The collaboration between Bishop ANTONIO Y. FORTICH and businessman-planter BENJAMIN C. GASTON was a particularly fortuitous one. Both men were born in the same year on the same island, although in different provinces; both came from families of planters and sugar mill operators, and both understood the problems of the industry. Even more important, both were concerned with the welfare of the little man, the landless worker and the tenant farmer, who had to struggle against nature and a feudal economic system to earn enough to feed his family. When these two men of similar background and large hearts came together, they were able to bring positive change in the Dacongcogon Valley.

The Dacongcogon Valley of Negros Occidental, the Philippines, has been settled only recently. The "Valley of Tall Grass"—half a million acres deep in the mountains—was opened to homesteaders during the mid-1930s under the LASEDECO (Land Settlement and Development Corporation) Program of President Manuel Quezon and under the sponsorship of Governor Emilio Gaston, father of BENJAMIN GASTON.

The Gastons were of French ancestry, pioneers in sugar planting and milling, and one of the major economic and political forces in the province. Emilio Gaston built Talisay Milling and, with other family members, Victorias Milling; he was President of the Federation of Sugarcane Planters. Active in politics as co-founder of the Nacionalista Party, he was elected Governor of Negros Occidental in 1933.

1933-34 was a year of world surpluses and world depression. The sugar industry was particularly hard hit and many workers were laid off. They turned to Governor Gaston to find lands for them to homestead. Young BENJAMIN was sent by his father to consult on this matter with Father Joseph Mulry, an old friend and professor, who was then adviser to President Quezon on social justice. When queried about giving land to the landless unemployed Mulry advised, "when you do give land, public land, make sure you do not give it on a silver platter. That way a man loses his dignity." BENJAMIN remembered those words and has operated on that principle ever since.

Governor Gaston arranged that the unemployed sugar workers could homestead in the isolated Dacongcogon Valley in south-central Negros on the condition that they till the land given them, build 34 kilometers of road into the area, establish a barangay (village council) form of government and obtain their seed and other agricultural needs from the private sector. Emilio died not long after the initial settlement took place but his action was to have far-reaching implications for his son. Although these were public lands, the patriarchal orientation of Philippine society created a sense of personal relationship between the homesteaders and the Gaston family.

BENJAMIN, christened JOSÉ BENJAMIN CORTEZA GASTON, was the eldest of the 11 children of Emilio and his wife Amparo Corteza. He was born in Silay—the heart of the sugar country—on December 11, 1913. Attending school on the island, he says of himself that he "knew how to get along better than he knew how to study." He left for university studies at the Ateneo de Manila, but was called home on his father's death in 1936 to take over family responsibilities. He never completed college but later had one semester at the University of the Philippines School of Agriculture at Los Baños where he took a course on the Cooperative Movement.

BENJAMIN GASTON followed in his father's life pattern, playing a political role as well as maintaining his agricultural-industrial interests. He was Acting President and Vice-President of the Nacionalista Party in Bacolod between 1937 and 1962, and was elected Provincial Board Member of Negros Occidental 1958-1962, during which time he served as Vice-Governor.

Under President Ramon Magsaysay, 1954 to 1957, he was Administrator of the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) in Negros Occidental, and was responsible for further settlement of Dacongcogon Valley. This time the government offered not only lands, but production assistance such as crop loans. With Magsaysay's tragic death in 1957 the program was allowed to lapse and official government channels were closed. This reinforced the settlers' sense that only the Gaston family could be counted on to come to their aid.

BENJAMIN GASTON continued to be involved in his family's sugar business and served twice on sugar missions to Washington to press for an increase in the Philippine sugar quota. He served as consultant to the Elizalde Sugar Central (mill) and was for 20 years Vice-President of Soriano Enterprises which included sugar.

Active in Rotary International, he was elected District Governor for the Philippines in 1948-49, the first to be chosen from outside Manila. He is married to Ruth Araneta Dreyfus, also of French descent and from a family of sugar planters and mill owners. They have nine children, eight living, six girls and two boys. The eldest boy, who was working with his father at Dacongcogon, died recently of a liver ailment.

Based on his world travels and his observations of the economy and life of other countries, GASTON has developed his own philosophy of economic-nationalism for the Philippines. He believes that the country should evolve an integrated agro-industrial economy, with industry at the macro-level keyed to the needs or products of agriculture. Such industries should be owned by the farmers and planters—not by a few capitalists—and profit should accrue to labor as well as capital. Thus his actions, when the people of the Dacongcogon Valley came to him first for aid in 1958, were the result of integrated philosophy as well as a sense of family and personal responsibility.

