My salvaged brother never believed in elections, should I?

During the Marcos era, my only brother Antonio Mijares was suspected to be a violent subversive.  One of the reasons is: he never believed in the elections staged by the Marcos regime.  He was seen to be stealing ballot boxes in the far flung barrios.  Ultimately his cry for justice was cut short by his torture and his murder by the military.  Now his cadres succeeded to include his name in the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, together and at the same time with Cardinal Sin and Haydee Yorac.

Now, elections are coming.  Would I believe in its process?  Would this be another zarzuela?  Theoretically, in a democratic election the winner should gather 50 percent of the votes plus one. Only one! So only one could determine a fate of a democratic country.  (The church wisdom is manifested when it elects the Pope by a two thirds majority, not a simple majority). Laying all the past political electoral methods done in this country, many times determined by popularity, pogi/maganda points, and much more with campaign money, or “Garci scandals” I could out rightly decide: enough with elections! Let’s do a revolution instead!

But I have still hope. The bishop’s letter to the dioceses and parishes consider it an important political exercise.  Important not only as a means to change the present state of affairs but also important to deviate violence.  Violence is never the way for chance except violence to ourselves.  Hope is also a political category, like justice, equality, and brotherhood.  The Filipinos are peaceful people by nature but we love freedom and justice.  Perhaps in this election, to thrive towards a peaceful, just and honest election, all those concerned in this “advocacy,” needs “brotherhood” as a political category.  Changes, even violent ones were caused by equality, justice and fraternity as a starting point.  Maybe the first two were more emphasized as it happened in the French revolution.

In our country, hope in a fraternal advocacy for clean and honest elections in all the members of any political party seems to me not a bad alternative for a violent revolution.  Certainly, fraternity and brotherhood is more universal, and therefore a higher value than that to belong to a political party and guard the ballots of its candidates! Long live fraternity!

Filipino Centrality of the Family: a blessing or a curse?

Filipinos love their families. Perhaps there is something “confucian” in the filipino blood. The family or the clan is very important for the family. He will sometimes do the extreme for the sake of family honor. “Utang na loob” and “Hiya” are very much linked to the centrality of the family. (November 1 is just one of the days that we emphasize this)

There is something good in this and it could be really a blessing since the family is the basic cell of our society. Good human values come from there, education, honesty, sharing, love, patience, etc.

But when this “centrality” becomes exclusive, and this loves is deviated into a kind of “social selfishness” for one’s own family and clan it could become a curse. The other families become relative to one’s own family. It then becomes an absolute value at the expense of the others, even if it is for the sake of the common good.

Corruption and abuse becomes the means to an end to protect or enchance any family or clan, and when it comes to a political family, then we could understand that self-preservation of a regime is not so much that the value of the common good is forgotten but the absolute value of protecting, preserving ones family, or clan or party becomes absolute. We have this tendency as a filipino people which we have to address.

How? by placing always the common good as a higher value. We are a Christian nation and a Christian love is for all and is universal. It teaches us to love everybody because Jesus died for all and therefore God loves all. Our culture of the centrality of the family is very good because, in the clan, everybody helps each member. But if it is extended to the other families, without exclusivity, then it could be a potent change our country instead of the main cause of corruption. Love of man, the neighbor which is central to the Christian culture, means to love all, even it includes the enemies. Here centrality of the family becomes universal and extended; partisan or family politics which plague our country has no more space in this culture which should emerge from a value like the centrality of the family into a society based on the civilization of love for all and the common good.

Other links:  Editorial of New City Magazine; Filipino and Christian Culture.

Time to shift Gears!

Doronolla’s article on “Why Arroyo foes failed to topple her” (published on page A1 of the August 28, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer) is not surprising. He points out that “the gravity of power has moved from Imperial Manila to the provinces.” Because of this shift of power which Gloria astutely used for her own ends, she downed the oppositon “back with the support of the rural, specifically not Imperial Manila’s, constituency composed of mayors, governors and local officials which translated into the decisive vote in the House of congressmen more directly responsive to local opinion than the members of the Senate. . .People power movements have been an Imperial Manila phenomenon. Their playing field is EDSA. They have excluded the provincianos from their movement with their insufferable arrogance and snobbery.”

