"...a kind of violence they never knew."

"The wounded woman had been hiding in the hills for 14 days. Submachine gun bullets had struck her face, her leg, and her foot. Other bullets had killed he husband. The brass voices of gongs passed the word from ridge to ridge, speaking discreetly, for everyone in the mountains of Mindanao understands the language of the gongs.

"Details reached us by runner. The hill people heard that Manuel Elizalde, Jr., head of Panamin - the Presidential Arm for Nation~ Minorities - was in the district.... A man walked two days through the forest to put the matter before him. The Secretary listened, then summarized the situation: '...This is a classic case of land grabbing....Someone from the dominant society...tried to take a tribesman's holdings. He objected, now he's dead, and his wife badly hurt.... You know, we hear a lot about conservation these days. Conservation of animals, even of plants. But what about the conservation of human beings and human cultures?"

This quotation is from an article "Help For Philippine Tribes in Trouble" by Kenneth Mac Leish in The National Geographic Magazine of August, 1971.

Ten years before the author of this article penetrated this region, members of the Passionist Religious Community had already been living ir this territory, befriending the primal people, and facilitating their entrance into the 20th century. But, in the ensuing years, the influence of the land-grabbers, the dominant society, has prevailed in importing violence among simple, peace-loving people. It has escalated and even the indigenous people have access to arms and are being acculturated to a kind of violence they never knew.

April 8, 1988 was one of the most shocking and sorrowful days for the member of the Passionist Religious Community. Word was wired to our monasteries around the world that our brother Passionist, Fr. Carl Schmitz, who lived wit the Bla-ans tribal people in the mountains of Mindanao, was brutally shot to death the night before, an innocent victim of this violence. Later, we received fuller report of what happened, as reported by the people of the village wh witnessed the entire scene.

On Monday evening, April 7 of this year, a 27 year old Bla-an, a parishioner of the Bla-an Mission, went to the convento of Fr. Carl and began shouting for him to come out. Fr. Carl was preparing for bed, and answered in a soft, calm voice "Coming!" When he came out on his porch, he stood at the top of the stairs an invited the man to come up to talk with him. He refused. A short discussion too place, the man kept shouting angrily at Fr. Carl who attempted to have him calm down. Suddenly, the man took his Garand rifle off his shoulder. At this, worried eyewitnesses ran for help. Shouting at the priest, and pointing the rifle, the man said: "This is your last night, and with my 48 rounds of ammunition I am going into the mountains to kill many more people!" Carl cried out: "NO! NO!" At that the assailant began shooting. A bullet went through Carl's open mouth and exited through the back of his head. The explosion of his skull sprayed the corrugated plastic roofing sheets of the porch with blood and brain matter. The impact spun him around and succeeding bullets hit him in the back and went completely through his body, tearing his internal organs apart. When the assailant finished shooting, he went up the stairs and peered at the body to ascertain that Carl was dead, then rushed away, firing his rifle in the air, as he headed to the Barrio Captain's house.

Fr. Carl, a native Chicagoan, was one of those specially gifted persons, gentle, unassuming, totally committed to serving others, particularly called and driven, wanting nothing more than to be where suffering people are and to be with them. A classmate throughout his entire seminary years said of him: "From the earliest days of high school and through the long years of seminary life he always dreamed of being with the poorest of the poor."

True to his drive and dreams, as a young priest, he worked with our black brothers and sisters in the southern part of the U.S....In the aftermath of World War II, with other Passionists, he went to China, wanting to serve the people there, but after a short time they were thwarted by the Communist takeover in 1949 and had to return to the U.S....In 1953, when the Japanese people were struggling through the post war years, coping with the devastation of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and building a democratic society, he was one of our first Passionists to begin serving there. He became expert in the Japanese language and carried on very successful apostolates. Twenty years later, as Japan had built itself up to become a very prosperous nation, he felt the call to get back to where people were hurting at a grass roots level.

That led him in 1973 to join his brother Passionists in the Philippines, and eventually, in 1977, at age 60, he asked to be stationed up in the rugged mountains of South Cotabato, on the island of Mindanao with the ancient tribal peoples who have only been known to the outside world for the last 50 to 75 years. They were, and are, going through a painful process of transition in their culture. This fitted exactly that ultimate dream of his childhood.

This area was first penetrated by a Marist Brother who, in 1961, led Passionist Father George Nolan up the mountain to meet the T'boli people, a primal tribe who have occupied that territory for over twelve centuries. The area is named after a lake in that territory, Lake Sebu. With the permission and invitation of the T'boli people, Fr. George took up residence there, and thus began a fascinating leap in history. In a short period of time, with the ready cooperation of the indigenous people, he set up a school, a clinic, other basic facilities, and began enlisting the help of Filipinos from the lowlands. He christened it: Santa Cruz Mission.

In 1963, another primal tribe, the Bla-ans, on a neighboring mountain in a territory named Bolul, asked Fr. George to come to assist them in setting up similar facilities as those at Lake Sebu. Fr. George obliged and soon established a 'mission station' there as well - a twin of Santa Cruz.

As this altogether new challenge opened up for the Passionist Community, Fr. Rex Mansmann was appointed to take over the work in Lake Sebu in 1963. In the footsteps of his predecessor, he learned the local language and customs, and in succeeding years has become an international expert on matters concerning primal peoples. Building on what had already been done, he co-opted professionals to join him, established fund-raising partners in various countries, and in 25 years he and the T'boli people have gradually built a model village which is a nerve center for the tribal peoples throughout the southern island of Mindanao. Today the Mission serves the Forgotten Tribes through a variety of programs: Child Development, Education from pre-school through high school, Family Farm Development, Small r arm Development, and Economic Self-Sufficiency Training. There are now nineteen branches of the Lake Sebu operation, reaching out to the Forgotten Tribes of Mindanao. More than 15,000 tribal families are enrolled in the Santa Cruz program....4,000 children in the mission school system.... 50 mission-educated tribals have graduated from college through the Mission College Program - all have returned to their tribes and work in the Santa Cruz Mission programs.

