“IF HE stayed, we could’ve put the issue forward because you don’t want one side dominating,” said University President Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin, SJ in an interview with The GUIDON last January 11.
Villarin was referring to the resignation of Rafael Dy-Liacco of the Theology Department on December 28, 2012. “What a pity. We would really want this dialogue to take place. In fact… I think it would’ve been enriching if he and people like him actually come together, debate and discuss.”
In Dy-Liacco’s resignation letter, he criticized the support of many in the Ateneo for the Reproductive Health (RH) bill. He premised his resignation on the reason that he could “no longer share the path” taken by the Ateneo.
Villarin said, “We try to accommodate everyone. In fact, even among Ateneans, we’re not in one cap and there are people who do not necessarily agree with you, but then it does not mean you have to get out.”
Dy-Liacco is one of the three faculty members of the Theology Department who wrote a stand against the RH bill, dated August 28, 2012.
Earlier, on August 18, 2012, more than a hundred Ateneo faculty members released a statement in support for the RH bill. The signatories of the statement eventually amounted to 192 faculty members. Two days later, Villarin released a memo saying that the Ateneo does not support the RH bill, while at the same time encouraging those who have expressed support for it “to continue in their discernment of the common good.”
Personal reaction
Villarin shared that he was on a retreat when he heard about the resignation of Dy-Liacco.
Although Villarin did not know Dy-Liacco personally, the issue became one of his distractions during the retreat. “I could not pray when I saw this note on the bulletin boards. [It’s] disturbing,” he said.
“At the end of my retreat, one of the first persons I wanted to talk to was Fr. Dacanay, because he is the guy who knows Dy-Liacco,” he added.
Villarin said that Dacanay shared certain problems in the Theology Department with him. Villarin, however, declined to elaborate.
Message to everyone
Villarin believes that members of the community, being part of a Catholic university, have a service to uphold to the Church. “I just would like to stress what I mentioned in my own memo that reason and faith are allies,” he said.
“I know this issue will not go away—this RH issue. It will take a while, but I hope we can continue grappling with this issue of artificial contraception, public policy, [and] economics of population because I think that’s our service. [That’s] how we can help others—by our own thinking on these issues… and that’s who we are also,” he added.
Villarin continued, “We’ve been given a lot. We’ve been given the intellectual tools. Let’s use them. Of course, it’s not just intellect. What’s important are humility and the heart to understand each other.”
The president is hopeful about continuing the dialogue on the RH issue. “There are people who disagree with us. There will always be people disagreeing with us, so what do you do? You call each other names? That’s not the way. Let them do that outside. But here, we just have to come together as companions [and] as colleagues.”
“That’s my message to everyone… to the Theo department… even to students. Respect our differences. Respect our stands on this issue. Respect the Church as well because that’s also several hundred years of tradition. There is wisdom in these things.”
The GUIDON tried to reach Dy-Liacco but he has declined the request for an interview.
Updated 10:39 PM, May 18, 2013.
