (John 17: 11b) The prayer
of Jesus definitely speaks about unity of his followers
in every age. It calls for cooperation among people
who call themselves Christians.
There are many Episcopalians all over the
country permanently settled in places where there are
no Episcopal churches and priests. The Episcopal
Church hopes that they remain steadfast in their faith
and continue to be nurtured in Christian churches like
the RCC. In Sagada, there are Roman Catholic tourists
who attend services at the parish of Saint Mary the
Virgin (SMV) during Sunday services. They receive
communion from the Episcopal priests who serve at
SMV without the benefit of reception into the ECP. I
would like to believe that this is recognition that we
are all “members of the one body with Jesus Christ
as head and cornerstone.” And we do not intend to
convert them into the ECP. It is well that SMV is here
to minister to all people including “strangers” no matter
what confession of faith they have. Likewise, it is with
hope that the RCC would take care of the spiritual
needs of Episcopalians in places where the Episcopal
Church does not have the necessary structure to do
so as the parish of Saint Mary’s in Sagada does for
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The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN 27

uilDinG a roman....from previous page
Roman Catholic visitors and tourists.
The establishment of a congregation or the
building of a church against another church in Sagada
definitely confuses and divides people as it did in Aguid.
I wish that the RCC at this time reciprocate Brent’s
ecumenicity which the Episcopal Church follows even
today spelled out in his letter to his missionaries in
1901 to wit: “We must avoid conflict as far as in us lies
with the Roman Catholic Church. We are in a special
sense the Church of Reconciliation, and peace must be
written on our hearts …. We must prove our catholicity
not by the might of controversial weapons but by the
forces of stability and righteousness. PROSELYTIZING
I ABHOR, it is a negative and dangerous method of
Christian work.” (cited in Roman Carter, “Young Bishop
Brent: From Boston to Manila (1901-1902)”, p.458). It is
in keeping with this mission outreach strategy of Brent
that the ECP has refrained from establishing a church
in Kilong, Sagada where there are quite a number of
Episcopalians. We entrust our members into the hands
of the RCC already established in the place.
And I believe that a better relationship and
a renewed understanding between the RCC and
the ECP can be strengthened if they come together
for ecumenical dialogue. Perhaps, the 1980 Agreed
Statement on Baptism could be a reference point to
start all over again. We manifest the love of God in
Christ by respecting, trusting and believing in one
another. These virtues bind us in our work together.
But unity in serving the people of God is
constructed through intentional dialogue and honestly
sharing our experiences, our beliefs and practices,
not to convince or convert one or the other to our own
church. The purpose is to forge cooperation between
the two churches for better and effective evangelization
of people who stand by the fringes of religion or have
become religion-less because they are witnesses to the
deep chasm that divides Christianity itself aside from
other factors – and there are thousands if not millions
of Roman Catholics in many other places without any
ministrations. Our churches should be built in places
where these are most needed and where overlapping
and duplicating our mission agenda is avoided. I believe
that this brand of inter-church working relationship best
expresses the mind of Jesus when he said:
28
“I do not ask for these only (oneness among
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN
the disciples), but also for those who will believe in me
through their word, that they may all be one, just as
you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may
be in us, so that the world may believe that you have
sent me.” (John 17: 20-21)
Indeed, people will believe fully that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God sent into the world if the RCC and the
ECP and all Christians for that matter work together to
achieve their Master’s mission of reconciliation. There
is no need for competition which breeds conflict and a
very unhealthy relationship.
Speaking of choirs, Nicole Winfield reports (Manila
Standard Today, June 29, 2012, p.A5) that there will be
a “Historic blending of choirs” during a papal Mass at
the Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on the feast
day of Saints Peter and Paul. The two choir groups
are the Sistine Chapel Choir which serves as the
choir of the Pope whenever he celebrates Mass and
the Westminster Abbey Choir of the Anglican Church
of England. Both choir groups are two of the best in
the world. Nicole adds: “As a result, the symbolism
of the choirs from the two churches uniting into one
is enormous, particularly given Pope Benedict XVI’s
stated aim of trying to unite all Christians.” Differences
between the two choir groups do not matter. James
O’Donnel, the director of the Westminster choir said of
the event: “We are different, but we have a lot of things
in common despite the many differences…. We don’t
want to turn into the Sistine Chapel Choir and they
certainly don’t want to turn into the choir of Westminster
Abbey. What we want to do is make music together.”
Choirs can breach the prejudices and biases
of people and music can go beyond boundaries. The
coming together of these first rate choirs after more
than 500 years of RCC and Anglican separation is
a historical event indicating that cooperation in the
service and ministry of churches is not impossible after
all. And unity does not mean absorption of Roman
Catholics into the Episcopal Church and vice versa. It
is doing ministry together for the greater glory of God.