If this analysis is conformity with reality, it is now time to see another angle in viewing politics. What seemed and is supposedly a leadership based on fraud becomes now stronger. Many factors of a Filipino psyche could be attributed to explain this. Apathy for one, lack of concern for the common good is another, weakening of moral values and the incapacity of most our people to distinguish truth from falsehood, a calloused and clouded view regarding good and evil, just to mention some of our growing negative traits. Materialism and a more secular view of things is another, but perhaps it is just the pragmatism of many Filipinos who just have less and less time to think about good and evil but are limited to look for their daily food and survival.

One could also accrue it to the obvious regionalism and division of various cultural, linguistic and even religious identities in this country. Gloria “utilized” all these for her to face the storm which is weakening.

Is it time to rethink how we do politics? It is time to have a collective examination of conscience and see what is lacking? It could be that our politics have not really started from the right origin: charity! the real, concrete and true love of our own people! It is said that power is service which comes from the heart that loves. When a kind of manipulated “propaganda” makes this motive visible and perceived by our people, though wrongly, it becomes effective, even if, sad to say, ignorance of the people is utilized.

Charity and service has to be visible! Enough words have been already been said. Why for example that Hezbollah is strong? Because it is not only a political party, it is also, and perhaps more so, a political group that have social welfare, social funds, educational aids, etc. In spite of the destructive propagada against them, they continue to be strong.

Service has to be also visible! But it should all come from a deep love of one’s people. Yes, as Pope Benedict said: “The just ordering of society and the State is a central responsibility of politics. . . . and a “State which is not governed according to justice would be just a bunch of thieves. . . “(Deus est Caritas, 28) so, the one involved in politics “has to play . . . [a] part through rational argument and . . . has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper. . . .

“A just society must be the achievement of politics” the Pope wrote, but justice should be always perfected by that desire of the will to love, to love the common good, to love the poor, to one those who are marginalized in the country who could be our “provincianos” that Doronilla is talking about. “Love - caritas - will always prove necessary,” (DC, 28) in the the fight for truth and justice. In fact, charity perfects and is perfected by justice for justice without it charity as cold as ice. “There is no ordering of the state so just that it can eliminate the need for a service of love. Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such.” (DC, 28)

Those who work for truth and justice may be discouraged, about the present state of affairs. But perhaps it is time to shift gears and see politics under the light of genuine charity! If one starts from the right angle of charity then, the seeming injustice is a springboard to love more the filipinos and make that love more visible and not only “audible. ” If one day justice, truth and good government is attained, and I am sure it will come, then charity perfects it. Charity made visible is both a good starting point and the best point of arrival!

Is there still hope in our country?

Amid the noises of off beat media which rather would satisfying the palate of sensational intellectual curiosity, the CBCP again made a statement with clarity and decisiveness. Rather than concentrate more on rather politically explosive statements, they concentrate more on their shepherding and prophesying in hope, to guide Filipinos towards right moral principles of politics and its morality.

What my friend wrote me, seems to be shared by many. He said: “Somehow, I find our situation hopeless. This nation has become a nation of idiots! Look at the majority of Filipinos. Ill-educated, malnourished and stupid. Many don’t even exercise their common sense. It’s pathetic. Law and order has broken down. There is a breakdown of trust in society. Our culture has become a culture of entertainment. Even those in the left do not even know what they are fighting for. They have become kidnappers and bandits. Look at the public discourse in our society. No depth! Ang babaw! Next year election na naman. And the . . . poor will vote the movie stars na naman.”

