Bishop of the Poor continues to inspire Negrenses, Filipinos

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines -- The life of the late Bacolod Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich, a staunch critic of social injustice and a revered champion of the rights of the poor, now continues to inspire the Negrenses and the entire Filipino nation.

When he died on July 2, 2003 at the age of 89 after a long battle with diabetes, the nation grieved for the man of the masses, the man of peace, and the bishop of the poor.

A bishop for 22 years and a priest for 50 years, Fortich would have turned 100 years old last August 11.

Former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela said: "When Bishop Fortich died, I asked myself: Do we really need another Fortich? He left much too early and the task is not finished ... It's up to us, to become our own little Fortich, to honor his memory by becoming our own little Fortich."

Coscolluela said there may no more be another Fortich in our lifetime, but every Negrense can choose to be inspired by his life and emulate him. He described Fortich as a "man of faith," a "man of conviction," a "man of real humility," and a "peacemaker beyond comparison."

Fortich won the hearts and minds of the people, even those on the "other side" (the rebels), and he was better suited to sit in the negotiating panel.

"He was our conscience at the time we needed a conscience ... We were a social volcano waiting to erupt then ... There was practically an earthquake in Negros; the reactions were likely to be violent. But because he was our conscience, he changed the way we think, he made everybody to start asking questions," said Coscolluela.

Coscolluela, former chief of the Sugar Regulatory Administration and presidential adviser for Western Visayas, spoke at the launching of Vir Fortis, a book on Bishop Fortich, at the Redemptorist Church in this city on Saturday. It was one of the highlights of the weeklong festivities of Insta: A Festival of Faith, a celebration of the bishop's birth centenary.

Insta was the motto Fortich used to guide his colorful, and oftentimes, controversial episcopacy. It was taken from 2 Timothy 4:2: "Preach the word! Be ready, in season or out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching."

The book Vir Fortis is a compilation of four articles on Fortich, written by Msgr. Vic Rivas who was the chancellor secretary and later on vicar general of the diocese during the episcopacy of Fortich, Msgr. Toto Suplido who was the social action director, chancellor secretary and oeconomus, Fr. Romeo Empestan, the diocesan pastoral director, and Fr. Dimitri Gatia who was the scholar for Biblical studies and accompanion of Fortich in his speaking engagements abroad.

Hernando Abaya, member of the board of trustees of the Blessed John Paul II National Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family that organized the Fortich centenary, also spoke about the bishop by describing the latter as "a shepherd who was kind and forgiving, even to those who don't like him," and "his door was always open."

Fortich, also known as "Kumander Tony" and a revered champion of the rights of the poor, was a 1989 Nobel Peace Prize nominee for being a strong advocate of the rights of the poor, and a social critic of an unjust social economic system.

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 Negros Occidental. The award was bestowed on him for his pioneering works for the Dacongcogon Cooperative Sugar. (FREEMAN)