Importance of our
Asset Based Community
Development (ABCD) to the
Church
According to a recent newspaper article, the
boring question about the US Dream Team this
year is its size. This came about because Tyson
Chandler is the only legitimate center when Chris Bosh
and Blake Grifin succumbed to injuries.
What is the response of coach Mike Krzyzewski to this
persistent question? He said: “This is who we have.
Why don’t we talk about what we’re going to do with
what we have, than talk about what we don’t have?”
To the coach and his players, they would rather be
known as “versatile, quick, athletic, or something
else that recognizes their strengths and not their
shortcomings.”
Incidentally the team won over Brazil last Tuesday
(July 17) in an exhibition game in Washington DC in
the presence of President Barak Obama and his family.
I believe team USA won because the coach was able
to maximize the God given talents and assets of his
players. He did not ask for someone the team did not
have.
At the end of this short sharing, I hope you will see the
connection of this Dream Team story with one of the
messages I want to portray.
In the Anglican Communion, each province has its
own strengths and shortcomings. More often than not
a province or a diocese is known and identified by its
strengths. In our region for instance the Provinces of
Southeast Asia and Hongkong are known because of
their financial stability. The Anglican Church in Korea
is now known as a sending church with more than 20
missionaries in Japan and other parts of the world
including the United States. The Diocese of Singapore
is also a sending church with a few missionaries in
Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. The Anglican
Church in Nigeria is another wending church with
missionaries scattered in many parts of Africa and has
one in the Philippines. The IFI, although it is not an
Anglican Church is well known as a nationalistic church
advocating for genuine democracy, peace and justice,
Prime Bishop Malecdan Keynotes the Joint Staff forum on
ABCD on July 19, 2012 in Baguio City.
and has a very strong social ministries program.
A province or a diocese of the Anglican Communion
(AC) may be known by what it does best. I believe our
ABCD program can also become our image builder.
We have been very successful in achieving desired
goals through this program. In fact, not so long ago,
we were able to send representatives to Myanmar to
share with the Anglican Church there our experiences
in community development when ABCD was still
the Community Based Development Program. We
can contribute to the achievement of the Mellinium
Development Goals of the United Nations and the Five
Marks of Mission of the AC in our own setting. At the
same time, we can become a strong sending church
through the ABCD. So there are still possibilities for
improvement and expansion of this particular ministry
we are nurturing and we need to really make it an
Assets based development. This is important because
there are times when we fail to recognize that we are
indeed independent and that whatever we have as
individuals or as a church are enugh to be utilized for
imPorTanCe.....continued on page 30
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN 29

