The Black and White Movement joins the Aquino family in fervent prayers for the healing and speedy recovery of former President Corazon C. Aquino.
To us she is and will always be an exemplar of the unshakable resolve that faith brings, an imperturbable icon of democracy, of an undefeatable confidence in the Filipino. We trust that the good Lord will heed the prayers of a whole nation and grant her divine healing, according to His perfect will.
We pray, too, for the Aquino family, especially her children, that in this most difficult hour God might give them comfort and peace – the kind of peace that transcends all understanding.
We entreat every Filipino, wherever they may be, to be united in prayers for our beloved Cory Aquino.
Monday, March 24, 2008
The Long View - The interdiction of a witness
By Manuel L. Quezon III
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:01:00 03/24/2008
MANILA, Philippines - When Ricardo Cardinal Vidal was recently taken to task for showing partiality to the President, his critics were taken to task in turn. The whole thing has taken a regrettable emotional toll on the Cardinal and his defenders.
Due deference is owed the good Cardinal as the spiritual father of the Cebuanos. But whether president, prince of the church, or pauper, in matters that involve the public good, a democratic citizenry must put the lowest premium on respecting hierarchy. Respect the office, yes; respect the principles the office ought to represent most of all.
What must be paramount is for our spiritual shepherds to realize how they have been co-opted by political wolves.
The present administration handles the hierarchy in the same manner it handles congressmen. For this reason, anyone who objects to calling prelates “congressmen in cassocks” should lodge a complaint, not with those who say it, but with the Palace that made the comparison possible.
No other administration ever contemplated or needed a Religious Affairs Office; no other president needed a Dodi Limcaoco, a Nena Valdes, or those with a roving commission like Medy Poblador or Mike Defensor, to name just a few, to coordinate with the hierarchy the way the PLLO coordinates with congressmen. No previous president needed to dispense state funds to Catholic dioceses and charities by handing out envelopes or placing ads on Radio Veritas or involving the PCSO and other agencies in such a politically systematic fashion through the bishops.
Our prelates know their moral theology; they know how to receive patronage without sinning. In these poisonous times, these are acts, though, that serve to place the Church in disrepute.
When Cardinal Vidal met the President in Wack Wack Golf Course and discussed jobs, when he allowed Cerge Remonde to address his gathered clergy in a retreat, when he forbade the clergy from signing petitions, and when he and other prelates met officials in Malacañang, everyone needs to understand that from the point of view of the prelates concerned, what they did was licit.
But the hierarchy needs to understand how the public can view it as an illicit effort, at the very least, on the part of government, for such illicit behavior benefits the government politically. A political act of generosity always has a price, and it is a fine line that separates the naïve from the saints. If you will deal with the devil, you had better have the strength of an archangel. And this is why the generosity of the President, and her politically-shrewd operators, serves to divide and confuses the public, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.
It also sends the wrong signal to overzealous subordinates.
When Cardinal Vidal was criticized for supposedly issuing instructions to the clergy to deny the Mass to Jun Lozada, the Cardinal denied ever issuing such instructions. I believe him.
Undoubtedly no memorandum was ever signed—but then again no one ever said the instructions had been given in written form. He didn’t need to issue any instructions, because his past actions are as unambiguous as any human act can be. For when he allowed Remonde to address the assembled priests of the archdiocese, approved the handing out of a government-prepared primer on NBN-ZTE, forbade petitions and interceded for schoolteachers with the President, the clergy knew right there and then on which side their archbishop stood—and assumed they’d be expected to act accordingly.
No need for instructions, no need for prohibitions; once Cardinal Vidal showed partiality his priests took the cue: and as subordinates tend to do, probably with greater zeal than the Cardinal ever imagined. It wouldn’t surprise me if perhaps a priest or two, to salve his own conscience, maligned his Cardinal by whispering to angry nuns that they would not say Mass because the Cardinal said so—when he only implied and was never explicit about denying anyone the Mass. This is how our culture works: the boss winks, and everyone beneath him does the nudging.
Whether implied or explicit, the consequences of the Cardinal’s behavior were grave. For the display of archiepiscopal partiality essentially placed an Interdict (“a sentence barring a person, or esp. a place, from ecclesiastical functions and privilege”) on Lozada, a sanction of the Church almost at the level of an Excommunication.
And here lies the question at the heart of the criticisms against Cardinal Vidal: not even Marcos faced such ecclesiastical sanctions.
For this reason, it is fair to appeal to the Cardinal to confront the questions that have been raised, and not by means of an appeal to his authority. If no one can question the desire of the clergy to uphold the Mass as a sacrament, what needs to be questioned is whether there’s Christian justice in denying the Mass to anyone, knowing that denial represents the highest and most fearsome sanction in the power of the episcopacy. What is his discernment? Does he remain neutral? If not, why not?
Let the shepherd speak. Politicians allied with the President are not the Cebuano people. The clergy of Cebu is not the Catholic Church in Cebu. There were Cebuanos who wanted to hear Jun Lozada for themselves, to judge him, for good or ill. That some of Lozada’s supporters treated a heckler violently and discourteously is what should have provoked holy anger from the Cebuano clergy, united with their Cardinal-archbishop.
Cardinal Vidal knows full well that the CBCP has already declared NBN-ZTE, and everything else, to be a national concern. The people of Cebu deserve more than an insistence on the feudal belief that presidential sins of omission and commission are acceptable so long as patronage for the province keeps rolling in.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:01:00 03/24/2008
MANILA, Philippines - When Ricardo Cardinal Vidal was recently taken to task for showing partiality to the President, his critics were taken to task in turn. The whole thing has taken a regrettable emotional toll on the Cardinal and his defenders.
Due deference is owed the good Cardinal as the spiritual father of the Cebuanos. But whether president, prince of the church, or pauper, in matters that involve the public good, a democratic citizenry must put the lowest premium on respecting hierarchy. Respect the office, yes; respect the principles the office ought to represent most of all.
What must be paramount is for our spiritual shepherds to realize how they have been co-opted by political wolves.
The present administration handles the hierarchy in the same manner it handles congressmen. For this reason, anyone who objects to calling prelates “congressmen in cassocks” should lodge a complaint, not with those who say it, but with the Palace that made the comparison possible.
No other administration ever contemplated or needed a Religious Affairs Office; no other president needed a Dodi Limcaoco, a Nena Valdes, or those with a roving commission like Medy Poblador or Mike Defensor, to name just a few, to coordinate with the hierarchy the way the PLLO coordinates with congressmen. No previous president needed to dispense state funds to Catholic dioceses and charities by handing out envelopes or placing ads on Radio Veritas or involving the PCSO and other agencies in such a politically systematic fashion through the bishops.
Our prelates know their moral theology; they know how to receive patronage without sinning. In these poisonous times, these are acts, though, that serve to place the Church in disrepute.
When Cardinal Vidal met the President in Wack Wack Golf Course and discussed jobs, when he allowed Cerge Remonde to address his gathered clergy in a retreat, when he forbade the clergy from signing petitions, and when he and other prelates met officials in Malacañang, everyone needs to understand that from the point of view of the prelates concerned, what they did was licit.
But the hierarchy needs to understand how the public can view it as an illicit effort, at the very least, on the part of government, for such illicit behavior benefits the government politically. A political act of generosity always has a price, and it is a fine line that separates the naïve from the saints. If you will deal with the devil, you had better have the strength of an archangel. And this is why the generosity of the President, and her politically-shrewd operators, serves to divide and confuses the public, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.
It also sends the wrong signal to overzealous subordinates.
When Cardinal Vidal was criticized for supposedly issuing instructions to the clergy to deny the Mass to Jun Lozada, the Cardinal denied ever issuing such instructions. I believe him.
Undoubtedly no memorandum was ever signed—but then again no one ever said the instructions had been given in written form. He didn’t need to issue any instructions, because his past actions are as unambiguous as any human act can be. For when he allowed Remonde to address the assembled priests of the archdiocese, approved the handing out of a government-prepared primer on NBN-ZTE, forbade petitions and interceded for schoolteachers with the President, the clergy knew right there and then on which side their archbishop stood—and assumed they’d be expected to act accordingly.
No need for instructions, no need for prohibitions; once Cardinal Vidal showed partiality his priests took the cue: and as subordinates tend to do, probably with greater zeal than the Cardinal ever imagined. It wouldn’t surprise me if perhaps a priest or two, to salve his own conscience, maligned his Cardinal by whispering to angry nuns that they would not say Mass because the Cardinal said so—when he only implied and was never explicit about denying anyone the Mass. This is how our culture works: the boss winks, and everyone beneath him does the nudging.
Whether implied or explicit, the consequences of the Cardinal’s behavior were grave. For the display of archiepiscopal partiality essentially placed an Interdict (“a sentence barring a person, or esp. a place, from ecclesiastical functions and privilege”) on Lozada, a sanction of the Church almost at the level of an Excommunication.
And here lies the question at the heart of the criticisms against Cardinal Vidal: not even Marcos faced such ecclesiastical sanctions.
For this reason, it is fair to appeal to the Cardinal to confront the questions that have been raised, and not by means of an appeal to his authority. If no one can question the desire of the clergy to uphold the Mass as a sacrament, what needs to be questioned is whether there’s Christian justice in denying the Mass to anyone, knowing that denial represents the highest and most fearsome sanction in the power of the episcopacy. What is his discernment? Does he remain neutral? If not, why not?
Let the shepherd speak. Politicians allied with the President are not the Cebuano people. The clergy of Cebu is not the Catholic Church in Cebu. There were Cebuanos who wanted to hear Jun Lozada for themselves, to judge him, for good or ill. That some of Lozada’s supporters treated a heckler violently and discourteously is what should have provoked holy anger from the Cebuano clergy, united with their Cardinal-archbishop.
Cardinal Vidal knows full well that the CBCP has already declared NBN-ZTE, and everything else, to be a national concern. The people of Cebu deserve more than an insistence on the feudal belief that presidential sins of omission and commission are acceptable so long as patronage for the province keeps rolling in.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
The Truth Caravan: Jun Lozada Visits Iloilo & Bacolod
Today's Philippine Star has deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez saying that Jun Lozada's Truth Caravan to Iloilo and Bacolod was a "flop". Golez claimed that the "Iloilo City tour of Lozada was the only one highlighted in the media and not the Bacolod City rally because of the poor attendance" and "more or less 300 people attended the Bacolod leg of Lozada’s tour". We must note that Anthony Golez was never spotted by those of us that traveled with Jun Lozada in either city, nor did he attend any of the forums conducted.
For the record, Jun Lozada met and spoke to over 1500 students and teachers from various Iloilo schools on the morning of March 14th. The schools represented were the University of San Agustin, UP Iloilo, and De Paul College. Not a shabby attendance record, considering it was exam week.
