Rafael Tianero, Manobo Advocate

After quoting him generously in previous posts, I guess I owe Fr. Rafael Tianero a blog entry dedicated solely to him. He is one of the notable advocates of the Dulangan Manobo, which I have featured and will feature in this blog.

Tianero is a priest of the Oblates Mary Immaculate, which has a main office in Cotabato City. As a seminarian, he studied philosophy at Notre Dame University. Right after his ordination, in 1989, Tianero was assigned to work with the Dulangan Manobo. His experience with them led him to earn a master’s degree in anthropology at Ateneo de Manila University. His thesis was later published by Notre Dame University Press with the title Violence and Christianization in Manoboland.

Karl Gaspar, another notable advocate of indigenous peoples, has this to say about Tianero and his book: “Because of the ethnographic study conducted by Fr. Raffy . . . the Dulangan Manobo are no longer an invisible indigenous people . . . The Dulangan Manobo considered him not just a friend but a kinsman. It is from this privileged position as an insider that Fr. Raffy constructs the texts that reach out to us, so that we too could share his passion to be in solidarity with them.”