As Fr. Rex writes: "The Santa Cruz Mission's approach to the Forgotten Tribes of Mindanao is one of Profound respect for who they are and- what they want to do with their lives. The tribal people know that they must 'make historic changes if they are to survive the onslaught of the modern world. But change must be made with intelligence and circumspection, and it must come from within the culture."

The Mission has a granary which purchases farm products from the Tribals at the highest market price, dyes and processes the grains and coffees, and trucks them to lowland markets....builds and maintains farm-to-market simple gravel roads, and does the same to link the small tribal communities.... A Health Center includes primary and secondary medical care, innoculations, nutrition assistance, pre and post natal care and training in sanitary practices. The Tribals suffer from many diseases. Chief among them are tuberculosis, pneumonia, malaria, dysentery, hepatitis, cholera, schistosomiasis (snail fever), parasitical infections and skin diseases....The ultimate goal of the Mission's Economic and Farm programs is to develop self-reliant tribal communities....Fr. Carl was the latest partner in all of this.

Fr. Harold Reusch, the present Superior of our Passionists in the Philippines, has written about Fr. Carl: "In 1977, Carl asked to be assigned to the Bla-an Tribal Minority of South Cotabato. He threw himself into this work with more vigor than ever. It was clear that Carl had never been happier nor more content. He considered everyone of the 80,000 Bla-ans his people. They were living in the mountains separated into hundreds of small communities, covering an area of thousands of square kilometers. He set out to visit every one of these scattered communities. In a short time, he was known and trusted by all because of his kindliness and his sincere concern for each one. Along with his spiritual message, he brought food when they were starving, medicines to combat the prevalence of sickness and disease; he built schools so that they could improve their economic and social condition. In his own personal life, he lived as the poorest, even using borrowed clothing. His Superiors had to order him to rest and to take care of his health."

It's painfully difficult at this time to understand the motive of the man who killed Fr. Carl. Through the sponsorship of the Mission and the Marist Brothers, he received his education from Primary School through college and was assisted in being employed in the Primary Schools in the area.

In that area, as in many others in the Philippines, the political turbulence is causing so much confusion and suffering. The New York Times, on 6/18/88 published an article by Seth Mydans entitled "Human Rights Abuses in the Philippines", in which he reports: "Although the military has complained of being hampered by excessive concern for human rights, few cases have been brought against abusive soldiers....The Government's Human Rights Commission has been largely passive, and its chairwoman... virtually condoned abuses in a recent statement. 'In an environment of war -and this is the situation which exists between the insurgents and the military - it is most difficult, if not impossible, to completely prevent the occurrence of brutality and torture.' ....The military, in combatting Communist rebels has resorted to increasingly brutal methods particularly in backing the vigilantes who operate without direct accountability....The Communists had themselves committed widespread human rights violations....More than 200 vigilante groups have spread through the country...and have tortured, maimed, mutilated, beheaded, shot and hacked to death people who they say support or sympathize with the rebels....These groups often armed by the military are bands of local volunteers with little training or supervision who patrol their communities to deny the insurgents a popular base."

Peaceful, Primal People

Fr. Rex Mannsman spoke at a Stauros Congress on The International Year of Shelter for the Homeless in the summer of 1987. In his address, he stated that the preferred description of the 'Lost Tribes of Mindanao' was 'Primal People', rather than 'Tribal People', because that title describes better the essence of their culture - a culture which is tuned in with nature. In that culture, everyone shares in the resources of the earth. There is no one who is excluded or not cared for. If there is a diminishment of resources, ALL endure the loss. If there is an abundance, ALL share the abundance.

Continuing, he pointed out that the disruption in the 'Primal Peoples' culture has come about by the agribusinesses, settlers, multi-nationals, mining companies, corrupt politicians, etc., who have broken into their territories, manipulated the innocence of these people, took their lands away and ravaged the natural riches. This not only is against the natural law, but even against the ancient Spanish law-code in which it was specified that each tribe was entitled to its own territory. Now eighty per cent of these primal people are landless. There are 200,000 landless people in the territory where he is living -a major problem which he and Carl Schmitz have been working to remedy. The rich soil and forests of Mindanao are being seized and despoiled.

While there is a pride in relating the heroism of Fr. Carl, and our Passionist Brothers and Sisters - 'Missionaries'-, there is a much wider intended significance in this account. It is that 'missionary' spirit, to use an ancient expression, that characterizes dedicated men and women - cleric, religious, or lay - who not only proclaim the dignity and worth of all humans, but also put their energies, even their entire lives in exceedingly difficult circumstances in order to achieve the dignity and worth - not only for the individuals, their families and tribes, but for whole populations. They are witnesses to the very best in the human spirit, giving of themselves to others - as opposed to taking from; respecting the gifts of nature in contrast to ravaging and plundering; loving, rather than manipulating.... even laying down their lives that others may live a full life in peace and dignity.

The Santa Cruz Mission publishes the Lunay S'bung Newsletter which gives up-dates and information on the beleagured tribes' struggles to move forward with self-determination. The Newsletter's business address is: P.O.Box 7878, Koronadal, South Cotabato, Philippines 9708. The U.S. office is: Santa Cruz Mission, Inc., 37 McMurray Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15241, (412)854-2480. This office supplies the Newsletter also, as well as vidoe-tapes, audio tapes, and complete information on the Primal People of Mindanao