LETTER TO INDAY SARA SUPPORTER WHO IS ALSO MY FRIEND

Hi! I would like to pick up where we left off in our brief chat recently. Looking back and summing up, we put then all our cards on the table: you’re a pro-Sara; me, a pro-Leni, and we’re both whole-hearted and solid in our respective positions. We have agreed to disagree and despite our differences in our opinions, we gave our word to each other to remain as friends.

That was a few days ago. Today, let me go on by posing this question: Don’t you know that we can find a common ground that will bring us together to agree? Intriguing? You bet it is.

Before I go into the detail of weighing up such a thought-provoking question, I recall you said that Inday Sara reminded you of Margaret Thatcher. As for me, what flashes across my mind now is her namesake in American politics – Sarah Palin.

In the 2008 US presidential election between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, the surprise choice of Sarah Palin as the latter’s VP, little-known Alaska governor and relatively unknown in US national politics, shook up the presidential race. Although Sarah’s choice was a risk, given her lack of national experience, her being a woman, a mother, and a fresh face, let alone being attractive, were potential pluses, stirring up excitement and newsworthiness to her campaign. In fact, at the height of her fame, she’s more popular than either McCain or Obama who would ultimately become the first African American to be elected to the US presidency.

Going back to my intriguing question: Don’t you know that we can find a common ground that will bring us together to agree?

“Our similarities bring us to a common ground; our differences allow us to be fascinated by each other,” wrote novelist Tom Robbins. That’s why our friendship has a very crucial role to play.

“Patriotism is the love of country. But you can’t love your country without loving your countrymen and countrywomen. We don’t always have to agree, but we must empower each other, we must find the common ground, we must build bridges across our differences to pursue the common good,” asserted Cory Booker, the first African-American US senator. My friend, what is our common ground?

Our common ground: We vote for our leaders to pursue the common good -- love of PH. So, we agree: I vote for Leni for President; you vote for Sara for VP. No conflict.

Now, here comes the detail. After I vote for Leni and hope she’ll win, my voter’s task ends. Yours just begin: after you vote for Sara and hope she’ll win; further, you dream she will become a president in 2028. For such a dream to come true, she must first jump over the following three hurdles:

Hurdle 1. She must win the 2022 VP race.

Hurdle 2. She must perform with flying colors during her VP term

Hurdle 3. She must be awarded the leadership succession presidential “baton” by her president.

Let’s look over each hurdle.

Hurdle 1. You will vote for Sara and hope she will win. If she loses, your dream ends here. Her possible loss could be due to the blend of the waning popularity of her father PRRD and a daunting challenge posed by the Eat Bulaga idol VP frontrunner Tito Sotto.

Hurdle 2. If Sara wins the VP, between President Leni and President Bongbong, who do you think would give Sara the ample opportunity to perform her VP function with flying colors? Leni said, “Whoever becomes the VP, I will give them a big role in the government because our cooperation will result for the greater good in our country.” What an amicable statement, free from grudge-bearing emotion, uttered by a VP who have been ignored and offended many times in the past by Sara’s father PRRD. On the other hand, with Sara as his running mate, Bongbong, you will hope, give her a big role as his VP in running the government.

Hurdle 3. If VP Sara performs with flying colors, between President Leni and President Bongbong, who do you think would give Sara the leadership succession presidential “baton” she deserves without hesitation? Vital factor: While Leni is running as an independent, on the other hand, Bongbong is running under the umbrella of multiple parties with a throng of vested interests. Aiming now for the 2028 presidency is a horde of younger and ambitious breed of second-generation leaders emerging from a band of dynastic political clans embedded in Bongbong’s camp.

My friend, at this point, if ever you find that Leni’s presidency offers a much better prospect for Sara’s presidential run in 2028, then, such a conclusion is not a product of a tricky analysis of Sara’s predicament, but as an insight I am sharing with you personally as your friend.

The ball is in your court. It’s your call, my friend.

