A Tribute To Bishop Fortich at Diocese of Bacolod, Philippines, Bacolod City, Philippines 6100 PH - People Skills

Many of his critics, however, would later change their views. Many of the causes Fortich and his loyal clergy fought for have been vindicated with the passage of laws and the gradual shift in government policy, though Negros remains a hotbed of insurgency. The vicar general, Msgr. Vic Rivas, said Fortich, born to landowning parents in Sibulan, Negros Oriental, “learned how to use influence and power not for himself but always for others.” Rivas cried in remembering the bishop, who remains a role model for Filipino priests. “His only extravagance was his fondness for entertaining people, being hospitable to friends, and ensuring that the rich contribute to help the poor,” he said. Fortich never lost his temper with the landowners or with military officers who had made Negros a laboratory for what they called “low-intensity conflict.” He would thunder from the pulpit but would have a ready smile, a firm handshake and jokes aplenty for visiting personages from the other side of the political divide. Alluding to the Church’s present-day challenges, Rivas said of Fortich: “If you lived with him, you would be comfortable because of his kindness and compassion.” Fortich was so famous that Vatican officials swarmed around him during a trip in the 1990s. He was known for his fierce defense of the oppressed and his belief in stretching the limits of the Church’s “preferential option for the poor,” Rivas noted. “Yet his people skills were so good that he never really earned enemies.” And even conservative Vatican officials were drawn to the prelate with ever ready one-liners, and the ability to seamlessly blend theology with homespun wisdom.

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