After a simple lunch at De Paul with school officials and religious, and a bumpy ferry ride to Bacolod, Jun was warmly welcomed by La Salle Bacolod. While there, he engaged at least 1300 faculty members and students from both La Salle and St. Scholastica. Some of the students were accompanied by their parents.
After that, Jun had a forum with 500 students at La Consolacion College, and just a stone's throw away, attended a special mass that was celebrated by Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra together with 15 priests at the San Sebastian Cathedral as the sun set. The cathedral was full to the rafters, parishioners overflowed into the courtyard. Observers conservatively estimated the crowd at over 2000.
Jun Lozada was accompanied on this first stop of the Truth Caravan outside Metro Manila by Sr. Mary John Mananzan, Sr. Estrella Castelone, his close in Senate security, both ABS-CBN and GMA7 news crews, and members of the Black & White Movement. We would like to thank everyone that made this Truth Caravan leg a success.
For the record, Jun Lozada met and spoke to over 1500 students and teachers from various Iloilo schools on the morning of March 14th. The schools represented were the University of San Agustin, UP Iloilo, and De Paul College. Not a shabby attendance record, considering it was exam week.
After a simple lunch at De Paul with school officials and religious, and a bumpy ferry ride to Bacolod, Jun was warmly welcomed by La Salle Bacolod. While there, he engaged at least 1300 faculty members and students from both La Salle and St. Scholastica. Some of the students were accompanied by their parents.
After that, Jun had a forum with 500 students at La Consolacion College, and just a stone's throw away, attended a special mass that was celebrated by Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra together with 15 priests at the San Sebastian Cathedral as the sun set. The cathedral was full to the rafters, parishioners overflowed into the courtyard. Observers conservatively estimated the crowd at over 2000.
Jun Lozada was accompanied on this first stop of the Truth Caravan outside Metro Manila by Sr. Mary John Mananzan, Sr. Estrella Castelone, his close in Senate security, both ABS-CBN and GMA7 news crews, and members of the Black & White Movement. We would like to thank everyone that made this Truth Caravan leg a success.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
A Message from Jun Lozada
This is a letter from ZTE-NBN Deal star witness, Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada. It is reprinted here as originally sent to me via email. Bloggers are free to copy and re-print in their blogs with attribution, please.
I wish to thank all the participants for their prayers and support.
I am a witness and a victim of this Gov't attempts to stop the truth about corruption from reaching the people. They first tried to silence me forever last Feb. 5 and when they failed to kill me physically they are now trying to kill my name to stop the truth from being told.
The gov't is again doing what they have done on previous scandals and anomalies, bury it! bury it with more lies!
Until now they have not allowed the members of the PNP and PSG who took me from the airport last Feb.5 to come out and testify to answer the following questions:
1. Who ordered them to abduct me from the airport last feb 5?
2. If I was truly a VIP, why were they not identifying themselves when I was asking them who they were?
3. Why did they bring me to SLEX towards Cavite, then to Laguna when I was telling them to bring me home to Pasig?
4. Why was Gen. Razon, lying to the public that I and my sister has written a request for security when we did not? why did he change his story three times?
5. why did Usec. Gaite gave me P500,000 pesos and the palace to have three diff. stories to explain.
6. Why did Usec Gaite gave me a lawyer without my consent who wanted me to sign a false affidavit?
These are the questions the gov't do not want to be answered because it will lead straight to the people who doesn't want the truth about the NBN ZTE deal be known by the people, these are the people who wants to keep the Filipinos in the Dark because it there that they reign, it is there that they can continue to steal from the people their money and rob from the people including their hopes for themselves and their children's children.
I ask all of you, to please not allow this gov't to bury this abduction case with more lies and to let them get away with it once more. Because you will also let the truth about the NBN ZTE deal get away again, similar to how the truths about Hello garci, Joc Joc Bolante, Macapagal Highway, Marilyn Esperat, Northrail and a lot more have gotten away from you.
Thank you for giving me your time and attention.
Jun Lozada
I wish to thank all the participants for their prayers and support.
I am a witness and a victim of this Gov't attempts to stop the truth about corruption from reaching the people. They first tried to silence me forever last Feb. 5 and when they failed to kill me physically they are now trying to kill my name to stop the truth from being told.
The gov't is again doing what they have done on previous scandals and anomalies, bury it! bury it with more lies!
Until now they have not allowed the members of the PNP and PSG who took me from the airport last Feb.5 to come out and testify to answer the following questions:
1. Who ordered them to abduct me from the airport last feb 5?
2. If I was truly a VIP, why were they not identifying themselves when I was asking them who they were?
3. Why did they bring me to SLEX towards Cavite, then to Laguna when I was telling them to bring me home to Pasig?
4. Why was Gen. Razon, lying to the public that I and my sister has written a request for security when we did not? why did he change his story three times?
5. why did Usec. Gaite gave me P500,000 pesos and the palace to have three diff. stories to explain.
6. Why did Usec Gaite gave me a lawyer without my consent who wanted me to sign a false affidavit?
These are the questions the gov't do not want to be answered because it will lead straight to the people who doesn't want the truth about the NBN ZTE deal be known by the people, these are the people who wants to keep the Filipinos in the Dark because it there that they reign, it is there that they can continue to steal from the people their money and rob from the people including their hopes for themselves and their children's children.
I ask all of you, to please not allow this gov't to bury this abduction case with more lies and to let them get away with it once more. Because you will also let the truth about the NBN ZTE deal get away again, similar to how the truths about Hello garci, Joc Joc Bolante, Macapagal Highway, Marilyn Esperat, Northrail and a lot more have gotten away from you.
Thank you for giving me your time and attention.
Jun Lozada
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Government Should Serve the Truth
We are former senior government officials who have served the government in the administrations of Presidents Marcos, Aquino, Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo. Today we see how the institutions of government are being manipulated, weakened, and corrupted. We are committed to help rebuild and strengthen the government institutions in which we worked to serve the public good rather than personal and partisan interests.
Our people can only trust a government that governs with truth. We grant government so much power over our lives, resources and shared future because it governs with truth. When there are serious doubts about government’s adherence to truth in matters of vital public interest, no real peace or substantive unity is possible until such doubts are resolved. We cannot move on without the truth.
We are now in the midst of great disturbance because we doubt the truth behind the NBN-ZTE deal. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had belatedly cancelled the contract because of reported “anomalies”. Hence, most Filipinos reasonably conclude that corruption tainted this deal. For several months now at the hearings of the Senate investigation, we have all seen disturbing glimpses of the truth about alleged corruption that attended the NBN-ZTE deal. We are outraged by what we have seen thus far.
The President said recently: “Ang taumbayan galit sa katiwalian. Ganoon din ako, galit din ako sa katiwalian.” We affirm the first sentence. We ask that the second sentence be demonstrated in action. Having belatedly cancelled the contract to show her supposed anger with reported corruption in this deal, the President must now follow through with actions to determine the actual “anomalies” and establish responsibility for these. Otherwise, canceling the contract could be interpreted as an effort to cover up corruption rather than to pin it down and root it out.
Government should serve the truth and the President should act immediately and decisively to enable the truth to emerge.
The most credible forum thus far to establish the truth behind the NBN-ZTE controversy is the Senate investigation that has persevered in seeking facts and witnesses. The Senate is a functioning democratic institution that can help the people recognize the truth about this divisive matter. We thus call on the President to cooperate fully with the Senate and stop denigrating it so that its investigation can be completed as soon as possible. In particular, we ask the President to lead in showing government’s commitment to the truth by taking the following actions which can reasonably be done within one week:
• First, order acting Chair Romulo Neri to resume his testimony before the Senate investigation without any restrictions or limitations;
• Second, order the release and delivery to the Senate of all public records pertaining to the NBN-ZTE deal, starting with the minutes of the NEDA Board meetings on the project;
• Third, suspend DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Assistant Secretary Lorenzo Formoso, as the DOTC was the lead agency for this project;
• Fourth, suspend DENR Secretary Lito Atienza, PNP Director General Avelino Razon, Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite, Deputy NAIA Chief Angel Atutubo, Senior Supt. Paul Mascarinas and all those involved in the attempt to prevent Senate witness Jun Lozada from testifying; and
• Fifth, order a halt on any further attempts by such agencies as the DOJ, DENR, NBI and BIR to harass Senate witness Jun Lozada and those who are testifying in behalf of the truth.
The Filipino people can make democratic institutions work to fight corruption by even the most powerful people in our midst. We can do this based on the power of reason and the power of the people’s communal action. We deserve a government that governs with truth.
The President must demonstrate her commitment to the truth through these actions within one week as more and more of our people make their judgment. She must do these or be condemned as complicit with, and in fact, as being at the center of, the lies surrounding the NBN-ZTE deal.
The President must do these or the people will make their judgment and act on the basis of their conviction.
