Negros Nine priest goes home
The only surviving priest of the famed Negros Nine, Father Brian Gore, is returning to his old stamping ground of Kabankalan, Negros Occidental, 21 years after he and two other priests, together with six lay Church workers were arrested in 1982 on charges of inciting rebellion, illegal possession of arms and ammunition, and the murder of a local mayor.
The trial dominated world headlines for over two years until their case was dismissed due to lack of evidence in 1984. The six laypeople and local priest, Father Vincent Dungan, who died in 1995, went back to work in the local area, while Australian Father Brian Gore and Irish Father Niall O'Brien, who succumbed to cancer in 2003, agreed to go into voluntary exile.
Blacklisted for several years, Father Gore returned to The Philippines in 1989, but worked mostly in the Manila area.The only surviving priest from the group, now 64-year-old Father Gore said he would be involved in programmes involving anti-human trafficking and child labour, as well as sustainable agriculture. "Take a look at the condition of the people, hunger is one of the basic human rights concerns, so people's access to food is a problem as more and more people are hungry, so I believe its one of the biggest issues that needs to be addressed," he told CBCP News.
"We need to be much more proactive and aggressive in the protection of the rights of the people," Father Gore stressed.
- Published in Sunday Examiner 31 August 2008
Fr Jim Mulroney is a Columban Priest, Editor of the Sunday Examiner in Hong Kong
Source: Columban Australia
The trial dominated world headlines for over two years until their case was dismissed due to lack of evidence in 1984. The six laypeople and local priest, Father Vincent Dungan, who died in 1995, went back to work in the local area, while Australian Father Brian Gore and Irish Father Niall O'Brien, who succumbed to cancer in 2003, agreed to go into voluntary exile.
Blacklisted for several years, Father Gore returned to The Philippines in 1989, but worked mostly in the Manila area.The only surviving priest from the group, now 64-year-old Father Gore said he would be involved in programmes involving anti-human trafficking and child labour, as well as sustainable agriculture. "Take a look at the condition of the people, hunger is one of the basic human rights concerns, so people's access to food is a problem as more and more people are hungry, so I believe its one of the biggest issues that needs to be addressed," he told CBCP News.
"We need to be much more proactive and aggressive in the protection of the rights of the people," Father Gore stressed.
- Published in Sunday Examiner 31 August 2008
Fr Jim Mulroney is a Columban Priest, Editor of the Sunday Examiner in Hong Kong
Source: Columban Australia
Negros Nine Archive
- Agro-forestry project Updates- July – December 2010
- MOISES PADILLA ATTENDS SYMPOSIUM ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING - August 24, 2010
- Negros Nine Conducts Hidden World of Trafficking Symposium - September 2, 2009
- Negros Nine Conducts Diversified Integrated Farming System - August 24-25, 2009
- Katilingban Holds General Assembly - August 29, 2009
- Negros Nine at Bacolod Provincial Jail 25 years ago - July 3, 2009
- Forum at Hinobaan, January 27, 2009
Kibbutz on Tall Grass Mountain
Fr Niall O'Brien
The Priest as a Prophet Father Niall O’Brien, 64, a good friend, a brave and courageous priest of unquestionable integrity died 27th of April 2004 in Pisa, Italy, after a long struggle with illness. ~ more ~ |
Fr Brian Gore
 Father Brian Gore was sent to the Philippines after his in ordination in 1969. He arrived on the sugar-rich island of Negros where he worked among the poor until his arrest in 1982...~ more ~ |
Negros Nine Info
| Board of Trustees Rev. Fr. Brian E. Gore Rev. Fr. Ricon B. Dagunan Atty. Francisco B. Cruz Milagros C. Villavicencio Lydio J. Mangao Jesus S. Arzaga Nomy T. Muhal Conrado G. Esemple |
Lydio J. Mangao Brgy. Oringao Kabankalan City Negros Occidental 6110 Philippines Cell No. 0922-893 9615 Tel: (63) 034 744 6800 Email: info@negrosnine.com webpage: www.negrosnine.com |
Exodus 84
by Columban Fr. Robert Burke
This is about the Long March, or Exodus '84, to allow it a scriptural description, three days of torrid sun and long kilometers from Kabankalan to Bacolod , a distance of about ninety-five kilometers, or approximately sixty miles. I was there. A long line of marchers (numbering at the start more than 1500) carrying streamers and placards moved over a hot asphalt road like a colony of ants, twisting into curves, seemingly endless.