QUIBOLOY'S KINGDOM AND FRACTURES IN CHRISTIANITY

 

“Imee Marcos: Sara-Bongbong Tandem ‘Marriage Made In Heaven’” (Manila Bulletin)

The headline story reported how Senator Imee R. Marcos described this possible tandem last August 26, 2021, during the ANC Headstart interview. Imee said Bongbong would be “honored” to be the vice president of President Duterte’s daughter -- Sara Duterte-Carpio.

“Everything’s possible but I supposed the most obvious thing is if the Dutertes have the Solid South, we’re assumed to have the Solid North. It’s like a ‘marriage made in heaven’,” Imee said.

However, not a Sara-Bongbong pairing turned out later, but a Bongbong-Sara tandem instead. Had this unexpected turn of events made PRRD get so piqued that he decided post-haste in launching Bong Go’s presidency -- thereby “officiating” his new brand of “marriage made in heaven” -- a Go-Sara tandem in the Palace?

An engrossing story our local pundits have been going over lately with a fine-tooth comb, such political melodrama I would not burrow into at this point. Instead, I would dig deeper into an offbeat kind of “marriage made in heaven”: PRRD-Quiboloy tandem that recently grabbed the headlines:

“Duterte’s Spiritual Adviser Quiboloy Charged with Sex Trafficking in the US” (CNN Philippines)

Apollo Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ is a Restorationist church. For his faith roots, he was a member of the United Pentecostal Church of the Philippines (UPCP) while his preacher-father was a member of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Both became UPCP preachers and leaders.

The breaking news was about the US prosecutors having filed sex trafficking charges against Quiboloy, PRRD’s spiritual adviser, for coercing underage girls and young women to have sex with him under threats of “eternal damnation.” Not only that the moral aspect of the story was scandalous, but the “mammon” details were likewise eye-popping. US authorities will seek to confiscate Quiboloy’s US following assets: Cessna Citation Sovereign $18-million jet, Bell 429 helicopter, several luxury cars and real estate holdings like a million-dollar mansion and a headquarter in California, and other properties in Las Vegas and Hawaii.

Far-reaching and disfiguring throughout the whole Christendom, the Quiboloy scandal has metastasized even into the fringes of atheistic, anti-religion, and anti-God dark recesses -- putting on public display abroad the spontaneous reactions to the news item in The Washington Post banner: “Filipino Megachurch Founder Forced Girls and Young Women into Sex Telling Them It Was ‘God’s Will’ Feds Say.”

“God’s will, huh? Quite the god he serves there, I’m guessing it’s the same one who ‘allows’ people to get Covid and die. Would be interesting to see which bible he reads.”

“Show me a non-denominational ‘church’ where this doesn’t happen. That would be news.”

“Clearly God’s primary focus is getting creepy religious leaders laid.”

“Why didn’t the FBI wait until Quiboloy returned to the US to visit before announcing charges? With Duterte as president, it’s doubtful that they’ll ever be able to extradite him.”

“Evangelicals are the same everywhere. Grifters, abusers, perverts, authoritarian frauds. Whether in the USA, the Philippines, Korea, it doesn’t matter. Users and abusers and their mindless prey.”

Truth be told, the USA had also gotten its hands dirty on such religious wickedness. Jim Bakker who hosted the Praise The Lord Club television ministry and attended a bible college affiliated with Assemblies of God was among the most influential preachers in the US in the late 80s. Hiding a dark secret behind his pastoral message, he spent over $270k to silence a former employee named Jessica Hahn who accused him of forced sex. Forcing her to bed, she testified Bakker held her down all the while repeating a twisted mantra: “By helping the shepherd, you’re helping the sheep.” Further investigations revealed he had siphoned the bulk of money donated by his followers into his bank accounts. He was jailed for defrauding his followers for $158 million.

As early as 2008, a book “The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside The Church” by Christine Wicker asserted that Evangelical Christianity in America is dying. Lately, Christianity Today in its editorial “The Splintering of the Evangelical Soul” by Timothy Dalrymple, its president, and CEO, articulated:

“New fractures are forming within the American evangelical movement, fractures that do not run along the usual regional, denominational, ethnic, or political lines. Couples, families, friends, and congregations once united in their commitment to Christ are now dividing over seemingly irreconcilable views of the world. They are not merely dividing but becoming incomprehensible to one another.