Signed by:
1. Florencio Abad (Former Secretary, Department of Education)
2. Tomas Africa, (Former Administrator, National Statistics Office)
3. Roberto Ansaldo (Former Undersecretary, Department of Agriculture)
4. Senen Bacani (Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture)
5. Angelito Banayo (Former Secretary, Political Affairs)
6. Romeo Bernardo (Former Undersecretary, Department of Finance)
7. Emilia Boncodin (Former Secretary, Department of Budget and Management)
8. Gerardo Bulatao (Former Undersecretary, Department of Agrarian Reform)
9. Clifford Burkley (Former Undersecretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development)
10. Sostenes Campillo, Jr. (Former Undersecretary, Department of Tourism)
11. Isagani Cruz (Former Undersecretary, Department of Education)
12. Jose Cuisia, Jr. (Former Governor, Central Bank of the Philippines)
13. Col. Guillermo Cunanan (Ret.) (Former General Manager, Manila International Airport)
14. Karina Constantino-David (Former Chair, Civil Service Commission)
15. Teresita Quintos Deles (Former Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process)
16. Edgardo Del Fonso (Former Head, Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management)
17. Benjamin Diokno (Former Secretary, Department of Budget and Management)
18. Quintin Doromal, Sr. (Former Commissioner, Presidential Commission on Good Governance)
19. Franklin Drilon (Former Executive Secretary)
20. Narcisa Escaler (Former Ambassador to the United Nations)
21. Evangeline Escobillo (Former Commissioner, Insurance Commission)
22. Jesus Estanislao (Former Secretary, Department of Finance)
23. Victoria Garchitorena (Former Head, Presidential Management Staff)
24. Jose Luis Gascon (Former Undersecretary, Department of Education)
25. Marietta Goco (Former Chair, Presidential Commission to Fight Poverty)
26. Jose Antonio Gonzalez (Former Secretary, Department of Tourism)
27. Milwida Guevara (Former Undersecretary, Department of Finance)
28. Cielito Habito (Former Director-General, National Economic Development Authority)
29. Edilberto de Jesus Jr. (Former Secretary, Department of Education)
30. Lina Laigo (Former Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development)
31. Ernest Leung (Former Secretary, Department of Finance)
32. Josefina Lichauco (Former Secretary, Department of Transportation and Communications)
33. Narzalina Lim (Former Secretary, Department of Tourism)
34. Juan Miguel Luz (Former Undersecretary, Department of Education)
35. Jose Molano Jr. (Former Executive Director, Commission on Filipinos Overseas)
36. Vitaliano Nañagas (Former Chair, Development Bank of the Philippines)
37. Conrado Navarro (Former Undersecretary, Department of Agrarian Reform)
38. Imelda Nicolas (Former Lead Convenor, National Anti-Poverty Commission)
39. Vicente Paterno (Former Minister, Ministry of Trade and Industry)
40. Pete Prado (Former Secretary, Department of Transportation and Communications)
41. Cesar Purisima (Former Secretary, Department of Finance)
42. Victor Ramos (Former Secretary, Department of Environment and Natural Resources)
43. Amina Rasul (Former Presidential Advisor on Youth Affairs and Concurrent Chair, National Youth Commission)
44. Rodolfo Reyes (Former Press Secretary)
45. Walfrido Reyes (Former Undersecretary, Department of Tourism)
46. Alberto Romualdez Jr. (Former Secretary, Department of Health)
47. Albert del Rosario (Former Ambassador to the United States of America)
48. Francisco del Rosario (Former Chair, Development Bank of the Philippines)
49. Ramon del Rosario (Former Secretary, Department of Finance)
50. Melito Salazar (Former Member of the Monetary Board, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas)
51. Antonio Salvador (Former Undersecretary, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process)
52. Leticia Ramos-Shahani (Former Undersecretary, Department of Foreign Affairs)
53. Cesar Sarino (Former Secretary, Department of Interior and Local Government)
54. Juan Santos (Former Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry)
55. Corazon Juliano-Soliman (Former Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development)
56. Hector Soliman (Former Undersecretary, Department of Agrarian Reform)
57. Mario Taguiwalo (Former Undersecretary, Department of Health)
58. Jaime Galvez Tan (Former Secretary, Department of Health)
59. Ricardo Tan (Former Head, Philippine Deposit Insurance Commission)
60. Wigberto Tañada (Former Commissioner, Bureau of Customs)
61. V. Bruce Tolentino (Former Undersecretary, Department of Agriculture)
62. Veronica Villavicencio (Former Lead Convenor, National Anti-Poverty Commission)
63. Deogracias Vistan (Former President, Land Bank of the Philippines)
Our people can only trust a government that governs with truth. We grant government so much power over our lives, resources and shared future because it governs with truth. When there are serious doubts about government’s adherence to truth in matters of vital public interest, no real peace or substantive unity is possible until such doubts are resolved. We cannot move on without the truth.
We are now in the midst of great disturbance because we doubt the truth behind the NBN-ZTE deal. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had belatedly cancelled the contract because of reported “anomalies”. Hence, most Filipinos reasonably conclude that corruption tainted this deal. For several months now at the hearings of the Senate investigation, we have all seen disturbing glimpses of the truth about alleged corruption that attended the NBN-ZTE deal. We are outraged by what we have seen thus far.
The President said recently: “Ang taumbayan galit sa katiwalian. Ganoon din ako, galit din ako sa katiwalian.” We affirm the first sentence. We ask that the second sentence be demonstrated in action. Having belatedly cancelled the contract to show her supposed anger with reported corruption in this deal, the President must now follow through with actions to determine the actual “anomalies” and establish responsibility for these. Otherwise, canceling the contract could be interpreted as an effort to cover up corruption rather than to pin it down and root it out.
Government should serve the truth and the President should act immediately and decisively to enable the truth to emerge.
The most credible forum thus far to establish the truth behind the NBN-ZTE controversy is the Senate investigation that has persevered in seeking facts and witnesses. The Senate is a functioning democratic institution that can help the people recognize the truth about this divisive matter. We thus call on the President to cooperate fully with the Senate and stop denigrating it so that its investigation can be completed as soon as possible. In particular, we ask the President to lead in showing government’s commitment to the truth by taking the following actions which can reasonably be done within one week:
• First, order acting Chair Romulo Neri to resume his testimony before the Senate investigation without any restrictions or limitations;
• Second, order the release and delivery to the Senate of all public records pertaining to the NBN-ZTE deal, starting with the minutes of the NEDA Board meetings on the project;
• Third, suspend DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Assistant Secretary Lorenzo Formoso, as the DOTC was the lead agency for this project;
• Fourth, suspend DENR Secretary Lito Atienza, PNP Director General Avelino Razon, Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite, Deputy NAIA Chief Angel Atutubo, Senior Supt. Paul Mascarinas and all those involved in the attempt to prevent Senate witness Jun Lozada from testifying; and
• Fifth, order a halt on any further attempts by such agencies as the DOJ, DENR, NBI and BIR to harass Senate witness Jun Lozada and those who are testifying in behalf of the truth.
The Filipino people can make democratic institutions work to fight corruption by even the most powerful people in our midst. We can do this based on the power of reason and the power of the people’s communal action. We deserve a government that governs with truth.
The President must demonstrate her commitment to the truth through these actions within one week as more and more of our people make their judgment. She must do these or be condemned as complicit with, and in fact, as being at the center of, the lies surrounding the NBN-ZTE deal.
The President must do these or the people will make their judgment and act on the basis of their conviction.
Signed by:
1. Florencio Abad (Former Secretary, Department of Education)
2. Tomas Africa, (Former Administrator, National Statistics Office)
3. Roberto Ansaldo (Former Undersecretary, Department of Agriculture)
4. Senen Bacani (Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture)
5. Angelito Banayo (Former Secretary, Political Affairs)
6. Romeo Bernardo (Former Undersecretary, Department of Finance)
7. Emilia Boncodin (Former Secretary, Department of Budget and Management)
8. Gerardo Bulatao (Former Undersecretary, Department of Agrarian Reform)
9. Clifford Burkley (Former Undersecretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development)
10. Sostenes Campillo, Jr. (Former Undersecretary, Department of Tourism)
11. Isagani Cruz (Former Undersecretary, Department of Education)
12. Jose Cuisia, Jr. (Former Governor, Central Bank of the Philippines)
13. Col. Guillermo Cunanan (Ret.) (Former General Manager, Manila International Airport)
14. Karina Constantino-David (Former Chair, Civil Service Commission)
15. Teresita Quintos Deles (Former Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process)
16. Edgardo Del Fonso (Former Head, Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management)
17. Benjamin Diokno (Former Secretary, Department of Budget and Management)
18. Quintin Doromal, Sr. (Former Commissioner, Presidential Commission on Good Governance)
19. Franklin Drilon (Former Executive Secretary)
20. Narcisa Escaler (Former Ambassador to the United Nations)
21. Evangeline Escobillo (Former Commissioner, Insurance Commission)
22. Jesus Estanislao (Former Secretary, Department of Finance)
23. Victoria Garchitorena (Former Head, Presidential Management Staff)
24. Jose Luis Gascon (Former Undersecretary, Department of Education)
25. Marietta Goco (Former Chair, Presidential Commission to Fight Poverty)
26. Jose Antonio Gonzalez (Former Secretary, Department of Tourism)
27. Milwida Guevara (Former Undersecretary, Department of Finance)
28. Cielito Habito (Former Director-General, National Economic Development Authority)
29. Edilberto de Jesus Jr. (Former Secretary, Department of Education)
30. Lina Laigo (Former Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development)
31. Ernest Leung (Former Secretary, Department of Finance)
32. Josefina Lichauco (Former Secretary, Department of Transportation and Communications)
33. Narzalina Lim (Former Secretary, Department of Tourism)
34. Juan Miguel Luz (Former Undersecretary, Department of Education)
35. Jose Molano Jr. (Former Executive Director, Commission on Filipinos Overseas)
36. Vitaliano Nañagas (Former Chair, Development Bank of the Philippines)
37. Conrado Navarro (Former Undersecretary, Department of Agrarian Reform)
38. Imelda Nicolas (Former Lead Convenor, National Anti-Poverty Commission)
39. Vicente Paterno (Former Minister, Ministry of Trade and Industry)
40. Pete Prado (Former Secretary, Department of Transportation and Communications)
41. Cesar Purisima (Former Secretary, Department of Finance)
42. Victor Ramos (Former Secretary, Department of Environment and Natural Resources)
43. Amina Rasul (Former Presidential Advisor on Youth Affairs and Concurrent Chair, National Youth Commission)
44. Rodolfo Reyes (Former Press Secretary)
45. Walfrido Reyes (Former Undersecretary, Department of Tourism)
46. Alberto Romualdez Jr. (Former Secretary, Department of Health)
47. Albert del Rosario (Former Ambassador to the United States of America)
48. Francisco del Rosario (Former Chair, Development Bank of the Philippines)
49. Ramon del Rosario (Former Secretary, Department of Finance)
50. Melito Salazar (Former Member of the Monetary Board, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas)
51. Antonio Salvador (Former Undersecretary, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process)
52. Leticia Ramos-Shahani (Former Undersecretary, Department of Foreign Affairs)
53. Cesar Sarino (Former Secretary, Department of Interior and Local Government)
54. Juan Santos (Former Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry)
55. Corazon Juliano-Soliman (Former Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development)
56. Hector Soliman (Former Undersecretary, Department of Agrarian Reform)
57. Mario Taguiwalo (Former Undersecretary, Department of Health)
58. Jaime Galvez Tan (Former Secretary, Department of Health)
59. Ricardo Tan (Former Head, Philippine Deposit Insurance Commission)
60. Wigberto Tañada (Former Commissioner, Bureau of Customs)
61. V. Bruce Tolentino (Former Undersecretary, Department of Agriculture)
62. Veronica Villavicencio (Former Lead Convenor, National Anti-Poverty Commission)
63. Deogracias Vistan (Former President, Land Bank of the Philippines)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The Moral Dimension of People Power - Corazon C. Aquino
Delivered at the joint MBC-MAP General Membership Meeting & PinoyME 2nd Anniversary
February 26, 2008
Yesterday, we marked the anniversary of the remarkable People Power revolution that ushered in a new era of hope for our nation. Twenty-two years ago, we began the arduous task of reviving the democratic institutions that the Marcos dictatorship had destroyed.
And it is with shame and sadness that we today revisit those institutions in the same state of disrepair: an executive branch wielding tremendous power and patronage, unchecked by a largely subservient legislature; an electoral process so prone to manipulation; a military and a bureaucracy that are highly politicized; a system of governance utterly lacking in transparency and accountability.
Worst of all, we seem so hard-pressed to express a collective sense of moral outrage at the wanton abuse of power at the highest levels of government. Twenty-two years after EDSA I, how can we tolerate a president of doubtful legitimacy who can brazenly stonewall the search for truth and who can routinely intimidate dissenters, journalists, businessmen and ordinary citizens with impunity?