In 1948, GASTON was recipient of the Ozanam Award which was established in 1937 by the Ateneo de Manila to honor persons who have given continuous and outstanding service to their fellowmen in accordance with principles of justice and charity.

The life of Bishop ANTONIO YAPSUTCO FORTICH in many ways paralleled that of BENJAMIN GASTON. He was also born in 1913—on August 11—in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, sister province on the same island. He attended elementary and high school in Dumaguete, going on to the Ateneo de Manila for college and theological studies (San Jose Minor and San Jose Major seminaries). His parents, Ignacio and Rosalia Yapsutco Fortich, were well-to-do farmers and he was the elder and only son in their family of two.

He too was led to a concern for his fellowmen by parental example, but it was religion rather than politics that motivated the Fortiches. He has vivid memories of his father gathering fellow farmers and workmen into their home, educating them in new agricultural techniques and urging on them the need for a "cooperative structure in farming." His mother supplemented these sessions with free medical and clinical services. Both parents believed firmly that the feudal structure of society in the Negros sugar plantations and centrals should be restructured into a system of shared decision-making and rewards.

FORTICH early learned was to work in the cane fields, an experience which gave him an understanding of the problems of the common man. His uncle controlled the family funds which were invested in a moscovado—a steam sugar mill which turns out brown sugar for local consumption. "You don't get a single cent without working," his uncle constantly reminded him, and his name was included on the payroll list as a laborer. Both his uncle and godfather were also politicians and young FORTICH worked with them closely on campaigns and in mapping out political strategy. He wanted to become a politician himself, but his parents "parents "were very religious" and urged him to enter the Church.

On March 4, 1944 FORTICH was ordained and became Assistant Parish Priest of St. Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City in Negros Occidental. Five years later he was transferred to Binalbagan—heart of the major sugarcane area of the south—and witnessed, as he put it, "flagrant instances of injustice in terms of low wages, poor housing, and deprivation of social security benefits among the workers." This experience led him to believe firmly that the Church "must create new missionary strategies and apostolic approaches towards a better service to society by serving the poor and poor and promoting a better quality of life."

Back in Bacolod where he was to stay, he served at St. Sebastian's as Parish Priest (1951), Vicar General of the Diocese—which includes almost the whole province of Negros Occidental—(1952), Episcopal Delegate of the Cursillo Movement (lay movement of rededication to religious principles) in the Diocese, National Chaplain of the Barangay Sang Virgen (Society for Roman Catholics committed to a spiritual renaissance through a growth in the knowledge of their faith and development of their economic and social well-being) and Vicar Capitular (1966). As Vicar Capitular he became also diocesan director of the religious and social welfare institutions of the church, e.g., Catholic Action and Catechetics, Catholic Women's League, Knights of Columbus, Social Action and Young Ladies Association of Charity. In these capacities he was in was in the position to show his concern for the poor and help mitigate the discrepancies he found as a result of the social, economic, political and even religious stratification of society.

When he was consecrated Bishop of Bacolod on February 24, 1967, his sphere of influence broadened. He became ex-officio Chairman of the Board of all parochial schools, La Consolacion College, St. John's Institute and TV Station Magnitude 10. He was also now in the position to initiate specific social action projects.

Tall, affable, FORTlCH is blessed with "perpetual good humor punched with wit," boundless energy, qualities of leadership, and dedication to the concept of Christian service. He believes that the "Catholic church can provide the moral climate and motivation for social justice and socioeconomic reforms in the Philippines." He is open to all levels of society and all are open to him. He lectures plantation owners on the need to pay their workers the minimum wage, warning them that if they fail to do so, they "sacrifice their right to be respected as Christians." At the same time he has been very successful in getting them involved in his various self-help projects. In a pastoral letter in 1969 he wrote that workers have a right to form unions, reminding workers nonetheless that they have a duty to give a day's work for a day's pay. He supports his own laborers—the priests who serve under him. He has established a social security program for them with medical care and retirement pensions, and he initiated a "working priests' senate" to give them a greater say in their own and diocesan problems.

One of the first projects he developed for the diocese was the Christian Family Life Education Program to encourage healthy family life and responsible parenthood. To give support to the physical side of the program he instituted the Christian Family Clinic Services.