“Recently, a group of my college friends, all raised and nurtured in healthy evangelical families and congregations, reconnected online in search of understanding. One person mourned that she could no longer understand her parents or how their views of the world had so suddenly and painfully shifted. Another described friends who were demographically identical, who had once stood beside him on practically every issue, who now promoted ideas he found shocking. Still another said her church was breaking up, driven apart by mutual suspicion and misunderstanding.

“These were my people,” one said, “but now I don’t know who they are, or maybe I don’t know who I am.”

The author identified one of the root causes pertinent to our Quiboloy scandal – the rise of the celebrity pastor – a dashing profile and a talent for self-promotion can earn wealth and stardom in the Christian celebrity marketplace. He said “the consequence is disillusionment and division”: the younger generations head for the exits, the rest get entrenched in their respective ideological turfs.

No wonder, my article “Leni vs. Marcos-Duterte: A Modern David and Goliath Fight” briefly sparked a moderately heated but civil exchange of a multiplicity of opinions. Such a spontaneous little forum is a microcosm of the religious fractures in the PH national scene.

With no holds barred, the Catholic Church had its share of this transgression unveiled in an Oscar awarded film “Spotlight” about the true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese that has shaken the entire Catholic Church to its core.

In conclusion, let me share two takeaways with you:

1. Amid the disheartening state of affairs in our Christendom, the following uplifting words from a man “outside the box” Mahatma Gandhi should inspire us to keep up our faith.

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Most, if not all, of us, maybe just like the unhatched eggs who want to fly. C.S. Lewis explained:
“ ’Be perfect.’ [Jesus] meant that we must go for the full treatment. It is hard, but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder – it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”

2. “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34)

I’m not confident to say if Quiboloy, as a spiritual adviser, sowed in PRRD’s heart the seeds of the unsavory words and expletives coming out of his mouth that we have reaped in six years. But, I’m confident to say that, amid the raging spiritual battle, our next president must have an authentic spiritually matured Christian adviser.

PH UPHILL CLIMB: LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

 

"Duterte Supporters Likely To Fall For Fake News – Study" (The Manila Times)

Voices, Opinion, Investigation, and Siyensa for the Philippines (VOICE Philippines) conducted the study of 7,744 students from various colleges and universities. Based on the results of the first round of survey from May 17 to June 24, 2021, BOSES convenor, Dr. Imelda Deinla said:

"The survey demonstrates that respondents who support the administration of Duterte are more likely to believe in fake news and not believe in real news. On the other hand, survey respondents who are supporters of the opposition are more capable of determining whether a material is a fake or a piece of real news."

The results of the second round of the survey conducted among 24,624 students from August 23 to September 24 showed that "higher trust in Facebook as a source of information is correlated with lower accuracy in identifying real and fake news." Moreover, the survey reported that those with high trust in mainstream media as a source of information are more likely to be able to identify whether material is real or fake news.

The bannered conclusion from the results of the two-round surveys is an EFFECT that begs the question: what is the CAUSE? Only when we "take away the cause will the effect ceases," asserted Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It may be tough to take away the cause, but for us to find and name the cause straight away is good enough for the moment.

Let me present three sources where we can root out pieces of information that may reveal something for us to find the cause.

A LIE REPEATED MANY TIMES BECOMES THE TRUTH

The first source is the book "Like War: The Weaponization of Social Media" by P.W.Singer and E.T. Brooking (Defense experts) with the following prologue:

"Online news, true or false, is sustained by the number of people who "like" it. Each successive "like" contributes to an algorithm that generates similar content, guaranteeing an infinite echo chamber... Yale University study found that people are more likely to believe a headline if they have seen a similar one before. 'It didn't even matter if the story was preceded by a warning that it might be fake." The authors write, 'What counted most was FAMILIARITY. The more often you hear a claim, the less likely you are to assess it critically.'"

PHILIPPINES: IDEAL TARGET FOR VOTERS' MANIPULATION

The second source is Christopher Wylie, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower who said:

"[T]he Philipines is one of those countries where you've got a lot of people online and a lot of people using social media. So when you've got that kind of set-up, it's an ideal target.