Has People Power passed away out of sheer weariness and frustration at the seeming futility of trying to make our democracy work? The cynics, mocking our inability to assemble the numbers which would approximate the legions that swelled our protest rallies in the mid-1980s, would like us to think just that. But perhaps they are looking in the wrong direction.
If there is anything that the past 22 years have taught us, it is the realization that People Power must start from within. The potential for greatness of every Filipino needs to be cultivated before true strength in numbers can be realized for our nation. People Power resides inside each of us, waiting to be unleashed to trigger a chain reaction that would transform the fabric of our society.
Those four memorable days in February 1986 gave us a glimpse of what that latent power can achieve. Filipinos from all walks of life abandoned all concern for personal interest and safety to gather at EDSA to pray, to care, to share, to give one another a measure of comfort and courage at a most perilous time. In the face of such solidarity, not even fully armed soldiers and tanks could turn the democratic tide.
Unfortunately this internal, moral dimension of People Power got overwhelmed by the manifold exigencies of restoring democracy. All too soon, most Filipinos began reverting to their old ways—putting the interest of self and family above that of the national community. And we are now paying the price, perhaps, for having failed to cultivate a counter-culture of giving, compassion and spirituality in a more deliberate way.
Today, we are suffering a severe moral crisis that permeates every level of our society. Mr. Jun Lozada gave us a graphic description of how low our state of governance has sunk when he talked about “permissible zones” for kickbacks on public projects and how he had been instructed “to moderate the greed” of the favored proponents of the ZTE-NBN deal.
As discomfiting as it may be to hear such words uttered during a live telecast of a Senate hearing, virtually none of us can feign shock at these revelations. That’s because many of us are inured to a culture of malfeasance and are partly to blame for allowing such depths of corruption to persist.
Like Mr. Lozada, we are all imperfect human beings with our share of weaknesses and faults, big and small. But how many of us are willing to undergo the individual transformation from which social change can begin? How many of us can muster the courage to confront ourselves, to rise above the culture that shaped us—for better or for worse—and may have warped our sense of values?
Only by willing ourselves to change can we achieve the moral clarity to tell our children: “This culture of corruption is unacceptable! You and future generations of Filipinos deserve a society far better than this.” Only at this point would our collective outrage rise like a tidal wave to wash away the rotten foundations of our society.
The cynics among us might view this as unabashed idealism. After all, Dr. Jose Rizal said practically the same thing through Padre Florentino in El Filibusterismo, and Filipinos then and now did not seem to take heed. But there is hope germinating in the most unlikely of places.
Over the last two and a half years, I have had the privilege of drawing inspiration from ordinary Filipinos, who amid the squalor in some of our poorest communities, lead far more honorable lives than the high and mighty among us. They are mostly mothers trying to carve out an honest living through micro-enterprises. They are silently working themselves out of poverty, saving up to put their children through school and slowly improving their quality of life. And they are doing so with a cheerful spirituality that puts to shame those of us who have so much more in life, yet gripe from day to day. And to each and every mother in these communities, the path of hope begins, incredibly, with a micro-loan of P5,000 or less.
This is yet another manifestation of the internal dimension of People Power: ordinary Filipinos recovering dignity in the midst of poverty by dint of hard and decent work. Servicing these extraordinary mothers is a small army of microfinance institutions (MFIs) who need external support to harness their full potential in disadvantaged communities across the country.
This was how PinoyME—short for Filipino micro-enterprise—was born two years ago. A social consortium, which brought together some of the best minds and stoutest hearts in the private sector and civil society, was convened to see how best to help MFIs broaden their reach and enhance the breadth and quality of their financial services for the poor. As explained by Mr. Manny Pangilinan earlier, the consortium zeroed in on four areas of strategic intervention—resource mobilization, capacity-building, business development services and knowledge management—that could take MFIs, along with a critical mass of their clients, to the next level.
In addition, these four areas of intervention offer avenues by which other sectors and individuals could pitch in to make the microfinance industry more vibrant and robust. These avenues could range from seasoned bankers providing financial advice to MFIs to corporations lending their marketing expertise, from universities filling the urgent need for more loan officers to IT firms or departments helping organize a rich and useful database for micro-enterprises. This highlights another facet of People Power: bridging those with talent and resources to a sector that services our most needy countrymen in a sustained and widespread spirit of sharing.
The overall strategy also underscores the painstaking and deliberate process it would take to strengthen our democracy at the base. This serves to remind us that People Power is not about quick fixes. It is about bringing people from all walks of life together to build our nation and, by their joint effort, to cultivate shared pride in being Filipino. Ultimately, that is what PinoyME, as the Taglish idiom suggests, is all about.
Our long-term vision is to help change the shape of our socio-economic structure from a pyramid with a wide base of impoverished Filipinos to a diamond with an expanded middle class of empowered and more politically mature citizens.
As a first step toward realizing this vision, the consortium in February 2006 launched a program to raise P5 billion to empower five million Filipinos—approximating the number of families living below the poverty line—in five years.
Five billion pesos—by our financial experts’ calculations, that is the minimum amount it would take to gradually ramp up lending so that MFIs can increase their coverage to five million clients by 2011. Just think about that for a moment: five billion pesos—even less than the figure purported to represent the kickback in a single government transaction—can go a long way in empowering hundreds of thousands of our countrymen along a sustainable path out of poverty.
Given the scores, perhaps hundreds, of government transactions which have escaped public scrutiny and funneled billions in people’s money into corrupt hands, one wonders who is really sabotaging the economy and keeping millions of Filipinos poor.
Even as we take deliberate steps to empower our disenfranchised countrymen and to strengthen our institutions, therefore, we cannot turn a blind eye to what is happening at the highest levels of our government and our society. Let us heed the call for discernment and, together, act with a sense of moral purpose and urgency.
Our guiding light should not be an obsession to evict the President from Malacañang. Given our concern to protect the pillars of our democracy, the extra-constitutional removal of the President is not an ideal we would want to aspire for. But in an environment where abuse of power, in the face of weak democratic institutions, closes all doors of legitimate redress, sadly, we are too often pushed to the brink. That is why the most noble—and least disruptive—way out of the moral crisis would be for the President to resign from office.
These critical times call for strong moral leadership, which clearly she is no longer in a position to provide. She must give way to a credible government that can lead by example. Our country needs leaders who can inspire our people to work and seize opportunities, pay their taxes and together build a good society that every Filipino would feel proud to be part of.
We cannot afford to turn another generation of Filipinos into cynical folk who would eschew responsible citizenship in favor of playing the game of corruption and patronage politics and resigning themselves to the impossibility of fundamental change in government and society.
Rizal, again through Padre Florentino, said it best: “To an immoral government belongs a demoralized people.”
Let us not allow this to come to pass.
Long live People Power! Support PinoyME! Mabuhay ang Pilipino!
February 26, 2008
Yesterday, we marked the anniversary of the remarkable People Power revolution that ushered in a new era of hope for our nation. Twenty-two years ago, we began the arduous task of reviving the democratic institutions that the Marcos dictatorship had destroyed.
And it is with shame and sadness that we today revisit those institutions in the same state of disrepair: an executive branch wielding tremendous power and patronage, unchecked by a largely subservient legislature; an electoral process so prone to manipulation; a military and a bureaucracy that are highly politicized; a system of governance utterly lacking in transparency and accountability.
Worst of all, we seem so hard-pressed to express a collective sense of moral outrage at the wanton abuse of power at the highest levels of government. Twenty-two years after EDSA I, how can we tolerate a president of doubtful legitimacy who can brazenly stonewall the search for truth and who can routinely intimidate dissenters, journalists, businessmen and ordinary citizens with impunity?
Has People Power passed away out of sheer weariness and frustration at the seeming futility of trying to make our democracy work? The cynics, mocking our inability to assemble the numbers which would approximate the legions that swelled our protest rallies in the mid-1980s, would like us to think just that. But perhaps they are looking in the wrong direction.
If there is anything that the past 22 years have taught us, it is the realization that People Power must start from within. The potential for greatness of every Filipino needs to be cultivated before true strength in numbers can be realized for our nation. People Power resides inside each of us, waiting to be unleashed to trigger a chain reaction that would transform the fabric of our society.
Those four memorable days in February 1986 gave us a glimpse of what that latent power can achieve. Filipinos from all walks of life abandoned all concern for personal interest and safety to gather at EDSA to pray, to care, to share, to give one another a measure of comfort and courage at a most perilous time. In the face of such solidarity, not even fully armed soldiers and tanks could turn the democratic tide.
Unfortunately this internal, moral dimension of People Power got overwhelmed by the manifold exigencies of restoring democracy. All too soon, most Filipinos began reverting to their old ways—putting the interest of self and family above that of the national community. And we are now paying the price, perhaps, for having failed to cultivate a counter-culture of giving, compassion and spirituality in a more deliberate way.
Today, we are suffering a severe moral crisis that permeates every level of our society. Mr. Jun Lozada gave us a graphic description of how low our state of governance has sunk when he talked about “permissible zones” for kickbacks on public projects and how he had been instructed “to moderate the greed” of the favored proponents of the ZTE-NBN deal.
As discomfiting as it may be to hear such words uttered during a live telecast of a Senate hearing, virtually none of us can feign shock at these revelations. That’s because many of us are inured to a culture of malfeasance and are partly to blame for allowing such depths of corruption to persist.
Like Mr. Lozada, we are all imperfect human beings with our share of weaknesses and faults, big and small. But how many of us are willing to undergo the individual transformation from which social change can begin? How many of us can muster the courage to confront ourselves, to rise above the culture that shaped us—for better or for worse—and may have warped our sense of values?
Only by willing ourselves to change can we achieve the moral clarity to tell our children: “This culture of corruption is unacceptable! You and future generations of Filipinos deserve a society far better than this.” Only at this point would our collective outrage rise like a tidal wave to wash away the rotten foundations of our society.
The cynics among us might view this as unabashed idealism. After all, Dr. Jose Rizal said practically the same thing through Padre Florentino in El Filibusterismo, and Filipinos then and now did not seem to take heed. But there is hope germinating in the most unlikely of places.
Over the last two and a half years, I have had the privilege of drawing inspiration from ordinary Filipinos, who amid the squalor in some of our poorest communities, lead far more honorable lives than the high and mighty among us. They are mostly mothers trying to carve out an honest living through micro-enterprises. They are silently working themselves out of poverty, saving up to put their children through school and slowly improving their quality of life. And they are doing so with a cheerful spirituality that puts to shame those of us who have so much more in life, yet gripe from day to day. And to each and every mother in these communities, the path of hope begins, incredibly, with a micro-loan of P5,000 or less.
This is yet another manifestation of the internal dimension of People Power: ordinary Filipinos recovering dignity in the midst of poverty by dint of hard and decent work. Servicing these extraordinary mothers is a small army of microfinance institutions (MFIs) who need external support to harness their full potential in disadvantaged communities across the country.