In the field of education, he set up four programs: 1) the Educational Program on Cooperatives to promote the cooperative movement, 2) Labor Union Education to encourage strong, responsible labor unions, 3) the Visayan Educational Radio and Television Association—supported by various planters' groups—to offer general, vocational and cultural education, particularly to out-of-school youth and 4) Rainbow Broadcasting which offers news, music and educational broadcasts. The latter is financially backed by a corporation of sugar planters.

Other programs include the Manpower Education and Placement Bureau and the Labor Relations Office which provide job training and placement, and promote good relations between labor and management, respectively. The Legal Aid Office helps indigents and small farmers obtain their legal rights, particularly in regard to land titles. The Kaisahan Farm Settlement Program is funded by a special diocesan collection and by a P25,000 grant from the Philippine Sugar Industry. It provides land to the landless, to be privately owned but cooperatively farmed.

Last but not least is Rainbow Cottage Industries which has earned FORTICH the title "Bishop Maong." This project has concentrated on making maong, the rough cotton work pants and jacket wom by Philippine farmers. Cut on a machine bought by the diocese, the clothes are distributed to the parishes to be sewn by needy women and girls (not necessarily Roman Catholic) who earn two pesos (26 U.S. cents) per outfit. The Planters Association has supported the project, placing orders for 60,000 sets in the first six months.

FORTICH, like GASTON, has found little real difficulty working with members of the business and planting establishment. The problem he finds is to channel money from paternalistic giving—where the recipient is kept in a state of child-like dependency—to giving that encourages self-help and self accomplishment.

On April 21, 1968, FORTICH received the Ozanam Award from his alma mater which recognized him as "a great priest and bishop who, during the 24 years of his priestly life has given himself unsparingly to the service of God's people, especially the poor and unfortunate . . . . [and] who has contributed in a special- way toward making the great social and economic principles of the gospels effective in the lives of his people." Set up as a layman's award, this was the first time it was given to a priest.

The Dacongcogon Valley Project, in which Bishop FORTICH and BENJAMIN GASTON joined hands, is, as FORTICH explains it, an experiment "in human and rural development and has three main features: small-scale land ownership, cooperative farming and cooperative participation in the fruits of production." It is also an experiment in cooperation among Church, government and the private sector, designed to benefit the larger community.

The project really began in 1958 when the people of the valley found themselves facing two major problems: physical isolation from markets and government amenities, and the division of land into smaller and smaller units as it passed from fathers to sons. In that year leaders went to GASTON to present a plea for public transportation so they could transport their goods to market centers instead of having to sell to middlemen at artificially low prices.

GASTON responded by setting up Rural Transit, a simple public transportation system between Kabangkalan and Bacolod, with a feeder line to Sipalay at the end of the tortuous mountain road. The venture was wholly uneconomic and eventually ceased operation, but it is indicative of the lengths to which GASTON was willing to go— with money from his own pocket—to serve the people of Dacongcogon. In the same year he tried to persuade the Victorias Milling Corporation to put up a sugar mill in the south but was unsuccessful.

In 1967, valley leaders approached him again. They reported that 80 percent of the farmers of the valley were facing foreclosure of the mortgages on their land, a sugar mill they had hoped for was not forthcoming, and there was growing political unrest.

About this time Bishop FORTICH organized a Diocesan Rural Development Seminar in Bacolod, an outgrowth of the National Rural Congress of 1965-66 sponsored by the Philippine hierarchy. It was in keeping with the theme of Vatican II—"a restoration of all things in Christ." Attended by 600 delegates from the various parishes, the Seminar elected GASTON to preside. One result of this meeting was that FORTICH and GASTON agreed to join forces to bring about the Dacongcogon Producers Cooperative Marketing Association. GASTON laughingly claims he agreed to help organize the Coop only on the condition that FORTICH sign a letter, unread, which he placed before him. It stated: "I am willing to mortgage my official residence, the land of the cathedral comprising almost one commercial block, three-fourths of the six-hectare city plaza of Bacolod which is still owned by the church, and all the cemeteries in Occidental Negros in my Diocese."

GASTON had already proposed that farmers switch from growing rice to planting sugarcane because commercial and government channels existed for financing the latter but not the former; he also believed that the world market for sugar would grow. By February 1968 the Dacongcogon Producers Cooperative Marketing. Association had been established with 1,021 members. It now has 1,234. The next step was to provide a mill, since cane growing is uneconomical if long-distance transportation is required. GASTON knew of one available at Silay, north of Bacolod, owned by the Agro-Industrial Company of Silay-Saravia (AIDSISA). He discussed the possibility of buying this unused mill with President Roberto Benedicto of the Philippine National Bank (PNB) who said that only the president of the Philippines could cut government red-tape and make it possible.