"[W]hen [Cambridge Analytica] was looking to experiment with techniques, experiment with ways of... whether it's manipulating voter opinion or disseminating propaganda, what have you... countries in the global south where you don't necessarily have a fair and balanced media setup, where corruption is rife (endemic), it creates an ideal petri dish type situation where you can experiment on tactics and techniques... if it doesn't work, it doesn't matter, you won't get caught. If it does work, then you can then figure out how to port that into other countries."

YEARS OF VOTERS' MANIPULATION

The third source is Brittany Kaiser, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower who said:

"When I joined Cambridge Analytica in 2014 we had already worked in the Philippines. There was a national campaign where my former company had gone in and undertaken national research to figure out what was the type of persona that would resonate best with voters...
"We had a request straight from Bongbong Marcos to do a family rebranding. This was brought in through internal staff at Cambridge Analytica and was debated. Some people didn't want to touch it and there were others like our CEO Alexander Nix that saw it as a massive financial opportunity and asked us to write the proposal anyway. So, as you call it historical revisionism."

PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS ON VOTERS

World Bank lauds Duterte for PH’s strong economy during the pandemic. Sara Duterte wants to lock up Trillanes in a mental hospital. Video of De Lima’s “admitting” she’s a drug lord coddler. Marcos was a guerilla leader during World War II. ABS-CBN operations “Illegal” for the past 25 years.

Fact-check: All of the above are false.

For Duterte supporters on social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube facts don't matter: Fake news above has been repeated many times giving them more credibility and allowing them to spread further. "Illusory truth effect" is the term for such phenomenon – a glitch in the mind that equates repetition with truth.

BOSES survey results also showed that a similar phenomenon could be observed among Trump's Republican supporters in the US.

Just as we have this "illusory truth effect" among Duterte supporters, so too, the US has its "Fox News effect" among Trump supporters. Forbes' reported a Fairleigh Dickenson University survey that Fox News viewers were less informed about current events than people who didn't follow the news at all. It conjures up the image of Fox News as a black hole that sucks facts out of viewers' heads.

Fake news are like conspiracy theories. I've picked out twin pertinent reasons Psychology Today put forward on why people have believed in fake news: The need to feel safe and the need to belong. I discussed the "Fear" factor in my past "Leni vs Marcos-Duterte: A Modern David And Goliath Fight." The greater the fear, the greater the need for safety, the greater the propensity to fall for "illusory truth effect," to fall for fake news while stuck in the bottom stages of Maslow's hierarchy of needs model. The need to belong, by those stuck at Maslow's third stage, as one reason to fall for fake news is amplified by the in-group bias (Us vs. Them, Dutertards vs. Yellowtards) worsen by the Facebook algorithm that promotes hateful engagements.

QUO VADIS?

We know full well "where we are" as a nation by the political cacophonies we come up against daily in both the mainstream and the social media. Where are we going? A Shining City On A Hill: it is a good choice as an answer for it is Biblical.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16)

OUR JOURNEY: AN UPHILL CLIMB

Talking about a hill, as a movie buff, what has flashed across my mind was the old war movie "Hamburger Hill," a brutal brief odyssey of a single platoon taking a hill from the enemy. But it's a harsh metaphor. I prefer the vintage "crabs in a bucket" metaphor. You may have guessed my drift incorrectly. It's not "crab mentality." It's "crab mentality in reverse." UP Professor Felipe Jocano, an anthropologist, explained:

"Poor crabs... if you look at carefully the crabs in a bucket, they all want to go up: the crabs below seem to say to crabs above, 'if you climb up, then take us with you.' The problem, Professor Jocano said, there are much more crabs pulling down other crabs than the crabs climbing up."

In other words: Leave no one behind.

This must be the vision of our next President.