This was how PinoyME—short for Filipino micro-enterprise—was born two years ago. A social consortium, which brought together some of the best minds and stoutest hearts in the private sector and civil society, was convened to see how best to help MFIs broaden their reach and enhance the breadth and quality of their financial services for the poor. As explained by Mr. Manny Pangilinan earlier, the consortium zeroed in on four areas of strategic intervention—resource mobilization, capacity-building, business development services and knowledge management—that could take MFIs, along with a critical mass of their clients, to the next level.
In addition, these four areas of intervention offer avenues by which other sectors and individuals could pitch in to make the microfinance industry more vibrant and robust. These avenues could range from seasoned bankers providing financial advice to MFIs to corporations lending their marketing expertise, from universities filling the urgent need for more loan officers to IT firms or departments helping organize a rich and useful database for micro-enterprises. This highlights another facet of People Power: bridging those with talent and resources to a sector that services our most needy countrymen in a sustained and widespread spirit of sharing.
The overall strategy also underscores the painstaking and deliberate process it would take to strengthen our democracy at the base. This serves to remind us that People Power is not about quick fixes. It is about bringing people from all walks of life together to build our nation and, by their joint effort, to cultivate shared pride in being Filipino. Ultimately, that is what PinoyME, as the Taglish idiom suggests, is all about.
Our long-term vision is to help change the shape of our socio-economic structure from a pyramid with a wide base of impoverished Filipinos to a diamond with an expanded middle class of empowered and more politically mature citizens.
As a first step toward realizing this vision, the consortium in February 2006 launched a program to raise P5 billion to empower five million Filipinos—approximating the number of families living below the poverty line—in five years.
Five billion pesos—by our financial experts’ calculations, that is the minimum amount it would take to gradually ramp up lending so that MFIs can increase their coverage to five million clients by 2011. Just think about that for a moment: five billion pesos—even less than the figure purported to represent the kickback in a single government transaction—can go a long way in empowering hundreds of thousands of our countrymen along a sustainable path out of poverty.
Given the scores, perhaps hundreds, of government transactions which have escaped public scrutiny and funneled billions in people’s money into corrupt hands, one wonders who is really sabotaging the economy and keeping millions of Filipinos poor.
Even as we take deliberate steps to empower our disenfranchised countrymen and to strengthen our institutions, therefore, we cannot turn a blind eye to what is happening at the highest levels of our government and our society. Let us heed the call for discernment and, together, act with a sense of moral purpose and urgency.
Our guiding light should not be an obsession to evict the President from Malacañang. Given our concern to protect the pillars of our democracy, the extra-constitutional removal of the President is not an ideal we would want to aspire for. But in an environment where abuse of power, in the face of weak democratic institutions, closes all doors of legitimate redress, sadly, we are too often pushed to the brink. That is why the most noble—and least disruptive—way out of the moral crisis would be for the President to resign from office.
These critical times call for strong moral leadership, which clearly she is no longer in a position to provide. She must give way to a credible government that can lead by example. Our country needs leaders who can inspire our people to work and seize opportunities, pay their taxes and together build a good society that every Filipino would feel proud to be part of.
We cannot afford to turn another generation of Filipinos into cynical folk who would eschew responsible citizenship in favor of playing the game of corruption and patronage politics and resigning themselves to the impossibility of fundamental change in government and society.
Rizal, again through Padre Florentino, said it best: “To an immoral government belongs a demoralized people.”
Let us not allow this to come to pass.
Long live People Power! Support PinoyME! Mabuhay ang Pilipino!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Two Sermons
Here are two homilies on the same subject matter. The first was delivered by Fr. Jose "Joey" Echano, father rector of the Chruch of Perpetual Help on 25 February 2008 at our Mass for Truth. The second was delivered at the La Salle Gym Mass for Truth by Fr. Manoling Francisco, SJ.
PEOPLE POWER 2008
Una sa lahat, sa ngalan po ng Redemptorist community dito sa Baclaran malugod ko kayong tinatanggap at wini-welcome sa Pambansang Dambana ng Ina ng Laging Saklolo. Tayo ngayon ay nasa harap ng banal na larawan ng ating Mahal na Ina ng Laging Saklolo. Tunay na ang ating mahal na Ina ay saksi sa mga makasaysayang pangyayari sa ating bansa.
Noong 1986, ang mga Comelec computer encoders na nagtatabulate ng boto ng snap elections ay humingi ng kanlungan dito sa dambana ng ating mahal na ina pagkatapos na sila ay nag walk out sa kanilang mga computer consoles sa PICC sapagkat ipinapagawa sa kanila ang isang bagay na di nila kayang masikmura – ang pagdaya at pagtakip sa katotohanan. Alam naman nating lahat na ang walk out na ito para sa katotohanan ang isa sa mga naging mitsa ng people power noong EDSA 1.
Ngayon tayo muli ay lumalapit sa kanyang banal na larawan sa panahong pilit na itinatago at pinagtatakpan sa atin ang katotohanan. Tayo ay nahaharap sa isang krisis ng katotohanan at moralidad sa pamamahala na nagbabadya ng panganib at kapahamakan. Subalit ito rin ang naging mitsa upang muli ang sambayanan ay magsama-sama at mapukaw sa pagkakahimbing.
Sa paglapit natin kay Maria sa gitna ng paghahanap natin ng katotohanan, si Maria sa kanyang larawan ay itinuturo tayo sa kanyang anak na si Jesus. Lagi tayong pinapa-alalahanan ni Maria na dapat tayong naka-sentro kay Kristo. Narinig natin si Jesus sa ebanghelyo: "Kung tinutupad ninyo ang aking aral, kayo nga'y tunay na mga alagad ko; v32makikilala ninyo ang katotohanan, at ang katotohanan ang magpapalaya sa inyo." Kung tayo’y nakasentro kay Kristo malalaman natin ang katotohanan. Malalaman natin ang katotohanan kung tayo lamang ay nakasentro kay Jesus. Si Jesus ang katotohanan. Si Jesus ang tunay na laging saklolo ni Maria. Samakatuwid, si Jesus ang katotohanan, ang ating walang hanggang saklolo.
Mga kapatid, tunay na maraming kasinungalingan at pagtakip sa katotohanan sa ating bansa ngayon hindi lamang sa pinakamataas pati na rin sa pinakamababa, mula sa lipunan hanggang sa personal. Isa sa pinakamalaking sakit na yata ng ating bansa ngayon ay “Truth Decay.” Malala na masyado ang truth decay kaya hindi na kaya ng pasta at root canal na lamang, kailangan nang bunutin ito.
Ang sinasabi nila: “Huwag na nating pag-usapan ang katotohanan. Mag move on na lang tayo.” Oo masakit ang katotohanan, pero kailangan natin ang katotohanan upang tayo ay umunlad. Sinasabi nila na tayo daw ay nag-iingay at nanggugulo lamang. Bakit di na lang tayo sumabay sa pag-unlad ng ekonomiya?
Ang sinasabi natin ay walang tunay na kaunlaran kung walang katotohanan. Ang ating bansa ay di makakamove-on kung nababalot ng kasinungalingan at kaplastikan. Mas mabuti pang gobyerno na may mababang pag-unlad subalit ang nakikinabang ay ang mga mahihirap, pero isang gobyernong na totoo naman keysa isang gobyerno na may mataas na pag-unlad kuno subalit ang nakikinabang naman ay ang mga makapangyarihan at mayayaman, pero isang gobyernong sinungaling naman.
Marami tayong gustong malaman na katotohanan, maliban sa nakakagimbal na NBN-ZTE deal, gusto natin malaman ang katotohanan sa likod ng extra-judicial killing – humigit kumulang 800 na ang pinaslang ng walang pangkatarungang proseso, at 100 na ang sapilitang nawawala, sa fertilizer scam, sa Hello Garci scam, sa north rail at south rail.
Ngayon tuloy lang ba tayo sa pag-unlad samantalang maraming dumi na itinatago sa ilalim ng carpet? Hindi sapat laman na malaman natin ang katotohanan. Ang katotohanan ay may kaalinsunod na pananagutan. Kailangang panagutin ang may sala at palayain ang walang sala. Hindi kalimutan na lang natin at magkasundo na tayo. Ang mahirap sa ating mga Pilipino, maikli ang ating memorya. Kay dali nating makalimot at mabagal tayong matuto.
“Makikilala ninyo ang katotohanan, at ang katotohanan ang magpapalaya sa inyo." Sa ating pagtuklas sa katotohanan, tayo ay nagiging malaya. Dahil sa katotohanan muli ang buong bansa ngayon ay nagising at nagsasama-sama at nilalanghap ang matamis na simoy ng kalayaan.
Ipinagdiriwang natin ngayon ang ika 22 taon ng people power. Marami sa atin ay nagsesentimento. Nasaan na ba ang mga pangunahing personalidad ng EDSA 1? Maraming nagsabi sa akin, Fr. Nami-miss namin si Cardinal Sin. Tanong ng iba: Bakit ang ating mga Obispo ngayon ay di mag-ala Cardinal Sin?
Si FVR at Enrile ay may kanya-kanya nang landas. Pero si Tita Cory ay nandito pa rin, hindi ka nag-iisa. At mayroon naman tayong mga bagong bayani – nandyan si Jun Lozada ang uragon kong kababayan. Jun, ngayon ikaw ang Philippine idol – lalong-lalo na sa mga nagtitiktik sayo. Si Juan de la Cruz ay nakatagpo ng kanyang kapuso at kapamilya kay Jun Lozada. Si Juan de la Cruz ay malayo sa pagiging perfecto, katulad ni Jun Lozada. Subalit si Jun Lozada ay pilit na di bumibitiw sa natitirang dangal ng kanyang gula-gulanit na kalooban at pangalan. Kaya’t hindi nakapagtataka na kay Jun Lozada si Juan de la Cruz ay nais maging bayani sa kabila ng kanyang pangkaraniwang pagkatao at maraming sablay sa daan ng kanyang paglalakbay.
Kung kaya’t, higit sa lahat ay nandyan kayo, ang taumbayan. Mayroong bayani kung titingin lamang kayo sa loob ng inyong sarili. Ang pagiging bayani sa loob ng inyong sarili ay umuugnay sa bayani na nasa loob ng inyong kapwa Pilipino. Ang pagpapalabas at pagbabahaginan ng ating pagiging bayani ay ang simula ng people power. Ang bayanihan – ito ang people power. Ang people power ay tayo. Tayo ang people power. Ang pagbabago ay tayo, tayo ang pagbabago.
Ngayon pagkatapos ng 22 taon, nasaan na tayo? Nakakalungkot isipin na kaunti ang pagbabago lalo na sa pamamaraan ng pagpapatakbo ng ating bansa. Ang mga family dynasties ang siya pa ring naghahari sa ating politika samantalang ang corruption at ganid ay malalim nang nakabaon sa ating sistema ng politika.
