‘Replant flag, rebuild nation,’ says Fr. Robert Reyes

FAITH AND LOVE OF COUNTRY | Fr. Robert Reyes leads youngsters from his parish Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Project 8, Quezon City, in a march to the Parish of the Holy Cross in Barangay Krus na Ligas, Diliman, also in Quezon City. (Photo by JANE BAUTISTA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — At age 67, Fr. Robert Reyes, also known as the “Running Priest,” is not afraid of dying on the road and under the heat of the sun during his “pilgrimage” because it’s for the motherland.

On Independence Day, the Catholic priest known for his social and political activism relaunched his advocacy campaign to plant 500 crosses and 500 trees in different places around the world but with a twist: “Replant the Philippine flag, rebuild the nation.”

Protect motherland

Reyes began what he called his pilgrimage last year to plant 500 crosses in 500 parishes in the Philippines to mark the 500 years of Christianity in the country under his advocacy’s original slogan: “Replant the cross, replant the faith.”

“But because of what happened — the pandemic and the 2022 elections — I decided to include the Philippine flag,” he told the Inquirer, noting that many Filipinos do not know what it means to love the nation.

“When Bongbong Marcos won, a lot of people were saying that they were going to migrate. But shouldn’t it be the opposite? We [should] stay here and watch our government officials and protect our motherland from the traitors and the corrupt,” Reyes said, referring to President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. by his nickname.

As early as 2019, Reyes had commissioned sculptor Willy Layug to make the crosses that would be planted in different parishes.

At the topmost part of the cross, or above the head of Jesus, was the sun while three stars, distributed on the left, right and bottom part of the cross, stood for the Philippine flag.

“The mission now is to strengthen the faith and nation because it’s very weak. The cross and the flag are symbols of what we must uphold and protect and promote: Faith and love of country,” Reyes said.

Challenge

In his homily earlier, he had talked about what it means to be a martyr: “To truthfully and fearlessly stand up for God, the country, the environment, the people, the poor and the victims of abuses and violence.”

On Sunday, after celebrating Mass in his parish Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Project 8, Quezon City, Reyes took one of the crosses, along with the Philippine flag, and marched with youth members to the Parish of the Holy Cross in Barangay Krus na Ligas, Diliman.

The 4-kilometer pilgrimage took two hours with light rain falling on participants near the end. Inside the church, Reyes laid the cross and the flag on the altar, along with a challenge to the parish priest to recruit 500 young people to become missionaries for the next 500 years.

One of those who took part in the pilgrimage was 20-year-old Dorothy Faye Martin, a member of the running priest’s parish. “People with [this] kind of advocacy are rare so when Father Robert arrived in our parish, we [felt] so blessed because he helps us get closer to the Lord,” she said.

Vatican

According to her, she and the other young parishioners did not understand at first what he was doing “but when we are there with him, even though we are having a hard time, we still continue because there is fulfillment in our hearts.”

From his initial plan of planting the flag and cross nationwide, Reyes said he had expanded the project’s vision with a goal to include Australia, Indonesia, Canada and the United States, or “wherever there are Filipinos.”

The last cross, the 500th one, would be planted in the Vatican as he was planning to present the project to Pope Francis.

“It’s ambitious, no?” Reyes said while adding that it was better to have a dream or goal to pursue rather than cry because of the results of the May 9 elections.

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