THREE CONVERGING OPPORTUNITIES TO TRANSFORM PH IN 2022 ELECTION

 

Your Leni vote can work miracles in three ways:

1. EXORCISE THE MARCOS GHOST

“I will not sleep there [Malacanang Palace]. All the ghosts that passed the Philippines are all there. They are walking... They’re still there and sometimes they’ll hold a conference, we’ll let them.” (PRRD)

Not to the kind of “ghosts” that PRRD narrated above, I refer rather to the “shadow” of former President Ferdinand Marcos who was in power for 21 years between 1965 and 1986. Barron’s rough list of decay the Marcos regime left behind is a good public service effort to educate young voters largely unaware of how Marcos destroyed their nation: the 1970s brutal Martial Law, military tribunals, political rival disappearance, economic devastation, decimated industries, the Swiss bank accounts, Imelda’s 1,200 pairs of shoes and diamond tiaras, the assaults on press freedom, election fraud, the palatial estates in America, the collection of Michaelangelos, Rembrandts, and Van Goghs, among others.

Enacted in 1987 to prevent the repeat of Marcos’ dictatorship, the current constitution allows for only one presidential term of six years. But, the Marcoses through Bongbong is now haunting the whole nation by creeping up on the door of the presidency with a Duterte daughter Sara propping up the advance by thumbing her nose at the kernel of election substitution rules.

Even the columnist Antonio Contreras of pro-Duterte The Manila Times has qualms about Bongbong Marcos:

“I see Marcos as merely continuing most of the policies of the Duterte administration, and I would have wanted him to define more his differences from a regime I have learned to dislike over the years, after briefly supporting it at the beginning. I also honestly believe that he should apologize for the things that happened during his father’s term. I have a problem with his seeming inability to admit a mistake, even obvious ones… [Marcos] is doubling down by stating that he has always been ‘forthright on his conferment of a special diploma in social studies by the distinguished university and has never misrepresented his Oxford education. ‘Never’ is such a strong denial, when he posted that he got a BA in philosophy, political science, and economics in his Senate profile. The fact that he later changed it to a special diploma in social studies is a tacit recognition of the misrepresentation. I also have problems with his failure to file his income tax returns, for which he was convicted.”

2. REJECT THE DUTERTES FOR THEIR PH MOCKERY

Q: What is the most crucial part of a basketball game?

A: Last two minutes.

Piece of cake.

Q. What is the most crucial part of a party?

A. Last two minutes.

Example.

It’s usually at the end of a party, during the take-care-stay-safe-so-long parting time when one or two guests would “seize the moment” and would say to the host: “Would you mind if… from one,” or “I have something to tell you…” from an intimate. And the personal sharing may last until the wee hours of the morning.

Q. What is the most crucial part of leadership?

A. Last two minutes.

A mind-boggler, let me explain.

“Whatever you want to call it, the US still can’t find four men who can pass the baton to one another while running as fast as they can. For the fourth straight Olympics, US men failed to win a medal in an event they once owned. The favored Americans finished sixth in their 4 x 100-meter relay heat and didn’t qualify for the final largely because Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker botched the baton pass between the relay’s second and third leg.” (Yahoo News)

The last two minutes in Leadership is defined by the words of the former world No.1 tennis player Billie Jean King who said, “Create your legacy and pass the baton” – a profound metaphor for legacy-making and leadership succession. John C. Maxwell in his book “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” stressed, “A legacy is created only when a person puts his organization into the position to do great things WITHOUT HIM” (Underscoring mine). As to the leadership succession, although passing the baton makes or breaks the races that take just a blink of an eye, it is the HEART of the passer that really matters in the fullness of time.

Carl Lewis called the botched US baton-passing of the US Olympic team “a total embarrassment.” Trayvon Brommel, the first US junior to break the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters with a time of 9.97 seconds said of such botched baton passing: “BS.”

Q. What are our local pundits say about PRRD leadership’s last two minutes on legacy-making and baton-passing act?

A. Circus, Mockery, Frankenstein, Sarazwela, Musical chairs, Pretense, Drama, among others.

3. RESTORE PH MORAL STANDING ON WORLD STAGE

This is an uphill climb for all of us Pinoys.

Let’s read the Time cover when PRRD was elected in 2016 flashed all over the world with the banner: “Why Did the Philippines Just Elect a Guy Who Jokes About Rape as Its President?”

