Bishop Fortich, 89

BACOLOD CITY - Retired Roman Catholic Bishop Antonio Fortich, a staunch opponent of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and a fighter for social change, died yesterday after a long bout with diabetes. He was 89.

Doctors at the Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod City said Fortich died of multiple organ failure caused by diabetes. He had been in hospital since April 28.

The diocesan vicar general, Msgr. Victorino Rivas, who was at Fortich’s side when he died, said funeral services will be held on July 15. The bishop’s remains will lie at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Negros Occidental, and then buried in a mausoleum at the basement of the cathedral.

He will be buried alongside the first two bishops of Bacolod — Casimiro Lladoc and Manuel Yap.

"He was known for having his house open to all and there was always food on his table. He was very hospitable and he did not discriminate," Rivas told The STAR. "He was very compassionate. He has been a father to a lot of priests. He was well-loved."

Rivas added that even after Fortich retired in 1989 after reaching 75 years of age, he continued to be active in "connecting with politicians, militant groups and ordinary people."

On April 28, Fortich was brought to the hospital after a mild stroke. During the last few weeks of his life, Fortich slipped in and out of consciousness as his condition worsened.

Some people close to him had hoped he would live a few more days to celebrate his 90th birthday on Aug. 11.

"We were all hoping he would live up to his 90th birthday, but when we heard that his body was no longer responding, we knew (he would not make it). It was so sad," said Elsie Seguido, Rivas’ secretary.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, in a statement, said Fortich’s life and ministry "testified to building a Catholic Church to be a Church of the poor."

Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, himself in poor health, described Fortich as "a tireless shepherd and prophet of the poor and the oppressed. His courage will always be remembered."

President Arroyo called Fortich "a champion of the poor and the oppressed, a courageous vanguard of peace and justice."

Fortich became bishop of Bacolod in 1967 in the midst of workers’unrest against globe-trotting sugar barons on Negros island.

In 1973, Fortich received the Ramon Magsaysay Award — the Asian equivalent of the Nobel prize — for public service, for being a "prime mover of social change" in the province.

"Deeply rooted in local conditions, he sought a just society of recognized rights and responsibilities, prodding planters and centrals (sugar mills), priests, politicians and the less privileged to cooperate in meeting glaring needs," the award said.

The award came a year after Marcos imposed martial law and started ruling by decree. A popular revolt ousted the dictator in February 1986, and he died in exile in Hawaii in September 1989.

During Marcos’ rule, Fortich became a vocal critic of the military’s abuses and human rights violations while supporting land reform on Negros island, which was a hotbed of communist insurgency.

He helped ease the plight of hundreds of Negros villagers displaced by military offensives in the 1980s against the guerrillas by allowing them to take shelter and bring their dead to his church.

After Marcos was toppled, his successor, Corazon Aquino, opened peace talks with the underground Marxist umbrella group, the National Democratic Front.

Fortich was also nominated, along with Aquino, for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1982 for his peace efforts in Negros Occidental.

Fortich was chosen by both sides to head a committee monitoring a 60-day nationwide ceasefire until Feb. 8, 1987. During the ceasefire, he criticized military officials for blaming rebels for violations without sufficient evidence and also spoke against killings by the communist New People’s Army.

Fortich, whose personal contacts with the rebels earned him the disdain of conservatives in and out of the Church, had said that many of the rebels remained Christian despite communism’s rejection of the faith. Three priests from his diocese had joined the rebels.

One of them, Luis Jalandoni, is the chief rebel peace negotiator in on-and-off talks with the government since 1986. Jalandoni, who has left the priesthood and lives in exile in the Dutch city of Utrecht, was the first head of a social action center established by Fortich.

Former priest Frank Fernandez now heads the rebel movement on Negros.

Critics accused Fortich of being pro-communist. One group calling itself Christians Against Communist tossed a grenade at his home in Bacolod in April 1987, but he escaped injury. He also escaped an earlier attack by unidentified men who torched his residence while he was away.

However, Pope John Paul II told Fortich, on his visit to Rome, "I know you are working for human rights and know that this work is risky for you and the Church. But the Church must continue working with the poor: otherwise she will lose them."

