Wishing for the Gift of Bilocation
Today I wished I had the gift of bilocation.
It was a day when I needed to, but couldn’t, attend activities that were happening at the same time in different places. I was reminded of what a Brazilian activist said at the 2007 World Social Forum in Nairobi, after repeatedly hearing delegates complain about not having enough time. “We all have time - the same 24 hours in a day,” he said. “But what not all of us have are priorities.”
I do have priority issues that engage my time and energy. But today all my priority issues had an activity to which I had been invited. Quite a strange and rare occurrence, like all the planets aligning.
My first issue for the day was agrarian reform and rural development; historically, this issue started off my social involvement as a seminarian and a young priest. There was a breakfast meeting at the office of the Alliance for Rural Concerns, to plan the next day’s mobilization for the extension and reform of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). Farmers organizations in the Rural Poor Solidarity will be joined by some bishops, led by Archbishop Tony Ledesma, in a march to Congress, where there will be a dialogue with Speaker Nograles, and an interfaith service at noon, followed by the committee hearing on CARP.
They asked me to help emcee the interfaith service. Somehow, I still get asked to play a “liturgical” role.
I left the meeting earlier than the others, to rush to the Department of Education’s Bulwagan ng Karunungan, for the conference on “Learning without fear.” This is part of the series of activities on Education for All sponsored by E-net Philippines during Global Action Week (GAW). Thea Soriano, E-net’s national coordinator asked me to explain the background and the theme of GAW 2008 - Quality Education to End Exclusion.
We first presented the short video prepared by the Global Campaign on Education, and after giving a short briefing on GCE and EFA, I invited the participants to tomorrow’s activity in front of the Quezon City Hall, part of the “World’s Biggest Lesson” which will be held in 100 countries, and which the GCE hopes will make it to the Guinness Book of Records. Outside of Quezon City, E-net members and partners will be holding similar activities in Baguio, Cotabato, Sharif Kabungsuan, Davao City and Davao del Norte.
In my brief talk, I asked what these advocacy activities really achieve. Like the GCE, we want our activities to achieve specific results - changes in policy and practice. “Perhaps we can also look at what we do as similar to liturgies,” I said. “Even if we participate with different levels of intensity and awareness, our collective action calls the attention of government, which is an important step to action.”
One of the scarcest resources is “attention,” and governments have to deal with competing priorities. Hence the need for continuing advocacy, including occasional “liturgical” events.
After my talk, Thea and I rushed to Greenhills. E-net was invited by the Unesco National Commission (Unacom) to a “National Dialogue on the Development and State of the Art of Adult Learning and Education.” Various government agencies gave presentations; E-net was asked to present the experiences and ideas of civil society and NGOs. The discussions that followed were quite useful.
I think the purpose of the activity was mainly to get inputs for the national report that the Unacom is supposed to submit by the end of April, as part of the process toward Confintea 6, the international conference on adult education. Compared to EFA 2015, adult learning and education does not receive enough government attention. We were all self-critical about our shortcomings in documenting our experiences and assessing the outcomes of our activities so that we can make a more effective case for adult learning.
I suggested that for the Philippine report to Confintea 6, we should not simply present the usual statistical overviews, or even a few boxed case studies of good practices. We should look at the kind of adult learning and education that is happening within those social programs and movements that appear to have made significant progress e.g. participatory local governance, microfinance and enterprise development, migration and reintegration. I was pleased to hear the representative from the Catholic Education Association of the Philippines emphasize the need for adult education toward “engaged citizenship.”
The last issue for the day was rural electrification. I dropped by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to get updates about the conference of all electric cooperatives in Cebu on April 23 to 25. I have been invited, but unfortunately cannot join Fr. Paking Silva at the learning session that will precede the “Lumens Awards” ceremonies for outstanding electric coops. I have to be at E-net’s activities this week, including our general assembly.
Ironically, these activities forced me to miss today’s Earth Day events. I missed the early morning fluvial parade on the Pasig river, which is led by the Sagip Pasig Movement, to draw attention to the polluted state of Pasig and other Philippine rivers, and to push for community-based ecological solid waste management as part of a “Clean River Zones” program. I also missed the noon Pontifical Mass of Cardinal Rosales which he celebrates every Earth Day since three years ago.
I console myself that “every day is Earth Day,” but of course we need special days and activities to focus attention.
As I shuttled between these various engagements, there was another reason to wish for the gift of bilocation. My mind kept traveling to Mindoro where my mother had just returned home to Naujan, after being confined for five days at the ICU in Calapan. I could call my sister and aunts who are there with her, and get some reassuring news about Inay’s recovery. But I want to be at her bedside.
