I salute the local church pastors who have significantly filled the gaps in the distribution of international and national aids. These pastors, though mostly survivors themselves, organized themselves into municipal and provincial disaster response networks. They pooled their scarce resources and maximized their respective capacities to serve the people in their communities irrespective of religious affiliations or political alignments. They are committed to stick with their communities as they all rebuild their lives together.
International aid agencies will come and go. Many political personalities will soon be done with their photo-ops while handing out a couple of kilos of low-grade National Food Authority-issued rice to the survivors. But these local spiritual leaders will walk with their people in their respective communities.
My life will never be the same after being touched by these local spiritual leaders from Leyte, Samar, Northern Cebu, Mindoro, and Panay Island.
Love. Faith. Hope. Integrity. Justice. Peace. Selflessness. Vision. Determination. With these leadership characteristics, there is hope for genuine transformation in our land. Spiritual transformation. PsychoSocial transformation. SocioPolitical transformation. EconomicEcological transformation.
Despite all the disasters we’re going through, we will rise up and rebuild our lives!
Our community-based spiritual shepherds are there to lead us!