“Shepherding and Prophesying in Hope” is the title of the latest pastoral letter of Pastoral concerns. Is true shepherding, real catechesis and formation the solution? My friend is right in writing the individual bishops should “implement real, sustained, focused catechetical programs aimed at a real moral recovery in society,”

In fact the statement dedicated more space on catechism regarding the social doctrines of the church and its mission to evangelize and to prophesy which should be done with hope!

There was no CBCP split over second impeachment case vs Arroyo. Theirs was a clear assessment and statement. Although they are “undoubtedly for the search for truth.” and “in all sincerity [we] respect the position of individuals or groups that wish to continue using the impeachment process to arrive at the truth,” they ”are not inclined at the present moment to favor the impeachment process as the means for establishing the truth. For unless the process and its rules as well as the mindsets of all participating parties, pro and con, are guided by no other motive than genuine concern for the common good, impeachment will once again serve as an unproductive political exercise, dismaying every citizen, and deepening the citizen’s negative perception of politicians, left, right and center.” This means what is important is first to purify intentions, i.e., “a genuine concern for the common good.” When this is reasonably assured then the “present moment” is ready. It could be a true and authentic political act, for the common good of the “polis” (or city from which politics takes its root). Personally, impeachment is still ruled by numbers game according to party affiliations rather than a “genuine concern for the common good.” When? frankly, I don’t know.

Among the concerns, impeachment was only the third concern. Priority was given to family life, the living cell of any society: “We are deeply troubled by attempts to legislate or make as state policy ideas that tend to weaken or even destroy cherished religious values regarding the nature of life, the nature of marriage as union of man and woman, child bearing, the values formation of children, etc.”. The others were known: charter change, and extra-judicial killings both from the extreme left and from the extreme right.

But are we really without hope as a people? Filipinos will always have hope but we also need more formation, more catechesis, more change of minds, hearts and perhaps more love and prayer

We could also ask ourselves the same questions our bishops asked at the start: “Do we ever encounter Jesus who is the very reason for our being Christian? How do we encounter him? Does this personal encounter change our life, our life in the family, our life in the community, our life in society? If we believe in Jesus and love Him, have we become better persons, better Christians, better citizens? Have we become better followers or disciples of Jesus? Has the fact of being Christians made our society become more peaceful, more fraternal, more just?” All of us, in one way or another could give our own answer.

Perhaps the most encouraging statement is that our bishops “see what many of our people, priests and religious, but lay men and women especially away from the limelight and the glare of publicity are doing quietly to put into practice what they understand Christian social concern means.” Are we one of them?

 

To invoke or not to invoke the “separation between church and state”

It is easy to invoke the separation of the church and state when the interest of one is defended. This is true when “Malacañang and its allies” took issue against the bishop of the Diocese of Caloocan for engaging in “partisan politics” in violation of the Church-State separation principle.

First of all this separation can never and should never be absolute since both the Church and state deals with the same human being. The object of the service of both the church and the state is man. One could not divide man, he is a whole entity and therefore in as much as the good of man is purported to be end of the state the church has not only the right but also the obligation to intervene.

The president of CBCP clearly said in this regard: “The church cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice.”

The Catechism of the Chuch states in n. 2245: “The Church, because of her commission and competence, is not to be confused in any way with the political community. She is both the sign and the safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person.” So the next paragraph continues: (No. 2246) “It is a part of the Church’s mission ‘to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it. The means, the only means, she may use are those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according to the diversity of times and circumstances.’”

Certainly the good bishop of Caloocan has passed a moral judgment and it is his right to do so, and therefore we need to respect his filing of impeachment complaints against the president. The same catechesis even states “the Church respects and encourages the political freedom and responsibility of the citizen.” (n. 2245)

Let me just continue with the summary of the same article:
Number 2254 says: “Public authority is obliged to respect the fundamental rights of the human person and the conditions for the exercise of his freedom.”

Instead, what Gloria and allies should do is to look for the truth or falsehood of these complaints rather than destroy the credibility of the complainant.

Number 2255″ “It is the duty of citizens to work with civil authority for building up society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity and freedom.”

