Filipinos in Flores
For many Filipinos, Indonesia
is Jakarta, Bali, Bogor and Djogjakarta and, for people in Davao, perhaps
Manado. Most Filipinos have not even heard of Flores, an island in East
Nusa Tenggara province that was hit by a massive earthquake last week.
At least 1,200 people died in that earthquake -- about 1,000 of them in
Maumere, the coastal town nearest the epicenter.
Strange as it may seem,
there are a number of Filipinos who have worked -- and are still working
-- in Flores and other parts of East Nusa Tenggara province. Flores is
1,600 km. east of Jakarta.
They are missionaries of
the Sociey of the Divine Word -- the religious order that has produced
persons as different as Edicio de la Torre, Conrado Balweg, columnist Bel
San Luis and Ben Beltran, the theology professor who is the parish priest
of Smokey Mountain.
East Nusa Tenggara is one
of the few provinces in predominantly Muslim Indonesia that has a Christian
majority. Flores Island is considered part of the Catholic heartland of
that country.
One of those who worked
in Flores is Cesar Raval, the retired bishop of Bangued, Abra, who now
lives in Tagaytay. He first started working in Larantuka and was assigned
to other towns in Flores during his stay, which lasted about 20 years.
Larantuka was also hit hard by the earthquake.
Bishop Raval was not the
first Filipino missionary in Flores. He was preceded by Fernando de Pedro
and Emmanuel Villaruz. Father Villaruz is back in the Philippines, working
in Abra. Father De Pedro is dead.
The Filipino missionary
who has worked longest in Indonesia is Bienvenido Prado, who hails from
Binmaley, Pangasinan. Father Prado worked for about 20 years in Flores,
but he is now based in Jakarta. One of his assignments is the International
Seafarers Center. This gives him the opportunity to meet the many Filipino
sailors serving on foreign vessels. He is also the chaplain of Catholic
Widows Association.
Father Prado was followed
by Victor Bunanig, now assigned in Ende, the seat of the archdiocese, and
then by Hilario Salinas. After Bunanig and Salinas acme Florante Llames,
who is now working in Timor, along with two younger priests -- Rogelio
Alasan and Jose Goopio.
``We are not sending any
more missionaries to Indonesia because the Indonesian government no longer
allows missionaries to enter,'' says Cornelio Alpuerto, SVD, head of the
central province of the Society of the Divine Word in the Philippines.
``The people we have there either have become Indonesian citizens or are
not classified as missionaries.''
The SVDs are not the only
Filipino missionaries in Indonesia, Father Alpuerto added, saying that
he knows of at least four RVM sisters who are working in Bali.
Father Alpuerto noted that
there are many Indonesians who are studying for the priesthood. The SVD
seminary in Maumere counts at least seven bishops among its alumni.
Some Indonesian priests
and seminarians come to the Philippines for further study. ``There are
several of them here now,'' Father Alpuerto said.
The archbishop of Ende,
Donatus Djagom, earned a Master's degree in English at the University of
San Carlos. Another Indonesian bishop, Darius Nggawa, is an alumnus of
the University of Sto. Tomas -- and to this day, he boasts of that fact.