Kung kaya’t sabi nila di na pahihintulutan muli ng mundo ang panibagong “People Power”. Sabi naman ng iba bigo ang people power sapagkat malinaw na hindi ito nakapagdulot ng pangmatagalang pagbabago sa ating sistema political.
Patay na ba ang People Power? Noong nanawagan ang mga obispo ng isang “communal action” bilang tugon sa mga nagaganap sa ating bansa parang mabagal at mababaw ang ating pagtugon. Bagama’t mayroong nagaganap na maliliit na mga pagkilos sa iba’t ibang lugar, hindi ito katulad ng mga nakaraang pagkilos na puno ng ingay, sigla sa gitna ng pagkabalisa at diskuntento bago mag-EDSA 1 o EDSA 2.
Napagod na ba tayo sa people power? O Natuto tayo sa mga nakaraan nating kamalian?
Kung naghahanap tayo ng dating ekspresyon ng people power, wala na ito. Ang mga naglalakihang rali at demonstrasyon, ang mga slogang puno ng paghihikayat at pagsisiwalat, ang pagsasanib ng iba’t ibang sektor sa isang tukoy na panawagang pulitikal ay wala na.
Subalit huwag tayong magpalinlang na ang people power ay wala na, katulad ng nais ipaniwala sa atin ng mga may kapangyarihan. Ang pagkabalisa, pagkabigo, ang matinding pagnanais ng pagbabago, ang paghahangad ng pagkakaisa ay buhay na buhay. Datapawat, ang lahat ng ito ay naghahanap ng bagong ekspresyon ng pagpapahayag, ng bagong pamamaraan, ng bagong simbolo.
Isang aral na napulot natin sa nakaraan ay ang samasamang pagkilos o communal action ay hindi nakabatay sa malalaking personalidad at mga politiko. Gayundin naman ang mga kaparian at Obispo ay hindi taga-likha ng direksyon para sa mga tao. Sila ay moral na gabay sa mga tao at tagapagbigay sigla’t lakas sa mga laykong kasapi ng simbahan na siyang pangunahing responsable sa paghuhubog ng pulitikal at pang-ekonomiyang larangan ng ating lipunan. Ang samasamang pagkilos ay dapat talagang isang proseso ng samasamang pagninilay at pagtugon ng bawat kasapi ng komunidad.
Hindi patay ang people power. Ito ay sisibol sa tamang panahon na may malakas na kapangyarihan at mas mayamang kahulugan. Ang people power ay hindi nagtatapos sa pagtanggal sa luklukan ng mga may kapangyarihan at wala ng moralidad na umupo. Ang people power ay ang pagbabago ng buong sistema sa ating lipunan at sarili.
Mga kapatid, isang dakilang biyaya ang nagaganap sa ating bansa. Huwag lamang tayong maging usisero. Wag tayong tagapagkutya lamang sa mga nangyayari. Sabi nga ng makatang si Dante Alighieri: “Ang pinakamainit na apoy sa impyerno ay nakalaan doon sa mga taong nagsawalang kibo sa panahon ng krisis ng moralidad.” Tama na, sobra na, kumilos na!
Mahal na Ina ng Laging Saklolo, ipanalangin mo kami sa aming pagsunod kay Kristo ang katotohanan at aming laging saklolo patungo sa landas ng pagbabago ng aming sarili at aming bayan.
RECLAIMING OUR HUMANITY
MASS FOR JUN LOZADA
LA SALLE GYMNASIUM, GREENHILLS
17 FEBRUARY 2008
On this Second Sunday of Lent, during which we are asked to reflect on the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ, I wish to touch on three themes that have to do with our moral transformation as a people: first, Ascertaining Credibility; second, Rediscovering our Humanity; and third, Witnessing to the Truth. In so doing, I hope to invite all of you to reflect more deeply on how we, as a nation, might respond to the present political crisis in which our identity and ethos, our convictions and integrity, in fact, who we are as a people, are at stake.
I. ASCERTAINING CREDIBILITY
Jun, as Sen. Miriam Santiago has grilled you to ascertain your credibility (or was it to undermine your credibility?), allow me to raise some important questions to consider in the very process of discerning your credibility. Allow me to do so by drawing on my own counseling experience.
Very often, a young rape victim initially suppresses his or her awful and painful story, indeed wills to forget it, in the hope that by forgetting, he or she can pretend it never happened. But very often, too, there comes a point when concealing the truth becomes unbearable, and the desperate attempts to supposedly preserve life and sanity become increasingly untenable.
At this point the victim of abuse decides to seek help. But even after having taken this step, the victim, devastated and confused, will tell his or her story with much hesitation and trepidation. It should be easy to imagine why. In telling the truth, one risks casting shame on himself or herself, subjecting oneself to intense scrutiny and skepticism, and jeopardizing one’s safety and those of his or her loved ones, especially when one dares to go up against an older or more powerful person.
Similarly, it is easy to imagine why Jun would initially refuse to challenge the might of Malacanang. Who in his or her right mind would accuse Malacanang of crimes against our people and implicate the First Family in a sordid tale of greed and corruption, knowing that by doing so, one endangers one’s life and the lives of his or her loved ones? We are, after all, living in dangerous times, where the government has not hesitated to use everything in its power to keep itself in power, where it has yet to explain and solve the numerous cases of extra-judicial killings.
But Jun is in his right mind. His story rings true especially in the face of the perils that he has had to face. And by his courage, Jun has also shown that it is not only that he is in his right mind; his heart is also in the right place.
Hence, my personal verdict: Jun, I believe that you are a credible witness. And if hundreds have gathered here this morning, it is probably because they also believe in you. Mga kapatid, naniniwala ba kayo kay Jun Lozada? Naniniwala ba kayo sa kanyang testimonya? Kung gayon, palakpakan po natin ang Probinsyanong Intsik, si Mr. Jun Lozada.
Jun, we hope that by our presence here, you may find some consolation. Pope Benedict XVI writes that “con-solatio” or consolation means “being with the other in his or her solitude, so that it ceases to be solitude.” Jun, be assured that your solitude is no longer isolation as we profess our solidarity with you. Hindi ka nag-iisa. We are committed to stay the course and to do our best to protect you and your family and the truth you have proclaimed.
II. REDISCOVERING OUR HUMANITY
What makes Jun a credible witness to us?
I think Jun is credible not simply by virtue of his being an eyewitness to the unmitigated greed of some of our public officials. Perhaps more importantly, Jun is credible because he has witnessed to us what it means to be truly human.
Which leads me to my second theme: What does it mean to be human? How might we rediscover our humanity?
Allow me to quote Pope Benedict XVI, who in his latest encyclical, Spe Salvi, has written: “the capacity to accept suffering for the sake of goodness, truth and justice is an essential criterion of humanity, because if my own well-being and safety are ultimately more important than truth and justice, then the power of the stronger prevails, then violence and untruth reign supreme. Truth and justice must stand above my comfort and physical well-being, or else my life becomes a lie... For this … we need witnesses—martyrs …. We need them if we are to prefer goodness to comfort, even in the little choices we face each day.”
Our Holy Father concludes, “the capacity to suffer for the sake of the truth is the measure of humanity.”
Isn’t this the reason we emulate our martyrs: Jose Rizal, Gomburza, Evelio Javier, Macli-ing Dulag, Cesar Climaco and Ninoy Aquino? They have borne witness for us what it means to be truly human—to be able to suffer for the sake of others and for the sake of the truth.
I remember Cory recalling a conversation she had with Ninoy while they were in exile in Boston. Cory asked Ninoy what he thought might happen to him once he set foot in Manila. Ninoy said there were three possibilities: one, that he would be rearrested and detained once more in Fort Bonifacio; two, that he would be held under house arrest; and three, that he would be assassinated.
“Then why go home?” Cory asked.
To which Ninoy answered: “Because I cannot allow myself to die a senseless death, such as being run over by a taxi cab in New York. I have to go home and convince Ferdinand Marcos to set our people free.”
Witnessing to one’s deepest convictions, notwithstanding the consequences, is the measure of our humanity. Proclaiming the truth to others, whatever the cost, is the mark of authentic humanity.
Jun, we know you have feared for your life and continue to do so. But in transcending your fears for yourself and your family, you have reclaimed your humanity. And your courage and humility, despite harassment and calumniation by government forces, embolden us to retrieve and reclaim our humanity tarnished by our cowardice and complicity with sin in the world. You have inspired us to be true to ourselves and to submit to and serve the truth that transcends all of us.
III. WITNESSING TO THE TRUTH
This leads us to our third and last theme: witnessing to the truth. In his encyclical, Pacem in Terris, Pope John XXIII exhorts that it is the fundamental duty of the government to uphold the truth: “A political society is to be considered well-ordered, beneficial and in keeping with human dignity if it grounded on truth.” Moreover, the encyclical explains that unless a society is anchored on the truth, there can be no authentic justice, charity and freedom.
Every government is therefore obliged to serve the truth if it is to truly serve the people. Its moral credibility and authority over a people is based on the extent of its defense of and submission to the truth. Insofar as a government is remiss in upholding the truth, insofar as a government actively suppresses the truth, it loses its authority vested upon it by the people.
At this juncture, allow me to raise a delicate question: At what point does an administration lose its moral authority over its constituents?
First, a clear tipping point is the surfacing of hard evidence signifying undeniable complicity of certain government officials in corruption and injustice, evidence that can be substantiated in court.
Hence, during the Marcos Regime, the manipulation of Snap Election results as attested to by the tabulators who walked out of the PICC was clear evidence of the administration’s disregard for and manipulation of the collective will of the people in order to remain in power..
During the Erap Administration, the testimony of Clarissa Ocampo, claiming that Pres. Erap had falsified Equitable Bank documents by signing as Jose Velarde, was the smoking gun that triggered the rage of our people.
Allow me to respond to the same question by pursue an alternative track of argument: an administration loses it moral authority over its people when it fails in its fundamental duty to uphold the truth, when it is constituted by an ethos of falsehood. When a pattern of negligence in investigating the truth, suppressing the truth and harassing those who proclaim the truth is reasonably established, then a government, in principle, loses its right to rule over and represent the people.
Regarding negligence: Do the unresolved cases, such as the the failed automation of the national elections, the fertilizer scam, the extra-judicial killings, and the “Hello, Garci” scandal, constitute negligence on the part of the GMA Administartion to probe and ferret out the truth?
Regarding covering-up the truth: Does the abduction of Jun Lozada and the twisting and manipulation of his narrative by Malacanang’s minions constitute concealment of the truth? Was the padlocking of the office of Asst. Gov’t Counsel Gonzales who testified before the Senate regarding the North Rail project anomaly an instance of covering-up the truth?
