A Tribute To Bishop Fortich at Diocese of Bacolod, Philippines, Bacolod City, Philippines 6100 PH - Bishop of the Masses

'Bishop of the masses' turns 89, recalls work By Carla P. Gomez BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental -- Bishop Emeritus Antonio Y. Fortich was in a jovial mood Aug. 11 as a steady flow of well-wishers arrived at his Domus Dei residence to greet him on his 89th birthday. Fortich, known to many as the bishop of the masses, gave a firm handshake and sometimes a slap on the back to well-wishers who came from all walks of life. True to his calling, he marked his birthday with a Mass at the Sacred Heart Shrine located beside the Domus Dei along Lizares Avenue, which was attended by Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra. "The presence of Fortich is very, very powerful in the sense that he has endeared himself to all of us and is a very great inspiration to us in the Diocese of Bacolod," Navarra said. "Fortich is a great defender of human rights and a protagonist of the Church stand on social issues." For the 89-year-old bishop, his message on his birthday was that life is a gift from God, which one must use productively to help others. "Let us all be productive agents of His divine love to make the world a happy place to live in," he said. "I am happy. I have no regrets. I have seen that the work I have done is bearing fruit, especially among the masses," he said. "I am 89 years old. I do not deserve such a length of time but since the Lord God has gifted me this strength of life, I am pretty sure he is happy with my work, especially among the masses." Fortich continues to attend board meetings of the Dacongcogon Sugar and Rice Milling Cooperative, which he helped to establish in 1973 to serve small sugar farmers and improve their lives economically. But he keeps on speaking about social issues affecting the poor. The bishop is still a source of inspiration for many who go to him for advice. "The work for the poor is not excluded from the package of retirement," said Fortich, who retired in 1989. Fortich has championed the cause of the poor when it was unpopular and dangerous to do so in a diocese where the landed class was the powers-that-be. Born to a wealthy family, he risked his own life for the sake of the poor. The bishop is the eldest son of Ignacio Fortich, a Spanish-Filipino, and Rosalia Yapsutco, who was Chinese-Filipino. He was born Aug. 11, 1913 at the Silliman University Hospital in Dumaguete City, in the neighboring province of Negros Oriental. The Fortich family owned land in Sibulan town in Negros Oriental that was planted to rice, corn, and sugar. They also owned fishponds. They had a turn-of-the-century sugar mill that produced brown sugar. Fortich said his parents were very religious. So it did not come as a surprise that even at a young age he knew he wanted to be a priest. "My mother had a free clinic in the hacienda for the workers," the bishop recalled. "That gave me the idea that I wanted to serve the people when I grew up." In 1933, Fortich went to study at the Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary in Manila. On March 4, 1944, Fortich was ordained a priest and sailed to Bacolod. It was World War II and the Japanese had invaded the Philippines. Fortich immediately became assistant priest of San Sebastian Cathedral and remained so until 1949, when he was assigned parish priest of Binalbagan town in Negros Occidental province for a year and eight months. He was then recalled to Bacolod where he became parish priest of the Cathedral. He became the right hand man of then Bacolod Bishop Manuel Yap and was appointed vicar general of the Diocese of Bacolod on Dec. 31, 1952. In 1966, Fortich administered the diocese when Bishop Yap became seriously ill. When Yap died on Oct.16, 1966, Fortich took over and became the third bishop of the Diocese of Bacolod. Following the mandate of Pope Paul VI "to do something for the poor of Negros," Fortich's first Episcopal act as bishop was to call on sugarcane planters to give just wages to their workers. He also stressed the workers' right to organize unions. His pastoral letter in 1969 brought attention to the plight of the farm workers, especially the "sacadas" (landless migrant workers). "The Catholic Church is organizing all available resources to initiate or release the forces of change," he said in the pastoral letter. Fortich created the Church Social Action Committee to make the diocese responsive to the needs of the time. It was headed by Father Luis Jalandoni, who later left the priesthood and is now the spokesperson of the communist-led National Democratic Front, based in the Netherlands.

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