Who owns the land?

We have a couple-friend who are very active in the apostolate. They have gone to Basilan, to Infanta, to Aurora and to many remote places in the Philippines conducting seminars and retreats to couples and families who are poor enough to pay for the accomodation in retreat houses but rich enough for having the time to listen to the Good News.

The couple is one of the "owners" of a 3-star hotel in Makati, which we sometimes use for our meetings. They don't want to be called the real owners of the property because they said that "Nobody can own something which will outlast and outlive you. We are just the caretakers of this property." Truly, we cannot own something which we cannot bring when we die.

Do we really need to own a property like a land, a building?

The Pastoral Constitution on the Church and the Modern World - Gaudiem et Spes promulgated by Pope John Paul VI on December 7, 1965 states: "God destined the earth and all it contains for all men and all peoples so that all created things would be shared fairly by all mankind. (#69)

St. Ambrose, one of the Doctors of the Church states: “You are not making a gift of your possessions to the poor person. You are handing over to him what is his. For what has been given in common use of all, you have arrogated to yourself. The world is given to all, and not only to the rich.”

Martin Luther Kings, Jr. also said: "Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man."

It is ironic that the farmers from Sumilao, Bukidnon who are also members of the Higaonon tribe have to walk  1,700 kilometers to dramatize their right to till the land. From my point of view, the farmers initially just want to have a land to till. It is only now that they want to "legally own the land" so that they can work on the land without any problems. For most tribal farmers, they don't care if they have the title to the land, as long as they can freely till and plant so that they can live (thus they become exploited by the "lowlanders" who have the connections to get paper titles to the land).

After two months of walking, the farmers reached Manila. The Church has expressed her support to the cause of the farmers. PGMA has already ordered that the process for the conversion of the the 144 hectare land to agricultural land paving the way for the process of returning the land to the Sumilao farmers.

We hope and pray that the farmers will eventually get their land.  God has always given His people a promised land.