The good bishop is well aware of all these and therefore had in a way spearheaded this quest. A congressman in Surigao, Pichay was more reasonable in advising the president to stay calm in this pursuit to investigate the good bishop.

Number 2256 states: “Citizens are obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order. “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Here of course, the good bishop’s conscience has to be respected.

Lastly, number 2257: ” Every society’s judgments and conduct reflect a vision of man and his destiny. Without the light the Gospel sheds on God and man, societies easily become totalitarian.”

In fact maybe because of this light, the good bishop fears that our state is leading towards totalitarianism which is the beginning of our destruction again as a nation .

Let us be calm and be reasonable in our quest for truth. The truth will set us all free!

Walls will be written with spilled blood!

Another militant killed in Negros Oriental: Eladio Dasi-an! This latest killing is said to bring to at least 232 the number of militants killed since President Macapagal-Arroyo took office in 2001, and to 44 the number of media people murdered during that period. This makes all the more the letter of Archbishop Lagdameo, the present president of CBCP, relevant!

One could readily conclude that this wave of unprecedented killings is reinformed by Gloria's misadvised policy against the rebels. (See previous blog). This is even reflected by an off-tangent appeal of Secretary Bunye, calling on the public "to lend its full cooperation to the campaign against terror and graft by acting as the eyes and ears of the government. In a statement, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye pointed out that "the fight against terror and graft are both indispensable elements of the country’s political stability." Although I agree that graft should be addressed, the fight against terror is always to eleminate the causes of terrorism or rebellion.

Doronilla's editorial could give us some revealing light. According to a disclosure, the upsurge of killings of Left-wing militants since 2001, totals more than 200 members of the legal Bayan Muna party-list organization. "The principal suspects behind these killings are paramilitary death squads." According to an Inquirer source, documents “don’t say that members of sectoral groups are to be killed but they do use the term neutralize — a term implicitly understood by the underworld of Philippine politics as a go-ahead for death squad assassinations.”

He continues. . ."The emphasis of this strategy on “neutralizing” sectoral/front/legal organizations helps explain why most of the victims of the past five years have been non-combatants and defenseless members of the Left. During that period, the number of murdered aboveground members of the Left has far exceeded fatalities of the New People’s Army in armed encounters with security forces."

Death penalty was officially abolished! Really? Or there is another death penalty the continues to bleed our country and blood of our countrymen is offered as a sacrifice to the gods of this present government: power, money and corruption. Let us not wait that these spilled blood will be written on the walls!

This war policy of President Gloria Macapagal would lead more people to take arms. It will militarize our government. It makes more and more evident that the military is over the civilian authority or it allows itself to be ruled by these "death squads".

The people will be alienated more from its own government when the same allows them to be killed rather than defend and seek justice for them. Justice to a husband and wife also recently killed in Kidapawan: George and Mazel Vigo and to all the defenceless journalists!

Let first justice reign in our land and peace will surely flourish! For there cannot be peace without justice!

Tell Gloria: No need for violence to remain in power

To end the rebellion the president pumped P 1 billion. She will go to war at all costs to make herself remain in power. This is a shortsighted solution. It will bring her more problems and the victims will always be the innocent. War is not the solution, it will never be and never was. It aggravates the situation. A simple child will understand that to get rid of rebellion/terrorism is to take away its cause. They thrive when there is poverty, injustice, hunger, persecution. Take these causes away, terrorists and armed rebels will be fish out of water.

Violence will breed more violence and if this logic continues we will self-destruct as a nation! She will destroy what she would like build!

An alternative? Randy David asks: Is there a better way? He answered positively, "The government must show the people that it is still a source of hope — not their enemy, but their friend. . . . Because they believe that justice is for sale in our highly unequal society, they turn to the New People’s Army as the ultimate equalizer. As simplistic as it may sound, it is the experience of powerlessness — rather than sheer poverty — that constitutes the soil in which most rebellions are nurtured."