Fortich, in one of his recent interviews, said, "Let us all be productive agents of His divine love to make the world a happy place to live in. I am happy, I have no regrets. I have seen the work I have done is bearing fruit, especially among the masses."

In 1990, Fortich helped negotiate the release of a Japanese farm technician, Fumio Mizuno, and an American Peace Corps volunteer, Timothy Swanson, who were captured by communist guerrillas on Negros.

During the release, Fortich brought a basket of eggs for the Marxists up a mountain, a custom he had done every time hostages were freed by the rebels through his intercession.

Negros mourns

Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon said the whole province mourns the death of Fortich, who exemplified the character of a true pastor, particularly in the wake of recent scandals that rocked the Roman Catholic Church.

"His bountiful accomplishment to help the less fortunate Negrenses cannot be ignored," Marañon said, citing Fortich’s establishment of the Dacongcogon Producers Marketing Cooperative.

The cooperative, which runs the Dacongcogon sugar mill in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental, is the only farmers’ group in the country that operates its own sugar mill.

Fortich was born Aug. 11, 1913, the eldest son of Ignacio Fortich, a Spanish mestizo, and Rosalia Yapsutco, who was half-Chinese, in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental.

The Fortich family owned land in Sibulan, Negros Oriental planted to rice, corn and sugar, where Fortich worked in the fields along with his parents’ hired workers. They also had fishponds.

The family also owned a turn-of-the-century sugar mill that produced muscovado sugar.

In 1933, Fortich went to study at the Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary in Manila. He was ordained as a priest on March 3, 1944, with Bacolod as his first assignment.

Fortich soon became assistant priest of the San Sebastian Cathedral. In 1949, he was assigned to be the parish priest of Binalbagan, Negros Occidental for a year and eight months.

He was then recalled to Bacolod, where he became parish priest of the Cathedral and later on functioned as the right hand man of Bacolod Bishop Manuel Yap.

Fortich was appointed vicar general of the diocese of Bacolod in 1952.

In the 1960s, he became a leader of two church movements, the Barangay sang Virgen (Community of the Family of the Virgin), which catered to the poor, and the Cursillo (A short course on Christianity).

In 1966, he was also named national chaplain of the Barangay sang Virgen after the organization spread throughout the country.

The same year, Yap became seriously ill and Fortich administered the diocese. Yap died on Oct. 16, 1966 and on Feb. 24 the next year, Fortich was named the third bishop of the diocese of Bacolod.

Mrs. Arroyo, in an official statement, said Fortich’s death "has been a great loss to the Filipino people. He was a champion of the poor and the oppressed, a courageous vanguard of peace and justice."

She added that Fortich was "blessed by a great faith in God and in the people, whose love and affection he will carry forever."

A devout Catholic, Mrs. Arroyo sought spiritual guidance from the late bishop.

Vice President Teofisto Guingona, for his part, expressed "profound sadness and a deep sense of loss" over Fortich’s death.

"Our nation, our people have become all the poorer with the passing of Bishop Fortich. He was more than a man of the cloth. He was a true patriot," he said in a statement.

Guingona said Fortich "was always with his flock and his service to the Filipino people went well beyond the diocese of Bacolod and the Visayas."

"We remember how strongly and staunchly Bishop Fortich stood with us, from his pulpit and on the streets, never blinking, never compromising in our battle against the Marcos dictatorship," he added.

Guingona said while "God has called Bishop Fortich to his bosom, the Bishop, the patriot, will remain with us, as the rest of us carry on the other battles that Bishop Fortich waged until the very end — our people’s struggle against poverty and our search for peace."

Rep. Jose Apolinario Lozada (5th District, Negros Occidental) also expressed sadness over the death of Fortich, whom he considered his pastor and spiritual counselor.

"Bishop Fortich has left Negros a legacy of stronger faith in God and corresponding strong confidence in each and everyone of us to face our problems economically and politically," he said. — With reports from Marichu Villanueva, Sammy Santos, Jose Aravilla, AP