Struggle and reform on the rubbish dump

Angus Macdonald meets the extraordinary priest who would rather focus on the positive side of fife among Manila's poor
FhBEN BELTRAN Is used . media types. He has had his fair share of them over the years American film crews jetting in to his vast parish on the outskirts of Manila to do "the priest of the rubbish dump" pieces, journalists writing shocking portrayals of the misery and degradation of the scavengers of "Smokey Mountain", Asia's largest rubbish dump, with whom he has worked for 15 years.
But Fr Ben is fed up with the "focus on misery" which such pieces inevitably become, whilst ignoring the many positive achievements of the people in the time he has been working with them.
And today, says Fr Ben recently in London on his way to a conference in the US those achievements have cumulatively effected a startling transformation: a tale of enterprise, shared faith and social renewal which is fast turning one of Asia's greatest tragedies into one of its most spectacular successes.
When Fr Ben a professor of dogmatics and a theology lecturer first went to work with the people of the rubbish dump in 1978 the conditions at Smokey Mountain were unimaginable: 30,000 people scavenged on a steaming mass of rotting waste spread out over 14 hectares.
The stench could be detected several kilometres away. Shanty villages had grown up around the dump, with no water or electricity, from where whole families would pick over the refuse in an effort to salvage saleable items.
Disease was rife, poverty was endemic, and in this hellish environment a hopeless community struggled to survive.
Today, though a few do still scavenge, the tide is turning. The government has agreed to close the dump, there are ambitious plans backed by the government and business for a modern commercialindustrial complex on the site, and a series of co-operatives founded by Fr Ben and his team have begun projects in health, recycling, construction and other income-generating schemes.
Land is to be reclaimed from Manila Bay and former scavengers are building houses for themselves and the rest of the community.
But the economic and material renewal is founded upon a social and spiritual one. The parish which Fr Ben founded amongst the people of Smokey Mountain, and the church he and his parishioners built in its midst, has become the focus of a thriving system of base communities.
Families are organised into cells, zones and clusters, each with elected leaders at every stage. Special committees cover every
aspect of parish life.
The people of Smokey Mountain have become celebrated and emulated rich people from other parts of Manila come to rediscover their spiritual roots at charismatic gatherings amongst them, other groups of the urban poor in the city seek their advice and support. President Ramos has made the people of the dump his personal responsibility, and has visited the area several times.
Fr Ben himself once shunned and marginalised is now a power in the land, feted by politicians and business people alike. He is currently writing a book about the transformation of the dump and the living theology which made it possible.
Fr Ben's energy and flow of creative ideas seem endless. But the'energy and the drive are directed towards empowering others setting projects up, getting things going, motivating people. "My task is to become useless at Smokey Mountain. When they don't need me any more, then I have succeeded," he says.
And then? "Then I will go and try to help other poor people." The media types will be unlikely to follow him, but Fr Ben says he will continue to do what he does best: "Setting people free".
The British ecumenical charity Opportunity Trust has raised £8,000 to support Fr Ben's work. Details can be obtained from the Trust at 103 High Street, Oxford OX1 4BW or on (0865) 794411.