Ex-Priests to Politics and the Catholic Vote

As far as my consciousness is concern, only the time of GMA’s regime that some of the men in cloth are courageous enough to disobey the age-old centuries Church’s law and get involved in politics. They are suspended from their ministerial service because of such act. But they are ready to give their selves in civic service for the great number of people, regardless of their beliefs.

And for the past three consecutive elections, only Among Ed won and got into the arena of politics in the first election, but later on was unseated by his opponent after election count was done and proclaimed the latter as the real winner. For the second and third elections, he never did it even running under the ticket of the present administration which represents good governance.

There are three priests, as far as I know, aspire to become public servant, i.e. Fr. Ed Panlilio on Pampanga’s gubernatorial race, Fr. Leo Casas on Masbate’s gubernatorial race, and Msgr. Cris dela Cruz on Zamboanga’s congressional race, and all of them did not make it. This is a very sad experience for the Catholic people as a whole. Where are they? I am thinking about the support of the Catholics to these fellow Catholics.

A tiny part of the congregation has grouped themselves for a cause after the devastating defeat of being passed the reproductive health bill into law by the current administration. That cause is to try to prove that there is such a thing as Catholic Vote. This is to counter the survey conducted that most of the Catholics are supporting the RH Law. Sad to say that the stalwarts of this Catholic vote did not include these ex-priests in their list of support for good governance.

In the first place, these ex-priests did not abandon their service to the people. Their service even expands from serving the Catholics to non-Catholics as well. These men of the cloth are also citizens of this country. But why this movement did not give their support? Is it because out of obedience to their teachers and their teachings of the Church? Where is the sense of common good? Even the Ang Kapatiran Party, as supported by the teachers of the Church, promotes that idea as part of their social justice ideology.

These Catholics did not live up to their identity as ‘Catholics.’ If the word catholic means universal, then they should not only deal the issue on pro-life alone. I am sure that these ex-priests also embrace the idea of pro-life and live the ministerial service for greater service such as for the common good. It is with deep regret that within the catholic congregation, they do not support each other for the common cause to fight the evils in the society.

What do we have here is a picture of division and discrimination within the catholic fold. The men in authority are throwing their all-out support to this catholic vote movement for the purpose of getting the number of lawmakers who are pro-life in the congress. And still these same people did not encourage their flock to throw their support for these ex-priests in the name of disobedience to the Church law.

Traditional People or “Tra-Ple”

Election 2013 is over for senatorial and local contests. People have spoken their will through voting, and the winners have already been proclaimed. What is the next step after the national and local events? It is time for the winners to prove their worth and to put their agenda into practice. This is the usual scenario we witness ever since we become citizens of this country.

We have a democratic and republican system of government in the Philippines. Yes, any one is entitled not only to vote but also to participate in the election by being a candidate, provided he is qualified to be one. And this is the democratic spirit where all citizens are given and treated with equal standing with the rest. But not everyone’s wish is granted.

Only few of the citizens are blest with power and authority as vested by the people according to the Constitution of 1987. One political analyst has said that there are only 14 families who rule the country. And these ‘14 families’ are being called ‘political dynasties’ where family members and relatives are holders of such positions in the government.

The rise of these families is caused by two-fold causes. The first one is their good performances. The eldest Binay in the government has vindicated that their victory in the election is based on their performances. He has two daughters in the Congress and a son as mayor of Makati. I would like to agree with him that performance is one of the indicators of peoples’ choices, just like the Dutertes of Davao City. The other cause is not stemming from the politicians’ performances. And what is this?

If there is such thing as traditional politicians, also known as ‘trapos,’ I believe that there is also other phenomenon to explain the rise of these families into power. This is now on the part of the people, who, at the same time, the source of politicians’ power. They elect their candidates not according to their performance, but according to their traditional names. In short people choose them because they are carrying and inheriting influential names. And sad to say, the winners they have chosen are poor in their performances.

Why do I say this? It is because the electors do not mind about their performances. What is important to them is to place people in positions because they feel comfortable with them for the reason that their parents or grandparents have done something great for their constituents. Through this Filipino trait called debt of gratitude, citizens perpetuate them in power despite of their poor performances.

From this perspective, I could say that the kind of leaders in power reflects the kind of the majority of the electorate. There are the traditional people or “tra-ple.” Sometimes it is only ourselves to blame when the political affairs fails. We fail to play the game fairly. If we think we are contented and satisfied with the way we think, I guess we are wrong. We are always the losers in this scenario.

As Filipino and Catholic and the RH Law

The RH Law 10354 is the approved version of the former RH Bill 4244. It is a controversial issue both for the pro-life and the Catholic Church. They consider the law as anti-life because of the promotion of contraceptives as under the artificial family planning. There are two words to bear in mind – contra as against and conception as life. Thus it is labeled as anti-life. The stand of the Catholic Church is pro-life, and it is against the teaching of hers.

