Homily of Mixing Apples & Ampalaya
I agree with Fr. Dela Rosa that the present political crisis we are facing now necessarily involves all of us and that its solution likewise involves all of us. I may even agree for the sake of argument that it is "simplistic and hypocritical" to say that our national ills could be traced from the doorstep of Malacanang and the not so royal residents there.
But I could not agree and will not agree to the good Rector's position to the effect that in solving the present political crisis, the acts and omissions of GMA and her cabal could be GLOSSED over until the election of 2010, while we purged ourselves of our moral imperfections and vestiges of our past to become " voters with enlightened will" and after 26 months, elect leaders that truly represent our interest. This message of "silence" on the face of unabated corruption under GMA's regime is quite evident from the good Rector when he poses a situation in the Homily, where he said:
People may again raise this objection: "The next election is still too far ahead. We have to settle this corruption mess immediately. We have to bring to the light those who are guilty right now.
And he replied without any further elucidation:
And the Indeed, we have to do that.
But what is the Homily's prescription for the settlement of that issue on corruption? This is the whole issue in this raging mess! Wait for the election in 2010? Move On? But,where? Sounds similar to a much maligned previous battlecry from Ilog Pasig!
Fr. Dela Rosa's homily is like mixing apples and ampalaya! GMA is our short term problem and the solution the good Rector offers here is for our long term banes.
GMA has abused the prerogatives of her office and has abetted lawlessness in public service. GMA has never been forthright to the public when it comes to scandals which obnoxious odors lead to her doorstep. When people demanded transparency in her office, she met the people's clamor with a mailed fist, with fatal consequences to many social activists, press people and other legal dissenters. Every investigation, if not nipped in the bud or mired in endless delay, ended in a manner so ignominious that people concluded that the RULE OF LAW has been replaced in the realm with the RULE BY LAW. Accountability in public service becomes a farce. Dispensing justice is selective especially for those erring personalities with close relationship to that glittering but pestering hole of a place by Ilog Pasig. Graft and corruption has become a way of life in national governance. The national agencies designed to dispense justice, check corruption or fight criminality such as the DOJ, the Ombudsman, the Sandigan Bayan, or the AFP became fallen victims to the enticing propositions of inordinate promotions of the unqualified. The notoriety of Transactional Politics reduced the Lower House of the Philippine Congress into an extension of the Office of the President. If not for an independent Supreme Court, a rarity among the extant constitutional institutions in the country during these dangerous times, our Constitution and its gurantees could have been turned into a waste paper, destined only to wipe clean the most objectionable orifice of a human body rather than the hallowed repository of the people's rights,civil guarantees, patrimony and the indelible hubris of limitations and prerogatives of their elected public leaders. The list of abuses and scandals is long.
GMA must account for her mistakes NOW by facing freely a court of law. But she might not as we see from her demeanor before all of these events. It is simply against the nature of an oppressor to let go of her power unless there is that critical mass in the street. And in the event that critical mass is realized before she makes her choice, then she is deemed to have lost her option. The choice is with GMA. This is the reason why WE, the people, must not stop in our mass action for justice and truth, until she freely faces the court for her misdeeds or is forced to resign, which ever comes first. To simply MOVE ON, while GMA mulls over how to avoid her public accountability for the nth time and while we fix our selves for the election of 2010 is to abscond with our obligation to do what is right and just, not only for ourselves, but for all.
But this is not a manifestation of a people's continuing anger to GMA. It is the people's rage to the evil that GMA has wrought upon all the sacred democratic institutions in this country. It is the people's message not only to GMA but to all officials in public office, both elected or otherwise, that from NOW on the people will insure that public office is a sacred trust and those who occupy them shall be made to account for their misdeeds in office and if they refuse to answer or avoid to face their accountability before a court of law, the people shall exercise their sovereign right as the real ruler in this country. But in the exercise of that right, I do agree with the good Rector in his Homily. The people must not succumb to the temptation of being the oppressor themselves. Otherwise, it is an act of vengeance and not of justice anymore.
I know the total liberation and transformation of our people from their miserable selves is truly a monumental journey from Earth to the stars but to bring GMA to justice, all we, the Filipinos, need is to have that courage to be free.
AMDG et Philippinensis.
Fidel Umaga
MFP-NJ
Fr. Dela Rosa's homily is like mixing apples and ampalaya! GMA is our short term problem and the solution the good Rector offers here is for our long term banes.GMA has abused the prerogatives of her office and has abetted lawlessness in public service. GMA has never been forthright to the public when it comes to scandals which obnoxious odors lead to her doorstep. When people demanded transparency in her office, she met the people's clamor with a mailed fist, with fatal consequences to many social activists, press people and other legal dissenters. Every investigation, if not nipped in the bud or mired in endless delay, ended in a manner so ignominious that people concluded that the RULE OF LAW has been replaced in the realm with the RULE BY LAW. Accountability in public service becomes a farce. Dispensing justice is selective especially for those erring personalities with close relationship to that glittering but pestering hole of a place by Ilog Pasig. Graft and corruption has become a way of life in national governance. The national agencies designed to dispense justice, check corruption or fight criminality such as the DOJ, the Ombudsman, the Sandigan Bayan, or the AFP became fallen victims to the enticing propositions of inordinate promotions of the unqualified. The notoriety of Transactional Politics reduced the Lower House of the Philippine Congress into an extension of the Office of the President. If not for an independent Supreme Court, a rarity among the extant constitutional institutions in the country during these dangerous times, our Constitution and its gurantees could have been turned into a waste paper, destined only to wipe clean the most objectionable orifice of a human body rather than the hallowed repository of the people's rights,civil guarantees, patrimony and the indelible hubris of limitations and prerogatives of their elected public leaders. The list of abuses and scandals is long.
GMA must account for her mistakes NOW by facing freely a court of law. But she might not as we see from her demeanor before all of these events. It is simply against the nature of an oppressor to let go of her power unless there is that critical mass in the street. And in the event that critical mass is realized before she makes her choice, then she is deemed to have lost her option. The choice is with GMA. This is the reason why WE, the people, must not stop in our mass action for justice and truth, until she freely faces the court for her misdeeds or is forced to resign, which ever comes first. To simply MOVE ON, while GMA mulls over how to avoid her public accountability for the nth time and while we fix our selves for the election of 2010 is to abscond with our obligation to do what is right and just, not only for ourselves, but for all.
But this is not a manifestation of a people's continuing anger to GMA. It is the people's rage to the evil that GMA has wrought upon all the sacred democratic institutions in this country. It is the people's message not only to GMA but to all officials in public office, both elected or otherwise, that from NOW on the people will insure that public office is a sacred trust and those who occupy them shall be made to account for their misdeeds in office and if they refuse to answer or avoid to face their accountability before a court of law, the people shall exercise their sovereign right as the real ruler in this country. But in the exercise of that right, I do agree with the good Rector in his Homily. The people must not succumb to the temptation of being the oppressor themselves. Otherwise, it is an act of vengeance and not of justice anymore.
I know the total liberation and transformation of our people from their miserable selves is truly a monumental journey from Earth to the stars but to bring GMA to justice, all we, the Filipinos, need is to have that courage to be free.
AMDG et Philippinensis.
Fidel Umaga
MFP-NJ
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