Peace Searcher

I have lots of friends I want to write about – for their advocacies, accomplishments and dreams – for their having touched me one way or the other. One day there will be a piece on Flor Tarriela, Kay Jimenez, Gina de Venecia,  Evelyn del Rosario, Daphne Roxas, Ruby Palma, Betty Lou Penera, Gibet Bascara, Florence Tadiar, Nelia Gonzalez, Colet Aranas, Millet Mananquil – and on so many more I’m afraid will not forgive me – at least temporarily as they are true friends – for their names’ not being included in this printed list. For now let me write about Erlinda Nable Senturias. A friend from way back, Erlinda asked me to edit her book; reading through her life story, only then did I realize the impact she’s made on her ecumenical journey to justice and peace.

Erlinda was born to Rosita Perea Nable of Marahan, Alfonso, Cavite. She grew up with her paternal grandparents in Calero, Calapan, Oriental Mindoro; she was baptized at Ellinwood-Malate Church, a member of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.

Linda considers her birth year 1948 as “a watershed in global ecumenism.” That is where her faith journey began, she says. That year, the World Council of Churches (WCC) was formally established during its first assembly held in the Netherlands. The WCC, she explains, is “a fellowship of churches which accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.” One-hundred forty-seven member churches were present in that first meeting.

That year also saw the organic union of the Philippine Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, Church of Christ (Disciples) from North Luzon, and the Evangelical United Brethren Congregation churches that formed the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. 

 Erlinda’s grandmother, Candida Goco Nable is worth a column.  She was one of the first three graduates of St. Luke’s Training School for Nurses  on April 17, 1911. The three  Teodoro Yangco scholars – Veneranda Sulit, Candida Goco and Quintina Beley – were sent for postgraduate training in the Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia after their graduation then sent to the mission hospitals of the Episcopal Church. As soon as the Settlement House in Cawa-Cawa, Zamboanga in Mindanao was finished, a dispensary was opened under the charge of Candida Goco.   

Candida was reported to do “an excellent job” at the clinic; she made so many friends nearly the whole town’s population showed up at her wedding to Pedro Inocencio Nable – foreigners from  America, Scotland, Russia, France and three distinct tribes of the Philippines – Tagalogs, Zamboangueños and Moros.  

 Soon after her  wedding in Zamboanga, Candida  was transferred to St. Luke’s Hospital to serve as head nurse. It was in this hospital that Erlinda’s  father, Pedro Goco Nable Jr. was born on May 16, 1921. 

Candida attended to deliveries in Calapan and in 1937 she was voted as vice mayor of Calapan. She warned that politics was “dirty” based on her experience in the political campaigns.  During  the campaign period, her opponent would say that she was a señorita, which is a pejorative term for someone who is lazy, although it meant “Miss” in Spanish. She responded by saying she was not señorita but had the marks of a Tamaraw, the wild animal looking like a buffalo and endemic in the mountain of Mindoro.

Erlinda went to Silliman for her pre-medical education. In that famous university, she immersed herself in the campus’ religious activities like retreats, convocations, Bible studies and worship time, fostering faith, service and character, as inscribed in the  university motto, Via, Veritas, Vita. 

In Silliman, she met Alvaro Odtojan Senturias Jr., an honor student and president of the Christian Youth Fellowship, who would become her “long-time partner in the call for a just and lasting peace.” They got married in 1970, and would have two children – Troi and Yasmine, both accomplished professionals. 

Erlinda completed her medical degree at the University of Santo Tomas. 

During that period the country was in turmoil, with students taking to the streets, but Erlinda was too busy with her studies, she cared little about getting involved in student activism.

It was in the San Felipe Neri Parish in Mandaluyong that the  La Tondena workers’ strike was staged in October 1975. Al, Erlinda says, “took on the cause for a more nationalistic and democratic response to social transformation in  serving our people. He knew that as a medical doctor, I could do more to save the people by joining him in the cause of change that has a preferential option for the poor.”

Then Al helped form the National Ecumenical Health Concerns Committee of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines which emphasized the rendition of health programs that put health in the hands of the people through promoting the congregation as a healing community and community-based primary health care.

The landmark decision that clinched Erlinda’s decision to make a paradigm shift during that crucial time was the position paper on Health Care and Justice of the Christian Medical Commission of the World Council of Churches which essentially called for the transformation of an “ineffective health-focused care system” into a “hospital involving the community.”

Al and Erlinda became members of the core group called Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PPP), a federation of Catholic and Protestant churches pushing for the resumption of peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front.

Al was warned he was under military surveillance, compelling Erlinda to apply  for a position in the Christian Medical Commission in Geneva, Switzerland which accepted her as program secretary for health and healing and  the assignment of primary health care and HIV and AIDS. 

Working at the World Council of Churches for eight years was most challenging, but it was not easy,  and laborious studies  had to be made for  special committees and WCC assemblies to tackle human sexuality, lesbianism, gay, and transgender issues, HIV and AIDS. 

In her seventh year of working in the WCC, she received an invitation to accept the position of president of Southern Christian College (SCC) in Midsayap, Cotabato. She was advised to study the matter carefully, as the college had been battling with labor disputes and dwindling funds. “I was at a crossroads,” says Erlinda. But she decided to go, feeling that “the hand of God was leading me to return to the Philippines.”

SCC was organized in 1927 as a UCCP educational institution to provide “faith, service and character to both the academic community and the wider society.” Its incorporators, trustees and  presidents were committed UCCP members. Erlinda was the first woman president and served SCC for ten years.

While acting as president, Erlinda helped move the academic stature of the institution: increasing PHDs and sending students for doctoral studies abroad; starting three academic programs  (the SCC has had good passing rates in the licensure exams for CPA and social work) and having new buildings constructed with assistance from the United  Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia. 

Her priority turning SCC into a “school of peace” gave birth to  the Institute of Peace and Development Studies (IPDS) in 1999 “to bring SCC closer to our neighbors especially among  the Bangsamoro and the Manobo people.”

Students have been brought to the MILF communities in Simuay and in Camp Abubakar where they learned from no less than Sheik Hashim Salamat, chair of the MILF, and Al Haj Murad Ibrahim, then deputy for military affairs, and Ghazali Jaafar, vice chair for political affairs about the history and struggles of the Bangsamoro people. “ Former President Fidel V. Ramos visited the SCC campus thrice and spoke at a summit for peace. Defense Secretary Orly Mercado visited the campus as well.

 In addition to providing scholarships for Muslims and Indigenous Peoples to study in SCC, a program  helps develop a culture of peace and promote skills on conflict resolutions.

Now you know why I’ve written about Erlinda Senturias, my icon and  friend.

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