Forcibly ejecting Badjaos: unchristian and illegal

It is the firm conviction of this column that the public officials who caused the ejection of the Badjaos against their consent committed a gross violation against the law of God and the law of man. The Integrated Bar of Cebu, both province and city chapter, by their failure to raise issues on that, should reexamine the IBP's fidelity to law and human rights.

And the human rights commission should be ashamed of itself for closing its eyes to the glaring violation of the Badjaos' human rights. The Cebu Archdiocese of the holy, Catholic, and apostolic church founded by Jesus himself on the rock who was Peter, and all the church leaders in Cebu, whether mainstream Catholic or protestant, as well as the Iglesia ni Cristo, and all other religious denominations should be answerable to God for allowing human beings to be forcibly removed from Cebu City and environs, only because they are poor, powerless, and voiceless.

By ejecting the Badjaos without due process of law, on the generalized assumption that they are beggars who roam the streets during the Christmas season, the whole Christian community of the great and proud province of Cebu and the supposedly holy city of the Santo Nino, where Christianity was first founded in the entire archipelago, are guilty of the greatest inhumanity of the more powerful against the most powerless. This is precisely the reason why the messiah came to the world and became man: in order to teach the entire humanity the true meaning of love. The people never learn.

The Badjaos are indigenous Filipinos. If this province, if this nation is welcoming foreigners with open arms, it has no moral and legal right to throw away Filipinos who were not committing crimes, except to allow others to exercise a little gesture of Christian charity. This country cannot even have the power to resist Chinese invaders who terrorize our fishermen in the West Philippine Sea. This government is not even immune from the Alice Guos and Michael Yangs who allegedly beset us with illegal gambling, drugs, prostitution, kidnappings, and murders. What moral and legal right does the government have to forcibly eject Filipinos from their own land?

This nation, this province, this city are all self-righteous, high-handed, unchristian, and even illegal. In the landmark case of Villavicencio vs. Lukban, the mayor of Manila was admonished by the Supreme Court for arresting suspected women of ill-repute, loading them on a ship and deporting them to Davao. The Supreme Court declared that such draconian, oppressive acts were violative of the Bill of Rights of citizens. They violate the freedom and liberty of abode and the basic right of citizens to live peacefully wherever in this country.

Jesus Christ never rejected the poor and the powerless. He embraced sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors. He came to the world to bring hope to the hopeless, liberty to those imprisoned by poverty and social injustice. This government doesn’t understand how to be a free Filipino and this Christendom has rejected the core message of Christianity. By forcibly bringing the Badjaos to Zamboanga, this city and this province are, in effect, saying this place has no room for the poor, powerless, and marginalized. Indeed, even Jesus had to be born in a manger because there was no room in all the inns in Bethlehem.

Cebu City has no room for the Badjaos because they are poor. They are street urchins. They are an abomination to the glitter of a pretentious city, which has embraced secularism and materialism and has forgotten the meaning of Christianity and the true meaning of Christmas. But Cebu City has plenty of rooms for tourists who bring millions of dollars.

This city will answer to the Lord when judgment comes. It is a city that loses its soul. This province, the richest and the most powerful in the whole country, does not have a heart for the poor. The IBP, the CHR, the Catholic Church and all religious leaders in this part of the world have joined a conspiracy of silence in the face of a blatant and palpable social injustice.

Dr. Jose Rizal called this a social cancer. Jesus called this the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees. And all those who allowed this despicable travesty to happen, including those who keep acting deaf and blind, by their indifference and inaction, must answer to the Lord himself. How in good conscience can they celebrate Christmas?