The recent commemoration of the Christian world of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus was quiet and solemn, as usual, but for me there was something different as I followed some of the youngsters in the city who chose to hold another ritual in the streets for people to see.
Mounted by the Children's Rehabilitation Center (CRC), a private organization whose mandate was to protect and promote the rights of children and their families who are caught in internal conflict between government troops or State forces and the revolutionaries, the ritual which was dubbed "Kalbaryo sa KaBUS" depicted among others the children victims of the abuse of power by military personnel in the hinterlands of Mindanao.
While it was too gruesome to contemplate, the images of bloodied children depicted through another form of art which they called as plastic mannequins made out of thin sheets of plastic wraps and scotch tapes were too graphic to be ignored.
Passersby who caught a glimpse of the images including some pictures lined along the sidewalk that were held aloft by some women and children could not help but think about the messages relayed by these militants.
To some, such efforts at raising the consciousness of the public especially the city folks about what has been happening in the countryside might seem futile, but not a few have been enlightened and have become aware that it's not all right with our fellows especially among the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) as we might think it is. In fact, many among our Lumad brothers and sisters are under threat of losing their homes and birth right in the face of the ongoing onslaught of "development undertakings" that government is pursuing in their areas.
While it all seemed like small voices in the wilderness, it will be good for us City dwellers to really think about these silent protests, because though we might be tempted to think that we are far away from such realities, we will always find ourselves affected when the time comes, when our environment could not take the abuse and the degradation that it is undergoing now.
It would certainly help if we are aware about all these things and not just shrug off what is happening to other people because, as the saying goes, we are all connected, just like body parts, and whatever happens to the very least among us will eventually affect all of us sooner or later.