Therefore Benedicto, GASTON and FORTICH flew to Manila in September 1968 to pay their birthday respects to President Ferdinand Marcos, standing in line in the hot sun for two hours. They obtained from Marcos the promise of a 10-minute interview the following day to present their proposal. Although GASTON had been a political opponent of the President, they were favorably received and were promised government support in financing the purchase of the mill and its removal to Kabangkalan. The only condition was that the mill be owned by the farmers using it, not by any one family or group of families.

The next step was to take the presidential approval back to the National Investment and Development Corporation (NIDC) of the PNB to arrange financing. Before discussing the project with the government GASTON had a feasibility study done by a firm of certified public accountants and had persuaded the president of Victorias Milling to visit both the sugar mill and Dacongcogon to make an appraisal. The result was that the NIDC agreed to arrange a financing package for the whole project which included refinancing the delinquent mortgages and foregoing collateral on the new loan. The NIDC arranged for AIDSISA to give its small mill to Dacongcogon, to be paid for by the future sale of P6,500,000 of shares to Cooperative members. Money for necessary road construction, transport facilities, operational lawyers and transfer and rehabilitation of the mill was also provided by the NIDC, to be repaid over a period of 15 years, with three years of grace. The total loan came to P43,000,000.

Although the people of Dacongcogon had no money and put up no collateral, the government, through the bank, showed its confidence in their ability to become productive planters. The terms of the loan stated that for every picul (63.25 kilos) they produced, they would pay the NIDC P4. Based on projections at the time, the community would repay the bank at the rate of about P1,000,000 per year. In 1972-73, however, P5,000,000 was paid on operating loans and P2,000,000 on interest. Over 96.5 percent of its members have paid in excess of their requirements.

The Dacongcogon Sugar and Rice Milling Company was formally established in August 1969 with GASTON as president. FORTICH was president of the Cooperative. The two were separate because at that time any financial encumbrance on the Cooperative would have made its successful continuance unlikely.

In October the mill was physically moved from Silay to the 37 hectares made ready for it at Kabangkalan. The convoy of trucks one kilometer long was blessed by the Bishop as it passed in front of the cathedral in Bacolod. Caltex and Ford, multinational corporations with which GASTON had strong contacts, provided a financial backstop which has yet to be called on, and trucks and tractors, respectively. Major sugarcane planters donated truckloads of cane points for the first planting. No publicity was given any of the benefactors, including the President.

The first sugar was produced by the mill June 3, 1971. Today, 1,500 tons of cane per day are being processed. The company has requested GASTON to negotiate with Victorias or other centrals to acquire equipment for expansion, since to be truly economic the mill must process 3,000 tons daily. The number of hectares planted in cane must therefore also be doubled—from 6,000 to 12,000.

From the beginning GASTON and FORTICH have stood firm on three points: 1) no planter would lose his land if the project failed, 2) nothing would be requested or accepted except what was necessary to get started, and 3) to become Coop members the farmers must meet their civic responsibilities, e.g., they must pay their land tax which most had not paid before.

Trust was an essential ingredient in the project: trust by the government that the planters would succeed in meeting their obligations and trust by the Cooperative and Company management that the new planters would be able to learn from their own mistakes. When the farmers first switched to cane they insisted on planting it in straight rows like rice, instead of in contours as suggested by the agricultural advisers. GASTON did not press them; he knew that when the rains came they would see the wisdom of the latter. In like manner, he allowed them at first to sell their harvests individually. Then he persuaded them to try selling cooperatively. The results were convincing. The income of Cooperative members today is from P1,000 to P10,000, compared to an average income of P200 three years ago. This is based on the average ownership of 2 to 10 hectares; the maximum allowed a Coop member is 24.

GASTON persuaded young people—classmates of his three sons from Ateneo in Manila and agriculture graduates from Xavier University and the University of the Philippines at Los Baños—to become involved in the project. He urged them to live with and as the people; when they were trying to show them new ways, to go out into the fields and work beside them.

Four years have gone by since the mill first came to the valley and the changes are already momentous. The planter has become a new man, with pride in his walk, an openness to new ideas, and enough pesos in his pocket to feed, house and clothe his family decently, with a little left over for the luxury of a radio or part ownership through his cell in a jeep or tractor.

