Planting at the farm
A RECENT Facebook post by Fr. Robert P. Reyes, popularly known as the “Running Priest,” had a picture of him with an eight-year-old girl based in Rome who had her first communion at his parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (OLPH) in Quezon City. His comment, “So now Liv and the priest who gave her first communion are friends in the Lord forever. I will try to be around for her wedding 20 years from now,” earned hundreds of hearts and likes and comments about his being 89 by that time. Amused, I commented, “Fr. Robert Reyes, 89 is the new 69 kaya puedeng puede!” His immediate reply: “Haha Alma. Yes. Imagining dreaming creating writing running gardening advocating, etc. No time to worry about aging…like you, enjoying and celebrating every moment. Kelan tayo muling magkikita Po?” (When are we going to see each other again?) I answered back: “Oo nga po! Pag ready na po kayo at yung ipapakita ninyo sa amin nina Banaue at Raja. Hehehe!” I didn’t realize my playful ribbing on his standing invitation to show us his farm would immediately lead to an unforgettable overnight stay at the good priest’s hidden getaway.
Fr. Robert and his mom Natividad in the photo, with Banaue and Raja on the side
Bahay Natividad, named after Fr. Robert’s Mom
Fr. Robert, as we fondly call him, has been a family friend ever since my husband Mario and I met him at the home of the late University of the Philippines (UP) Asian Center Dean Ajit Singh Rye, when Mario was his college secretary and assistant dean for administration. We both were constant invitees of the Ryes at their UP campus residence, where we partook of Mrs. Lulu Rye’s specialties, especially our favorite KBL (kadyos/pigeon pea, baboy/pork, and langka/unripe jackfruit). Mrs. Rye was a devout parishioner at the landmark Roman Catholic chapel in UP, the Church of the Holy Sacrifice, where Fr. Robert was the parish priest for seven years, from 1994 to 2001. When Mrs. Rye passed away in 2019, and Dean Rye six months later in January 2020, Fr. Robert gave the homily for each funeral service.
Fr. Robert during the inurnment of Mario I. Miclat at the Miclat Mausoleum
My husband’s passing due to COVID-19 pneumonia exacerbated by his heart condition in April 3, 2021 happened at an inopportune time of lockdown, when he had to be unceremoniously whisked to the crematory directly from the Philippine General Hospital where he breathed his last. We kept his ashes in an urn at home until the following year in September, when we decided to have his inurnment in the Miclat family mausoleum in Zambales on his birthday. It was serendipitous that Fr. Robert called when we were planning the inurnment, and graciously agreed to officiate in an inter-faith liturgy together with my Methodist brother, Pastor Efren Capuli Cruz. It was only then that I would learn that his beloved mother also died of COVID eight days after my Mario did.
Our shared grief also extended to the death of National Artist F Sionil Jose in January 2022. Fr. Robert accompanied my dear friend, historian Fe Mangahas, and me to visit and comfort Manang Tessie Jose, an OLPH parishioner living just a stone’s throw away from the church. In life, the devoted Jose couple was inseparable. She was inconsolable and heartbroken after he died, that she fell ill and died nine months later.
Fr. Robert with Raja, Banaue and Iska, the dog
Fr. Robert’s invitation to his farm that he has been slowly developing for the past 28 years came when I thought I needed some kind of respite from the madding crowd and to be one with nature with all its fruit and native trees, fresh air, clear water, and natural flow of life from the good father’s hidden getaway. He says this place, with his 18 dogs, including the playful Iska/Francesca, Rogrog, Toro, Lala the singing dog, and Forty, keeps him sane. It’s a getaway he really needs, what with the flurry of community and social activity he is involved in, the latest of which was his near-death experience during the civilian boat convoy bound for Panatag Shoal where he almost drowned in the West Philippine Sea, but was miraculously saved by a medallion of St. Benedict.
It’s a getaway he really needs, what with the flurry of activity he is involved in, the latest of which was his near-death experience during the civilian boat convoy bound for Panatag Shoal
That brush with death was just one of the many riveting episodes in the life of the colorful priest. His self-imposed exile in Kweichow in 2006–2007 was another one for the books, when as a teacher, he joined the underground church in China. It was an offshoot of his filing for a leave of absence in 2005, when his relationship with church leaders soured because he led a hunger strike in a Manila park against then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo over allegations she rigged elections.
A controversial priest, Fr. Robert has had a brush too many with the authorities. Even before becoming a man of the cloth, he was already with a group that organized Gomburza, a progressive organization. In 1983, the religious organization learned that he was under order of battle, so Cardinal Sin himself sent him to the Vatican to study. “Mainit na ako, kaya ipinadala ako.” He self-deprecatingly relates another priest saying, “not because you’re intelligent, but to save you dahil kabago mong pari, maingay ka na.” He lamented the fact that he had to leave the country when the people started to rise up in massive opposition to the assassination of Ninoy Aquino. In Rome, he took up Marxist ethics and philosophy, moral philosophy, and ethics for his Masters leading to a Ph.D from 1983 to 1987.
