In Irving Stone’s 1961 biographical novel, “The Agony and the Ecstasy,” one is made to feel the extreme contrast between the physical and emotional toll (agony) of the four years it took Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the emotional high (ecstasy) when he gazed at the sublime beauty of his finished masterpiece.
Today, I write about the ecstasy members of San Pio Village Homeowners Association (SPVHOA) of Talisay City experienced when they received their copy of the favorable judgment of the Human Settlements Adjudication Commission (HSAC) on the case they filed against Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation–Integrated Development Center (JPIC-IDC). It was an emotional high that more than made up for the agony of the years they were excluded from their rights to own the house and lot they have valid Lease Purchase Agreements (LPAs) for and to manage their village.
To recall, SPVHOA originally filed a case against JPIC-IDC with the Regional Adjudication Branch Region VII. This dismissed the case in October of 2025 for lack of merit, a decision SPVHOA appealed to HSAC. In May this year, HSAC’s final judgment came. Setting aside the Regional Branch’s decision, it ordered JPIC-IDC to refrain from selling subdivision lots without a certificate of registration and license to sell issued by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development. It further ordered JPIC-IDC to turn over management of the village to SPVHOA.
It was a consummation “devoutly to be wished” after years of agony in the hands of JPIC-IDC that for undisclosed reasons prevented them from exercising their legal right to own the land for which they hold valid LPAs and the right to manage their subdivision, SPVHOA being a duly registered homeowners association.
The irony? This comes from being excluded by an agency whose name, Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation-Integrated Development Center, belies the injustice it did to SPVHOA. Even more ironic is that JPIC-IDC is headed by a priest who high-handedly refused to face SPVHOA members and explain why he was so bent on excluding them from their houses, lots and village.
SPVHOA victory should give hope to people living in the edges of society, like the homeless and the landless. If they want their dignity and rights as human beings respected, they just have to stand up to power, be it political, business or even religious as in this instant case but in a solidly organized fashion.
Members of SPVHOA who came to tell me of the favorable decision greeted me with “God is good.” They thanked me for what I told them to do when they first came for help. I told them that God helps those who help themselves. Like, if they have a headache, they cannot just pray for it to go away. They have to take some medicine. And the medicine for the headache they were having with JPIC-IDC was to speak up, talk facts not opinions and stand up for their rights in an organized manner.
Ironically in this supposedly Christian country, human rights are not freely accessed. Marginalized people have to organize and thus get empowered to snatch their rights from the clutches of society’s powerful establishment.