When the cooperative venture began the entire valley had no doctor or dentist. Today part of the administration building of the company is given over to a clinic and a 12-bed hospital whose use is not restricted to Coop members. Over 23,000 patients have already been treated. A revolving fund has been set up to meet emergency medical needs of members.

This year 27 of the "cells" into which the Coop is divided have bought tractors. There is a motor pool to rent and service the tractors and other farm equipment, and a shuttle bus service to Bacolod. The Philippine National Bank has set up a branch in Kabangkalan and a feasibility study has been made for electrification in the valley.

Under GASTON’s prodding the Coop is now proposing intercropping sugarcane with rice and corn, both to increase total production and profit, and to insure self-sufficiency in basic grains. In 1974 every planter will be required to plant at least one hectare of grain. A rice and corn division, to engage in the business of buying and marketing these products, has been established, as well as a consumer cooperative.

It is now time, GASTON feels, to train local people to take over. A vocational school is being established to which members of the Cooperative will contribute P1 per picul. At present the Coop charges members one percent of their production—as do planter associations —to hire agriculturalists and technicians. The hope is to train not only competent mechanics and tractor drivers in this school, but specialists in specific fields of agro-business and administrators who will eventually be able to take over the leadership of both the Cooperative and the Company.

This is not to say that there have been no problems. The government has thought of Dacongcogon as a pilot project, to serve as an example for agricultural aid programs elsewhere. For that very reason there are those who have wanted it to fail. Sabotage has occurred, and both FORTlCH and GASTON have been abused "over the radio for eight solid months, morning, noon and afternoon. " They were accused of taking "kickbacks," of having political ambitions and of owning large land holdings in the valley, none of which are true. As to the charge of owning land, neither GASTON nor the Church has a single hectare in the project area. FORTICH had thought of buying 50 to 100 hectares in the beginning in order to use the profit "to defend the rights of the common men, but BEN told me it would not be understood by the people." Both men have taken the accusations in stride and have not wasted their energies fighting back. Instead they have directed their entire attention to making the Cooperative and Company successful.

In the beginning GASTON was President of the Dacongcogon Sugar and Rice Milling Company and FORTICH President of the Dacongcogon Producers Cooperative Marketing Association. In 1972 they switched positions. Now GASTON is eager to find one of the bright young administrators he has been training to take over from him altogether.

GASTON and FORTICH both credit the immense and immediate success of the Dacongcogon project to several factors. First, the cooperation among Church, government and the private sector, in particular the political, financial and sugar elite. Second, the bayanihan (cooperative) spirit that was a part of traditional Philippine village life and that was reinforced in Dacongcogon Valley because of its isolation. Third, the trust shown by both government and the leadership of the Cooperative in what the NIDC called the "hold and novel investment in people." And finally, the way the farmer-planter accepted that trust and the responsibilities inherent in it, and proved the trust justified.

September 1973
Manila

REFERENCES:

"Bishop Fortich Gets High Poll Rating," Manila Times. February 6, 1970.

Constantino, Josefina D. "Great Things Will Happen in Negros," Manila Chronicle. January 15, 1968.

Dacongcogon Sugar and Rice Milling Company Balance Sheet. June 30, 1972.

"Dacongcogon Will Have Agro-lndustrial School" Business Day. Quezon City, Philippines. Vol. 6, No. 241, February 19, 1973.

Despojo, Teodulfo T., Jr. "Bacolod's Fighting Bishop," Graphic. Manila. Vol. 37, No. 17, September 30, 1970.

Fortich, Antonio Y. and Benjamin C. Gaston. "An Experiment in Development of a Poor, Indebted Rural Community-Problems and Promise." Presentation made to Group Discussion. Transcript. Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. Manila September 5, 1973.

Jalandoni, Luis. "Have You Ever Been to Dacongcogon . . . ," Impact. Pasay City, Philippines: National Secretariat of Social Action, Vol. 4, April 1969.

Misa, Veronica. "The Bishop is a Leader," Impact. Pasay City, Philippines: National Secretariat of Social Action. Vol. 5, No. 7, July 1970.

Roque, Francisco H "The Multi-Million Argument," NOW. Manila. Vol. 4, No. 3, October 23 1971.

Villanueva, Nena Z. "Mons. Antonio Y. Fortich . . . ," Weekly Nation. Manila. July 15, 1968.

Letters from and interviews with those knowledgeable about the community work of Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich and Benjamin C. Gaston; personal interviews with both of the Awardees.