As a professed Catholic, my stand is a clear no to the RH Law. And anybody who belongs to the circle of the Catholic Church must take the conservative approach by saying no to RH Law. But on the other hand, as a citizen of the country, I must look myself in the bigger picture. There are many people living in this country who are different from me. I am a Catholic and others are not Catholic, or not all Filipinos are Catholics and not all Catholics are Filipinos in this country.

Therefore, in the spirit of fairness and democracy, I think I have to consider the law. There are people who are pro-RH based on their beliefs and cultures. I must not deprive others who are for it. In this sense, there is this genuine exercise of conscience. Since I am a Catholic, I will act according to what I believe by using only the natural family planning method.

I am sure that our Catholic leaders will not give up in its advocacy to promote life and abhor that which promoting death. The RH Law is likened to the apple in the Garden of Eden. It is the duty of our religious leaders to strength the morals and faith of her followers so that they will not succumb to the temptation of using the contrary method.

Phenomenal Discrimination against Women, Married and Age-Statuses

I was lecturing on Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy when this thought came to my mind which is not about feminism. Beauvoir’s philosophy is about feminism. Feminism is a philosophic idea that would go against the mentality men-as-dominant in everything, from simple concepts to great application in life. There are two extremes of feminism – liberal and radical. The liberal feminists are already on their half-way battle (the right to suffrage and equality in salary), while the radicals are still on the genesis of their cause, like same-sex marriage and women ordination to priesthood. But there is another kind of discrimination that I describe as very terminal. It is all about against married-status and age-status.

If feminism has arisen due to patriarchal mentality where men are considered as first-class citizens and the former as second-class, this phenomenal discrimination is done in the name of production. Production is the name considered as the key to success to business people. Production is the aim for these people because the logic is this, that the more the production, the more the profit. All of them have one goal in life – it is more money.

In this kind of situation at this particular period of history, the once-upon-a-time important term ‘human’ is not anymore thought of this time. Still the term finds its place in the language of love, but all is superficial. Love for human has no more room today. Look at the classified ads or places in any establishments where you find the tag FOR HIRE, there and then you will find discrimination. It is a discrimination of a kind in terms of age-status and civil-status ‘must be single.’

What do the single have in life that they are the choices of companies today? One word would describe them, and that is they are free. Singles do not have responsibility. They own the time. And ones their employers would demand for extra time, they are always available. On the other hand, married people have responsibility towards their children and their spouses. Thus they are not all the time available. What about the young compared to the people of certain age or shall we say ‘not fresh graduates?’ The young people are vibrant, energetic and easy to trained, while the graduates after 10 years are treated as none of the above.

In this form of discrimination, the feminists’ cause is not yet resolved. If women are married and have reached a certain age of disqualification, discrimination goes on and on. The mentality of men as greater than women has expanded in scope and expounded in meaning. What would be the best resolution to the imbalance of humanity? I guess critical thinkers are finding ways to construct a new paradigm to go against the tide of divisiveness.

Laws of man dwindles the Catholic Faith

Last Monday (February 11, 2013) the whole world heard the shocking news about the resignation of the pope as leader of 1.2 billion Catholics. As a Catholic, I am saddened by the event. And after learning about the reasons of his immediate resignation, I begin to understand humanely. His Holiness’ decision opens a wide array of insights regarding the nature of power and service. And there are a lot of ideas pouring in through social media.

One of the bishops’ emeritus of the Philippines explains the highlight on why the pope declares the celebration of the faith since last year. One of them is the statistically decline of the faith of Catholics especially in Europe, which is considered as the seed of Catholicism, and other parts of the world. And I agree with his idea. And expectedly there is mass exodus of Catholics whose faith is dwindling and looking for steady faith. What is the usual cause of this phenomenon?

In one of the discussions in my class on religion, a student raised this question whether a person can still be saved without going to mass everyday because deep in that person’s heart he has that lively faith in Jesus. I asked her for the reason of the person’s not going to mass. And she said that he got discouraged to go to mass because of people in the church who are not acting as religious for which they are called for.

This is an example of which many of our religious leaders not serious with their calling. They run the church in accordance with the standard of the world. Sad to say, I have been witnessing this act of theirs ever since. Running the affairs of the church by using the standard of the world confuses their followers. What the followers are expecting is seeing these religious people doing and continuing the mission of Jesus with the laws of God as tool.

It is indeed a contradiction! There can be an inch of compatibility between the law of God and the law of man. The laws of God show the way in leading the people to righteousness. But the laws of man seem to be the best option for them in running its affairs. I agree with the opinion of another student that it is not the genuine love of God that is present in their hearts but it is the love of money. I hope and pray that the next pope of the Catholic Church will be someone who can reproach the religious leaders to do their sacred duty and enforce to study theology, not on education and other mundane disciplines, to better carry out their mission entrusted by Jesus to them.