A political detainee paid tribute to a recently departed missionary priest who spent most of his life among the poorest of farm workers in Negros Island.
National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Frank Fernandez said he is saddened upon learning of Fr. Brian Gore’s death last Easter Sunday, April 20.
Himself a Roman Catholic priest, Fernandez credited Gore for his formation as a pro-poor cleric from as far back as his seminary days at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Bacolod City.
Gore died at the Holy Mother of Mercy Hospital in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental, Philippines, due to septic shock.
Born in Perth, Australia in 1944, Father Brian was ordained in 1968 and arrived in the Philippines in 1969. He was assigned to southern Negros Occidental, then under the Diocese of Bacolod (now the Diocese of Kabankalan).
Gore was a member of the Missionary Society of St. Columban in the Philippines.
“I was surprised upon learning of his death here in jail. I am saddened by his death because he was part of my youth and my life. Our stories and histories are intertwined,” Fernandez wrote from the Negros Occidental District Jail in Bago City, Negros Occidental
The political detainee recalled that he first met Gore when the Australian served as resource person of a forum in their seminary to share his rich experience serving as priest in his Southern Negros parish. Fernandez said Gore’s parishioners were farm workers, farmers, frontier-settlers and fisherfolk.
“We immediately understood his stories about exploitation and oppression by landlords and politicians and their armed goons,” Fernandez wrote in Filipino.
The NDFP consultant said he and his fellow seminarians were horrified to hear of Gore’s stories about the poor’s hunger. He added that Gore’s parishioners were also victims of landgrabbing, expulsion from their communities, burning of their houses, destruction of livelihood, threats, unjust imprisonment, and killings.
“Fr. Brian told us then that mercy and compassion for the victims are not enough. Rather, we should journey with them in their sacrifices and struggles in order for them to achieve the dignity they deserve as God’s children,” Fr. Fernandez said.
Martial Law victim
The suffering of the people of Negros Island worsened when Ferdinand Marcos Sr. imposed martial law, Fernandez said, leading to horrifying oppression of the poor.
“Massacres and extrajudicial killings happened regularly in Negros. But instead of being cowed, Fr. Brian intensified in exemplifying the Church’s ‘preferential option for the poor.’ He called for social justice for farmers and farm workers,” Fernandez narrated.
Four years into martial rule, Fernandez himself was ordained priest that lead to more frequent interactions between the two. By then, Fernandez was already an admirer of the Australian who was always ready to rush to poor communities being terrorized by armed state forces to provide support.
“He had no reluctance; he always wanted to be with the poor and the marginalized, those who stand up and struggle for their rights,” the detainee said.
As early as then, champions of the poor were targets of red-tagging and other forms of harassment, not just by government armed forces but even by despotic landlords such as Marcos crony Roberto Benedicto Sr., Fernandez recalled. In 1983, Father Brian — along with fellow Columban priest Fr. Niall O’Brien, Filipino priest Fr. Vicente Dangan, and six lay workers — was arrested on fabricated charges of murder of Kabankalan mayor and despotic landlord Pablo Sola in May 1982. They were then christened the “Negros Nine” and were imprisoned for 14 months until the charges were dismissed in 1984 due to lack of evidence.
Instead of being depressed, Gore and company persisted with their ministry to the poor. Calls for their release exploded among various sectors, locally and internationally. After a year, the Negros 9 were freed.
After spending some time back in Australia, Gore returned to the Philippines. In 2000, he co-founded the Negros Nine Human Development Foundation (NNHDF) to carry on the work initiated by the Basic Christian Communities in Negros. The foundation focuses on sustainable agriculture, reforestation, education, and the prevention of human trafficking.
In 2005, Fr. Brian was elected to the Regional Council of the Columbans in the Philippines and served as Regional Director from 2006 to 2009.
After his term as Regional Director, he returned to Negros to continue his mission through the NNHDF. He settled at the Columban Retreat Center in Batang, Himamaylan, and would regularly visit Santuario de San Columbano de Bantolinao, a mountain area in Kabankalan, where he started a 12-hectare organic farm to promote sustainable farming. He lived and worked in the community he loved and helped grow — until the end of his life.
The Columbans, in their own tribute to Gore, said: “Known as the poor man’s priest, Father Brian will be remembered for his deep love for the Filipino people and strong commitment to justice.”
Inspiration
Fernandez said Fr. Brian was among his influences in his own realization of the gaping class divides in Philippine society. “He helped in the crafting of my worldview, the discernment of my role as a Christian, and as servant of the marginalized yet resisting people,” he declared.
Fernandez himself went underground before the end of the Marcos Sr. regime, later becoming the legendary NDFP spokesperson in the island. He was captured in Laguna province in March 2019 while undergoing medical treatment. In June 2023, he was convicted of illegal possession of firearms and explosives by a Taguig Regional Trial Court, a charge Fernandez denies to this day.
READ: Philippine Army holding Frank Fernandez incommunicado
Still, Fernandez said he is grateful for all that Fr. Brian taught him, particularly his good example of faithful service to the poor.
“He remains an inspiration for me and for many others who he helped educate about the unjust situation of our people,” Fernandez said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