Power and money corrupts! They also blind. It is no wonder if Gloria's personal wealth has increased by 18.7 percent or P12.49 million since she she assumed the presidency in 2001. One can opine that one of the many reasons she wanted to remain in power could be wealth.

If only power is service to the people; if only that power is maintained not by the power of the gun but by the power of her example; if only the power is equated with more love of her constituents; if only power is guarded by the armor of peace and justice, then perhaps, there is no need to allocate P 1 billion to kill more since the very reason to wage war does not exist.

Pope John Paul II once said: War and violence is a way without any exit! Tell Gloria: violence breeds another violence!

CBCP declares a Year of Social Concerns, are we concerned?

CBCP celebrates this year as the Year of Social Concerns. It is but right that the president himself, Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo was very much concerned in what he expressed in his homily, in a rally in Iloilo city during the Independence day last June 12, 2006. He identified “disguised authoritarian rule” as one of several problems the country needed to free itself from. He said: “We have freed ourselves from the punishment of the death penalty. . . but we still have to free ourselves from drug addiction and drug lords, from jueteng addiction and jueteng lords, from the temptation to extort and to bribe, from exploitation of women and children, from the killings of militants, labor leaders and journalists without the benefit of just trial, from torture and maltreatment of every kind, from graft and corruption and subtle dictatorship.”

In the local level, outside of our computer screens or monitors, are we afraid that our young in our town and neighborhoods would be prey to drug pushers? Are there concerns that maybe some of our young friends, just because they are with their other friends, could eventually take drugs not only because of curiosity but more because drugs are available in our neighborhood? Do the local police know about it, it in case this is true? If the police is the problem are there other higher authorities to turn to?

The same with jueting. Together did we create a consciousness against this gambling? For the corrupt, did we make them feel that we do not like what they are doing. They could be our uncles, padrinos, godfathers, our own mayors, baranggay captains. Can we help in making them aware that to stop it could bring a greater good? Did we try to help those who are easily prey to prostitution because they have nothing to eat or to feed the family?

Extrajudicial killings plague are country! We need to do everything to discourage or stop killings. You will know how in your neighborhood, if you listen to that “inner voice” inside is that would conquer our fears.

A year of social concerns, a different perspective to look at our country in the national level and in the very concrete level. In Liwasang Bonifacio, Manila, in an ecumenical prayer meeting, another member of the catholic hierarchy, Bishop Teodoro Bacani expressed: “The administration has abolished death sentences but not the death squad, . . . They say the Filipino people are free but in the event that they speak against the government, we do not know if they would still be free the next day.”

In Bacolod City, Bishop Vicente Navarra led some 10,000 people in a rally against Charter change (and Fr. Anecito Buenafe, Social Action Center director of the Diocese of Bacolod, said there were 20,000 participants) said: “We are arousing patriotism in our countrymen and saying it is about time we put up a united stand against people who want to encroach on our Constitution and eventually on our freedom,” Navarra said.

These are voices of modern prophets. For those who have not attended these rallies, we need to look and listen in our own neighborhood and give an attention of concern to what is happening around us.

People’s Initiative? Oh no!!

Bloged in: PCIJ

I agree very much with the respected constitionalist, Fr. Joachin Bernas, who presents two constitutional impediments to this much publishized people’s initiative. Has this initiative a backing of an enabling law promulgated by the constitution? No.

Another: People’s initiative is only constitutional if it is for the ammendment, not revision of the constitution, as Rafanan also noted. To have a cha-cha from the presidential to parliamentary system of government is certainly a revision. To have cha-cha on the basis of people’s initiative is not constitutional.

Lastly, was the manner of collecting signatures enlightened? Was it done with transparency or a certain degree of trickery.

When the time is ripe, to file a restraining order might to further clarify this important political exercise.

We need also to ask for more information about the Tabuena Commission the draft of its recommendation and proposals so that the public could study it. I hope that this website could supply its readers. Anyway the above article is a great help. TY