Regarding the suppression of the truth: Does the issuance and implementation of E.O. 464, which prevents government officals from testifying in Senate hearings without Malacanang’s permission, constitute suppression of the truth? Was the prevention of AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Senga and six other officers from testifying before the Senate with regard the “Hello, Garci” scandal tantamount to a suppression of the truth? Was disallowing Brig. Gen. Quevedo, Lt. Col Capuyan and Lt. Col. Sumayo from appearing before the Lower House an instance of hindering the truth from surfacing?
And regarding harassment of those who proclaim the truth: Are the abduction of Jun Lozada and the decision to court-marshall Gen. Gudani and Col. Balutan for disregarding Malacanang’s order not to testify before the Senate examples of punishing those who come forth to tell the truth?
By conflating one’s responses to all these questions does one arrive not at hard evidence showing culpapility on the part of some government officials, but a ghestalt, an image which nonetheless demands our assessment and judgment. I invite all of you then to consider these two methods of evaluating and judging the moral credibility of any government, the moral credibility of our present government.
Allow me to end with a few words about an Ignatian virtue, familiaritas cum Deo. To become familiar with God involves the illumination of the intellect, coming to know who God is and what God wills. But it also involves the conversion of the affect, the reconfiguration of the heart. Becoming familiar with God entails trasforming and conforming my thinking, my feeling and my doing in accordance to the Lord’s, which can only be the work of grace.
Familiarity with God thus entail rejoicing in what God delights—the truth; abhoring what God detests—falsehood; being pained by what breaks the heart of God—the persecution of truth-seekers. Familiary with God means sharing the passion of God for the truth and the pathos of God whenever the truth and the bearers of truth are overcome by the forces of the lie.
On this Second Sunday of Lent, as we contemplate the transfiguration of Jesus Christ on Mount Horeb, we pray that our hearts and minds be so transfigured and so conformed to the mind, heart and will of the Jesus, our way, our life, and our truth.
May the Lord bless and protect you, Jun, and your family. May the Lord bless and guide us all into the way of truth. Amen.
PEOPLE POWER 2008
Una sa lahat, sa ngalan po ng Redemptorist community dito sa Baclaran malugod ko kayong tinatanggap at wini-welcome sa Pambansang Dambana ng Ina ng Laging Saklolo. Tayo ngayon ay nasa harap ng banal na larawan ng ating Mahal na Ina ng Laging Saklolo. Tunay na ang ating mahal na Ina ay saksi sa mga makasaysayang pangyayari sa ating bansa.
Noong 1986, ang mga Comelec computer encoders na nagtatabulate ng boto ng snap elections ay humingi ng kanlungan dito sa dambana ng ating mahal na ina pagkatapos na sila ay nag walk out sa kanilang mga computer consoles sa PICC sapagkat ipinapagawa sa kanila ang isang bagay na di nila kayang masikmura – ang pagdaya at pagtakip sa katotohanan. Alam naman nating lahat na ang walk out na ito para sa katotohanan ang isa sa mga naging mitsa ng people power noong EDSA 1.
Ngayon tayo muli ay lumalapit sa kanyang banal na larawan sa panahong pilit na itinatago at pinagtatakpan sa atin ang katotohanan. Tayo ay nahaharap sa isang krisis ng katotohanan at moralidad sa pamamahala na nagbabadya ng panganib at kapahamakan. Subalit ito rin ang naging mitsa upang muli ang sambayanan ay magsama-sama at mapukaw sa pagkakahimbing.
Sa paglapit natin kay Maria sa gitna ng paghahanap natin ng katotohanan, si Maria sa kanyang larawan ay itinuturo tayo sa kanyang anak na si Jesus. Lagi tayong pinapa-alalahanan ni Maria na dapat tayong naka-sentro kay Kristo. Narinig natin si Jesus sa ebanghelyo: "Kung tinutupad ninyo ang aking aral, kayo nga'y tunay na mga alagad ko; v32makikilala ninyo ang katotohanan, at ang katotohanan ang magpapalaya sa inyo." Kung tayo’y nakasentro kay Kristo malalaman natin ang katotohanan. Malalaman natin ang katotohanan kung tayo lamang ay nakasentro kay Jesus. Si Jesus ang katotohanan. Si Jesus ang tunay na laging saklolo ni Maria. Samakatuwid, si Jesus ang katotohanan, ang ating walang hanggang saklolo.
Mga kapatid, tunay na maraming kasinungalingan at pagtakip sa katotohanan sa ating bansa ngayon hindi lamang sa pinakamataas pati na rin sa pinakamababa, mula sa lipunan hanggang sa personal. Isa sa pinakamalaking sakit na yata ng ating bansa ngayon ay “Truth Decay.” Malala na masyado ang truth decay kaya hindi na kaya ng pasta at root canal na lamang, kailangan nang bunutin ito.
Ang sinasabi nila: “Huwag na nating pag-usapan ang katotohanan. Mag move on na lang tayo.” Oo masakit ang katotohanan, pero kailangan natin ang katotohanan upang tayo ay umunlad. Sinasabi nila na tayo daw ay nag-iingay at nanggugulo lamang. Bakit di na lang tayo sumabay sa pag-unlad ng ekonomiya?
Ang sinasabi natin ay walang tunay na kaunlaran kung walang katotohanan. Ang ating bansa ay di makakamove-on kung nababalot ng kasinungalingan at kaplastikan. Mas mabuti pang gobyerno na may mababang pag-unlad subalit ang nakikinabang ay ang mga mahihirap, pero isang gobyernong na totoo naman keysa isang gobyerno na may mataas na pag-unlad kuno subalit ang nakikinabang naman ay ang mga makapangyarihan at mayayaman, pero isang gobyernong sinungaling naman.
Marami tayong gustong malaman na katotohanan, maliban sa nakakagimbal na NBN-ZTE deal, gusto natin malaman ang katotohanan sa likod ng extra-judicial killing – humigit kumulang 800 na ang pinaslang ng walang pangkatarungang proseso, at 100 na ang sapilitang nawawala, sa fertilizer scam, sa Hello Garci scam, sa north rail at south rail.
Ngayon tuloy lang ba tayo sa pag-unlad samantalang maraming dumi na itinatago sa ilalim ng carpet? Hindi sapat laman na malaman natin ang katotohanan. Ang katotohanan ay may kaalinsunod na pananagutan. Kailangang panagutin ang may sala at palayain ang walang sala. Hindi kalimutan na lang natin at magkasundo na tayo. Ang mahirap sa ating mga Pilipino, maikli ang ating memorya. Kay dali nating makalimot at mabagal tayong matuto.
“Makikilala ninyo ang katotohanan, at ang katotohanan ang magpapalaya sa inyo." Sa ating pagtuklas sa katotohanan, tayo ay nagiging malaya. Dahil sa katotohanan muli ang buong bansa ngayon ay nagising at nagsasama-sama at nilalanghap ang matamis na simoy ng kalayaan.
Ipinagdiriwang natin ngayon ang ika 22 taon ng people power. Marami sa atin ay nagsesentimento. Nasaan na ba ang mga pangunahing personalidad ng EDSA 1? Maraming nagsabi sa akin, Fr. Nami-miss namin si Cardinal Sin. Tanong ng iba: Bakit ang ating mga Obispo ngayon ay di mag-ala Cardinal Sin?
Si FVR at Enrile ay may kanya-kanya nang landas. Pero si Tita Cory ay nandito pa rin, hindi ka nag-iisa. At mayroon naman tayong mga bagong bayani – nandyan si Jun Lozada ang uragon kong kababayan. Jun, ngayon ikaw ang Philippine idol – lalong-lalo na sa mga nagtitiktik sayo. Si Juan de la Cruz ay nakatagpo ng kanyang kapuso at kapamilya kay Jun Lozada. Si Juan de la Cruz ay malayo sa pagiging perfecto, katulad ni Jun Lozada. Subalit si Jun Lozada ay pilit na di bumibitiw sa natitirang dangal ng kanyang gula-gulanit na kalooban at pangalan. Kaya’t hindi nakapagtataka na kay Jun Lozada si Juan de la Cruz ay nais maging bayani sa kabila ng kanyang pangkaraniwang pagkatao at maraming sablay sa daan ng kanyang paglalakbay.
Kung kaya’t, higit sa lahat ay nandyan kayo, ang taumbayan. Mayroong bayani kung titingin lamang kayo sa loob ng inyong sarili. Ang pagiging bayani sa loob ng inyong sarili ay umuugnay sa bayani na nasa loob ng inyong kapwa Pilipino. Ang pagpapalabas at pagbabahaginan ng ating pagiging bayani ay ang simula ng people power. Ang bayanihan – ito ang people power. Ang people power ay tayo. Tayo ang people power. Ang pagbabago ay tayo, tayo ang pagbabago.
Ngayon pagkatapos ng 22 taon, nasaan na tayo? Nakakalungkot isipin na kaunti ang pagbabago lalo na sa pamamaraan ng pagpapatakbo ng ating bansa. Ang mga family dynasties ang siya pa ring naghahari sa ating politika samantalang ang corruption at ganid ay malalim nang nakabaon sa ating sistema ng politika.
Kung kaya’t sabi nila di na pahihintulutan muli ng mundo ang panibagong “People Power”. Sabi naman ng iba bigo ang people power sapagkat malinaw na hindi ito nakapagdulot ng pangmatagalang pagbabago sa ating sistema political.
Patay na ba ang People Power? Noong nanawagan ang mga obispo ng isang “communal action” bilang tugon sa mga nagaganap sa ating bansa parang mabagal at mababaw ang ating pagtugon. Bagama’t mayroong nagaganap na maliliit na mga pagkilos sa iba’t ibang lugar, hindi ito katulad ng mga nakaraang pagkilos na puno ng ingay, sigla sa gitna ng pagkabalisa at diskuntento bago mag-EDSA 1 o EDSA 2.
Napagod na ba tayo sa people power? O Natuto tayo sa mga nakaraan nating kamalian?
Kung naghahanap tayo ng dating ekspresyon ng people power, wala na ito. Ang mga naglalakihang rali at demonstrasyon, ang mga slogang puno ng paghihikayat at pagsisiwalat, ang pagsasanib ng iba’t ibang sektor sa isang tukoy na panawagang pulitikal ay wala na.
Subalit huwag tayong magpalinlang na ang people power ay wala na, katulad ng nais ipaniwala sa atin ng mga may kapangyarihan. Ang pagkabalisa, pagkabigo, ang matinding pagnanais ng pagbabago, ang paghahangad ng pagkakaisa ay buhay na buhay. Datapawat, ang lahat ng ito ay naghahanap ng bagong ekspresyon ng pagpapahayag, ng bagong pamamaraan, ng bagong simbolo.