He continued his Ph.D studies in Social Anthropology at UP College of Social Sciences and Philosophy in 1989. The choice of UP was deliberate as he wanted to have different perspective after coming from the Ateneo de Manila University, where he took up AB Philosophy, and San Jose Seminary, where Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle was a classmate. They were both ordained in 1982. Talking about his life in the seminary, he reminisced about his friendship with the cardinal. Staying on the same floor of the dormitory, they would eat together, go out and look at the sky and talk, then go to the chapel early in the morning. “Chito is brilliant; no wonder he’d become a cardinal, and possibly, a pope, too,” he added.
Controversy, however, seems to always hound the ebullient priest. He was issued a warrant of arrest for libel by the Enriles and jailed on May 28, 2002, just before the defense of his Ph. D dissertation. His parishioners raised money for his bail so he could do his defense on May 31. Fr. Robert amusingly recalled that his dissertation adviser, the former UP president Francisco “Dodong” Nemenzo, said that the dissertation panel was about to go to jail to conduct what should have been the “first Ph. D dissertation defense of a priest in jail.”
Fr. Robert’s mantra
He would have been a bishop, according to some kibitzers, but the non-conformist, questioning priest prefers to be an “ordinary priest” who acts, or “runs” on issues he is passionate about. These issues included protecting the environment and blaming mining companies for environmental degradation, speaking out against graft and corruption in the government, protesting against the demolition of informal settlers’ communities to pave the way for the construction of shopping malls, or against the tobacco industry in support of his brother who contracted lung cancer and sued a cigarette company, or deploring the questionable Comelec handling of the 2022 election. He’s a priest of the masses, a natural consequence of why he wanted to be a priest in the first place.
Lush plants at Fr. Robert’s farm
At the age of 4, he already started to think of becoming a priest, and decided upon watching a movie titled Marcelino Pan y Vino. It was a 15th century magical story of a new-born baby abandoned on the doorstep of a Franciscan monastery, who grew up to become a cheerful and mischievous boy. Marcelino, who was able to talk with animals, lived close to the animals, the trees and plants, delighted in discovering new things, and often asked unusual questions. The friars educated and loved the boy.
It was a joy for me to know more about the cause-oriented priest. Touring the farm, a cottage of which was named after his beloved mother, and delighting in the possibilities of an art and cultural hub which will be beneficial to young artists and youth in the community, I got bold in asking him if he ever had a love life. The good father laughed and replied that I’m not the only one who asked that, and said that the late director Gil Portes wanted to make a film about him and added that he would include his love life to make it more marketable. Of course, the film did not push through.
Fr. Robert opened up to say that he had had several girlfriends, the last of which was so serious that he introduced her to his mother, who declared that he should leave the seminary and marry her
I may have been lucky that with my daughter Banaue and grandson Raja with me in a cordial and family-like atmosphere in the farm, Fr. Robert opened up to say that he had had several girlfriends, the last of which was so serious that he introduced her to his mother, who declared that he should leave the seminary and marry her. But after the 30-day retreat required to finally decide if a seminarian really wants to embrace priesthood, he decided on being ordained a priest. He intimated it was heartbreaking to break up with his girlfriend, and they both cried.
Fr. Robert with the Miclats at the Hermitage in progress
He recalls the late Reverend Father Eduardo Hontiveros, a Filipino Jesuit composer and musician who, when asked by his classmate if he was ever tempted or desired beautiful women, replied, “Yes, all the time, until I die.” Fr. Robert, who was Fr. Hontiveros’ guitarist in his concerts (Yes! The inimitable priest is also a classical guitarist, as he studied classical guitar at UP in 1974), continued to say that the old priest stated that as, being normal humans like any of us, Jesuits do not deny humanity. “But as priests, we have to constantly seek the grace of God. Do not deny your humanity, but fall down on your knees and beg for grace.” That’s why Fr. Robert says he keeps himself busy with the work of God, and busier with the God of work. The hermitage which he is putting up in his farm is to invite and discover intimacy with God.
Planting the Miclat tree
At 69 now, with 42 years of religious and temporal service for his fellow men, Fr. Robert does not seem to have aged much and looks as sprightly as ever. He says he’ll be retiring a few years from now. But he also thinks he’s not retiring from the many things he still wants to do. Every visit he makes in his farm tucked away in the quiet countryside provides him an opportunity for labor—to plant trees, do carpentry, and build together with two helpers the farm’s retreat place, little chapel, hermitage, library of what he envisions as a repository of written works of all the priests, an art museum and gallery for young people, and many more. He’s also dreaming of a home for old and troubled priests where they can find solace. And he continues to plant more trees, specifically the ones indigenous to our country. During our visit, five lanzones trees and three native balitbitan, with the scientific name Cynometra meliflora, were planted, including one he happily named the Miclat tree.
On the night we stayed in the farm, Fr. Robert took us to the home of Tatay Ben, a 92-year-old balikbayan from San Francisco, USA, and his wife, Nanay Thelma, who have returned to the Philippines for good. He gave the old man a belated birthday gift of a St. Benedict protection door knob hanger. It dawned on me that there’s really no retirement for a “Running Priest” like Fr. Robert. And that’s why he could truly say he will try to be around for 8-year-old Liv’s wedding, maybe 20 years from now.