imPorTanCe....from page 29
a given goal. But for some congregations half striving
to be independent they first crave and cry for help
from outside without looking into what they have and
what they are which makes their illusive dream more
impossible to reach.
At this juncture, I share the story of Simon Chambers I
read in the most recent issue of the Anglican Journal of
the Anglican Church of Canada.
The two sons of Chambers, Scot and Mark, ages 8
and 5 respectively are intentionally trained to practice
in their lives the Anglican Five Marks of Mission,
“especially those related to stewardship and service.”
The two kids are given $3 each per week as allowance.
They do not earn the amount. It is given free, a “grant”.
But Chambers gave three conditions: 1) “one dollar is
for spending, 2) one dollar is for saving, 3) one dollar is
for giving back.” What is the reason of the conditions?
Chambers explains: “We wanted them to grow up as
people who give back …. Our gospel call is to give
back to God; that is part of the impetus for tithing and
it goes all the way to the Old Testament.” So giving
back to God in thanksgiving should be developed in
the children. Moreover, Chambers attaches a theology
behind his teaching. In fact, the theology is not just an
appendix to his sons’ education. Hence, theology is the
foundation by which ABCD projects are planned and
implemented. Not that we do not have it because it is
theology that undergirds the program and everything
we do as a church. Chambers simply reminds churches
involved in any form of development that what they do
is a work of God and our church (and any church for
that matter) is not just one of the many NGOs with the
same purpose and agenda.
Our past CBDP was not perfect. We realize that there
is a flaw in the program because one way or the other,
it still breeds dependency and mendicancy. This should
be arrested. I think we have a lot to learn from coach
Kryzyzewski and from the way Simon Chambers
teaches his children.
The flip side of perpetuating dependency which is
also very dangerous is that: we who give outside
intervention or assistance to people’s development
may be seen and regarded as problem solvers. We
might even develop a patronizing attitude looking at
ourselves as the “savior” of the people – “the knight in
30
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN
shining armor who saves a damsel in distress.” It is a
good feeling but does not jibe well with the end goal of
our projects.
That is why part of the reasons we are here is to revisit
and overhaul, if necessary, how we do things in our
efforts “to respond to human needs by loving service”
according to no. 3 of the Five Marks of Mission. We
might even come up with a new and effective strategy.
And we do hope to improve our performance towards
achieving the goals of Vision 2018 – a vision which will
end barely five and a half years from now.
(Keynote Address delivered by the Prime Bishop during
the all-staff forum on ABCD at the Granary Conference
Hall, EDNCP Compound, Baguio City.)
Bishop Joel Pachao of the Diocese of North Central Philippies
welcoming the participants of the ABCD Forum. In his remarks,
Bishop Pachao cited the “Valley of Dry Bones” in the book of
the prophet Ezekiel and used it as a metaphor in his view and
hope of the ABCD approach.
Asset
Based
Community
Development

A Prayer for the Nation
This prayer was written by Rev. Rex R.B. Reyes, Jr*., NCCP General Secretary and was meant to be
delivered at the House of Representatives on the occasion of the State of the Nation Address (SONA)
on July 23, 2012. However, a different prayer was read at the beginning of the SONA, provided by the
organizers of the event.
.
Almighty and Sovereign God, we thank you that in every generation and through
your people you have called and sent men and women to cooperate with you in
the governance of people whom you call to be one nation. We thank you for the
examples of the great men, women and youth, from those of the mountains to those of the plains,
both the living and the departed, who fought that we may be a country, and those who continue
to struggle to uphold that sovereignty.
Hearken now to our prayers and intercessions for the people of this land, in whose name
these offices of the President, Senate and Congress have been constituted and instituted.
Stir the hearts of these your servants:
That they may see visions of a country blessed by genuine prosperity where hunger,
violence, terror, injustice, and disaster are not their constant companions; be present
where, amidst our diversity, they will recognize your promise of abundant life to all who love
you; in times of abundance and want, make them examples that we, with them, shall not lose
confidence in your divine providence and that we may learn to share and share graciously ‘til none
shall be in need;
That they may dream dreams of a people blessed by freedom from the shackles of ignorance
and disease; pour upon them your gift of true discernment in their deliberations and
decisions that never again shall so priceless a gift of dignity and humanity be taken away from
us; grant them the grace and the will to pursue and fulfill them with justice and righteousness;
That they may be good examples of stewards of this heritage passed on to us and that
through them, we will use our natural resources, responsibly, mindful of the account which
each one of us will one day render and that future generations shall live secure, grateful to you
for the produce of the land.
As we commend to your direction our President and these your other servants, so do
we commend all others who take part in governance in every part of this country, that
you our Creator will write in their hearts “whatsoever are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure and lovely, whatsoever things are of
good report,” virtuous and worthy of praise (Phil. 4.8). May they attain true greatness through
honest and laudable service.
Finally, may you, the Sovereign of all sovereigns and who looks into the very soul of this
Republic of the Philippines, the heart of the President and the members of Congress
and the life of this country, find this assembly pleasing, upright and faithful to your demand for
justice and your call for peace.
These we ask in the name of the Great Spirit and Counselor who continues to teach us who
never learn. Amen. (with some paraphrased from the Book of Common Prayer.)
*The Reverend Rex RB Reyes, Jr. is a clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Philippines. DBT
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN 31

ABCD Forum vis VMG 2018
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