Isang aral na napulot natin sa nakaraan ay ang samasamang pagkilos o communal action ay hindi nakabatay sa malalaking personalidad at mga politiko. Gayundin naman ang mga kaparian at Obispo ay hindi taga-likha ng direksyon para sa mga tao. Sila ay moral na gabay sa mga tao at tagapagbigay sigla’t lakas sa mga laykong kasapi ng simbahan na siyang pangunahing responsable sa paghuhubog ng pulitikal at pang-ekonomiyang larangan ng ating lipunan. Ang samasamang pagkilos ay dapat talagang isang proseso ng samasamang pagninilay at pagtugon ng bawat kasapi ng komunidad.
Hindi patay ang people power. Ito ay sisibol sa tamang panahon na may malakas na kapangyarihan at mas mayamang kahulugan. Ang people power ay hindi nagtatapos sa pagtanggal sa luklukan ng mga may kapangyarihan at wala ng moralidad na umupo. Ang people power ay ang pagbabago ng buong sistema sa ating lipunan at sarili.
Mga kapatid, isang dakilang biyaya ang nagaganap sa ating bansa. Huwag lamang tayong maging usisero. Wag tayong tagapagkutya lamang sa mga nangyayari. Sabi nga ng makatang si Dante Alighieri: “Ang pinakamainit na apoy sa impyerno ay nakalaan doon sa mga taong nagsawalang kibo sa panahon ng krisis ng moralidad.” Tama na, sobra na, kumilos na!
Mahal na Ina ng Laging Saklolo, ipanalangin mo kami sa aming pagsunod kay Kristo ang katotohanan at aming laging saklolo patungo sa landas ng pagbabago ng aming sarili at aming bayan.
RECLAIMING OUR HUMANITY
MASS FOR JUN LOZADA
LA SALLE GYMNASIUM, GREENHILLS
17 FEBRUARY 2008
On this Second Sunday of Lent, during which we are asked to reflect on the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ, I wish to touch on three themes that have to do with our moral transformation as a people: first, Ascertaining Credibility; second, Rediscovering our Humanity; and third, Witnessing to the Truth. In so doing, I hope to invite all of you to reflect more deeply on how we, as a nation, might respond to the present political crisis in which our identity and ethos, our convictions and integrity, in fact, who we are as a people, are at stake.
I. ASCERTAINING CREDIBILITY
Jun, as Sen. Miriam Santiago has grilled you to ascertain your credibility (or was it to undermine your credibility?), allow me to raise some important questions to consider in the very process of discerning your credibility. Allow me to do so by drawing on my own counseling experience.
Very often, a young rape victim initially suppresses his or her awful and painful story, indeed wills to forget it, in the hope that by forgetting, he or she can pretend it never happened. But very often, too, there comes a point when concealing the truth becomes unbearable, and the desperate attempts to supposedly preserve life and sanity become increasingly untenable.
At this point the victim of abuse decides to seek help. But even after having taken this step, the victim, devastated and confused, will tell his or her story with much hesitation and trepidation. It should be easy to imagine why. In telling the truth, one risks casting shame on himself or herself, subjecting oneself to intense scrutiny and skepticism, and jeopardizing one’s safety and those of his or her loved ones, especially when one dares to go up against an older or more powerful person.
Similarly, it is easy to imagine why Jun would initially refuse to challenge the might of Malacanang. Who in his or her right mind would accuse Malacanang of crimes against our people and implicate the First Family in a sordid tale of greed and corruption, knowing that by doing so, one endangers one’s life and the lives of his or her loved ones? We are, after all, living in dangerous times, where the government has not hesitated to use everything in its power to keep itself in power, where it has yet to explain and solve the numerous cases of extra-judicial killings.
But Jun is in his right mind. His story rings true especially in the face of the perils that he has had to face. And by his courage, Jun has also shown that it is not only that he is in his right mind; his heart is also in the right place.
Hence, my personal verdict: Jun, I believe that you are a credible witness. And if hundreds have gathered here this morning, it is probably because they also believe in you. Mga kapatid, naniniwala ba kayo kay Jun Lozada? Naniniwala ba kayo sa kanyang testimonya? Kung gayon, palakpakan po natin ang Probinsyanong Intsik, si Mr. Jun Lozada.
Jun, we hope that by our presence here, you may find some consolation. Pope Benedict XVI writes that “con-solatio” or consolation means “being with the other in his or her solitude, so that it ceases to be solitude.” Jun, be assured that your solitude is no longer isolation as we profess our solidarity with you. Hindi ka nag-iisa. We are committed to stay the course and to do our best to protect you and your family and the truth you have proclaimed.
II. REDISCOVERING OUR HUMANITY
What makes Jun a credible witness to us?
I think Jun is credible not simply by virtue of his being an eyewitness to the unmitigated greed of some of our public officials. Perhaps more importantly, Jun is credible because he has witnessed to us what it means to be truly human.
Which leads me to my second theme: What does it mean to be human? How might we rediscover our humanity?
Allow me to quote Pope Benedict XVI, who in his latest encyclical, Spe Salvi, has written: “the capacity to accept suffering for the sake of goodness, truth and justice is an essential criterion of humanity, because if my own well-being and safety are ultimately more important than truth and justice, then the power of the stronger prevails, then violence and untruth reign supreme. Truth and justice must stand above my comfort and physical well-being, or else my life becomes a lie... For this … we need witnesses—martyrs …. We need them if we are to prefer goodness to comfort, even in the little choices we face each day.”
Our Holy Father concludes, “the capacity to suffer for the sake of the truth is the measure of humanity.”
Isn’t this the reason we emulate our martyrs: Jose Rizal, Gomburza, Evelio Javier, Macli-ing Dulag, Cesar Climaco and Ninoy Aquino? They have borne witness for us what it means to be truly human—to be able to suffer for the sake of others and for the sake of the truth.
I remember Cory recalling a conversation she had with Ninoy while they were in exile in Boston. Cory asked Ninoy what he thought might happen to him once he set foot in Manila. Ninoy said there were three possibilities: one, that he would be rearrested and detained once more in Fort Bonifacio; two, that he would be held under house arrest; and three, that he would be assassinated.
“Then why go home?” Cory asked.
To which Ninoy answered: “Because I cannot allow myself to die a senseless death, such as being run over by a taxi cab in New York. I have to go home and convince Ferdinand Marcos to set our people free.”
Witnessing to one’s deepest convictions, notwithstanding the consequences, is the measure of our humanity. Proclaiming the truth to others, whatever the cost, is the mark of authentic humanity.
Jun, we know you have feared for your life and continue to do so. But in transcending your fears for yourself and your family, you have reclaimed your humanity. And your courage and humility, despite harassment and calumniation by government forces, embolden us to retrieve and reclaim our humanity tarnished by our cowardice and complicity with sin in the world. You have inspired us to be true to ourselves and to submit to and serve the truth that transcends all of us.
III. WITNESSING TO THE TRUTH
This leads us to our third and last theme: witnessing to the truth. In his encyclical, Pacem in Terris, Pope John XXIII exhorts that it is the fundamental duty of the government to uphold the truth: “A political society is to be considered well-ordered, beneficial and in keeping with human dignity if it grounded on truth.” Moreover, the encyclical explains that unless a society is anchored on the truth, there can be no authentic justice, charity and freedom.
Every government is therefore obliged to serve the truth if it is to truly serve the people. Its moral credibility and authority over a people is based on the extent of its defense of and submission to the truth. Insofar as a government is remiss in upholding the truth, insofar as a government actively suppresses the truth, it loses its authority vested upon it by the people.
At this juncture, allow me to raise a delicate question: At what point does an administration lose its moral authority over its constituents?
First, a clear tipping point is the surfacing of hard evidence signifying undeniable complicity of certain government officials in corruption and injustice, evidence that can be substantiated in court.
Hence, during the Marcos Regime, the manipulation of Snap Election results as attested to by the tabulators who walked out of the PICC was clear evidence of the administration’s disregard for and manipulation of the collective will of the people in order to remain in power..
During the Erap Administration, the testimony of Clarissa Ocampo, claiming that Pres. Erap had falsified Equitable Bank documents by signing as Jose Velarde, was the smoking gun that triggered the rage of our people.
Allow me to respond to the same question by pursue an alternative track of argument: an administration loses it moral authority over its people when it fails in its fundamental duty to uphold the truth, when it is constituted by an ethos of falsehood. When a pattern of negligence in investigating the truth, suppressing the truth and harassing those who proclaim the truth is reasonably established, then a government, in principle, loses its right to rule over and represent the people.
Regarding negligence: Do the unresolved cases, such as the the failed automation of the national elections, the fertilizer scam, the extra-judicial killings, and the “Hello, Garci” scandal, constitute negligence on the part of the GMA Administartion to probe and ferret out the truth?
Regarding covering-up the truth: Does the abduction of Jun Lozada and the twisting and manipulation of his narrative by Malacanang’s minions constitute concealment of the truth? Was the padlocking of the office of Asst. Gov’t Counsel Gonzales who testified before the Senate regarding the North Rail project anomaly an instance of covering-up the truth?
Regarding the suppression of the truth: Does the issuance and implementation of E.O. 464, which prevents government officals from testifying in Senate hearings without Malacanang’s permission, constitute suppression of the truth? Was the prevention of AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Senga and six other officers from testifying before the Senate with regard the “Hello, Garci” scandal tantamount to a suppression of the truth? Was disallowing Brig. Gen. Quevedo, Lt. Col Capuyan and Lt. Col. Sumayo from appearing before the Lower House an instance of hindering the truth from surfacing?
And regarding harassment of those who proclaim the truth: Are the abduction of Jun Lozada and the decision to court-marshall Gen. Gudani and Col. Balutan for disregarding Malacanang’s order not to testify before the Senate examples of punishing those who come forth to tell the truth?
By conflating one’s responses to all these questions does one arrive not at hard evidence showing culpapility on the part of some government officials, but a ghestalt, an image which nonetheless demands our assessment and judgment. I invite all of you then to consider these two methods of evaluating and judging the moral credibility of any government, the moral credibility of our present government.
Allow me to end with a few words about an Ignatian virtue, familiaritas cum Deo. To become familiar with God involves the illumination of the intellect, coming to know who God is and what God wills. But it also involves the conversion of the affect, the reconfiguration of the heart. Becoming familiar with God entails trasforming and conforming my thinking, my feeling and my doing in accordance to the Lord’s, which can only be the work of grace.
Familiarity with God thus entail rejoicing in what God delights—the truth; abhoring what God detests—falsehood; being pained by what breaks the heart of God—the persecution of truth-seekers. Familiary with God means sharing the passion of God for the truth and the pathos of God whenever the truth and the bearers of truth are overcome by the forces of the lie.
On this Second Sunday of Lent, as we contemplate the transfiguration of Jesus Christ on Mount Horeb, we pray that our hearts and minds be so transfigured and so conformed to the mind, heart and will of the Jesus, our way, our life, and our truth.
May the Lord bless and protect you, Jun, and your family. May the Lord bless and guide us all into the way of truth. Amen.
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