“[Millions] of voters in the Philippines went to the polls to vote for their next President. The apparent winner, with nearly two-fifths of the vote: Rodrigo Duterte, the 71-year-old populist mayor who gained international attention with a string of gleeful gaffes. John Oliver described him as the ‘Trump of the East,’ but Duterte makes Trump sound like a Sunday school teacher: in November he called Pope Francis ‘a son of a whore’; last month, he expressed disappointment at the fact that he did not get to participate in the 1989 gang rape of a ‘beautiful’ Australian missionary.” Let alone he called Obama “black son of a bitch.”

Today, Bongbong leads the presidential survey (if correct), with Sara Duterte as his vice-president propping up his advance. It is chilling to imagine a Time magazine with the following future headline:

“Why Did the Philippines Just Elect a Son of a Dictator That Plundered Their Nation?

Surreal. Appalling.

LENI VS. MARCOS-DUTERTE: A MODERN DAVID AND GOLIATH FIGHT

 

Goliath moved forward, closing in on David, his shield-bearer in front of him. When he saw that David was only a lad (he was of fresh complexion and handsome), Goliath despised him and said, "Am I a dog that you should approach me with a stick?" and cursing David.

The above is a teaser scene from the movie "David and Goliath" based on the story in the Bible (1 Samuel 17).

David and Goliath – most of us know this Bible story: a shepherd boy vs. a giant. In PH 2022 presidential election, David is Leni, while Goliath is Marcos-Duterte – a two-headed political war machine.

The parallelism of the Bible story and the present political context fits like a glove based on the following elements with the respective scriptures:

1. MAMMON

"He was from Gath [home to the 'Anakites,' an ancient race of fearsome giants] and was about three meters tall." (1 Samuel 17:4)

The Marcos-Duterte tandem is a fearsome two-headed giant Goliath with a four-legged political dynastic machine that spells out tons of Mammon – wealth regarded as an evil influence or false object of worship and devotion.

PDI columnist Artemio Panganiban chimed in with his choice of the word "juggernaut" -- a huge, powerful, and overwhelming force – literally a combined wealth of Marcos' billions of pesos of loot and Duterte's campaign kitty pledge to his party: "I bring a lot of money. Sack if there is." 

Solita Monsod sounded the alarm of such unnerving four-legged political dynastic machine in her PDI column "Fight, As Never Before, For Our Country":

"Let us think about the fate of the Philippines with the four dynasties [Marcos, Romualdez, Arroyo, and Duterte] in control. Remember the background of these dynasties – a desire to stay in power, no matter what cost to the country. All of them, at one time or another, played with martial law. One could say it is in their DNA. Two of them have drug connections (at the very least as users), two have played footsie with China. And don't forget the corruption. RIP Philippines."

2. FEAR

"Saul and his men were afraid and greatly terrified... When the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him terrified..." (1 Samuel 17:11, 24)

Maria Ressa interviewed PRRD unveiling one thing that the Bible story and today's political situation have in common: Fear.

Maria Ressa (MR): "Violence and you say this you know violence is okay. Is it necessary to lead?"

PRRD: "Violence is my strength... there is a need because there's a war, and with that kind of problem in my hands now, I tell you Maria... until the last dragon is killed, this campaign will continue to the very last day of my term."

MR: "Is it important that people be afraid of you?"

PRRD: "Fear."

MR: "But, Mr. President, as president you will now also defend the constitution."

PRRD: "Yes."

MR. "And so this is the contradiction from my last interview. You break the law, you threatened to break the law you said you had killed a year ago right. You told me that and yet you now have the task of keeping the rule of law and you said you would do that also. How do you...?"

PRRD: "Because of the rule of law, there must be fear."

I discussed such "fear" implication in my previous article "Looking at PH Political Landscape with Management Analytical Eyeglasses." PRRD's anti-drug campaign found a need, filled it, but then sadly, exploited it – a round peg in a round hole of the "safety" need of most Pinoys stuck in the twin bottom tiers (physiological and safety) of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Model.

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary." (H.L. Mencken)

"Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." (George Orwell)

3. GOD

"I come against you [Goliath] with Yahweh, the God of armies of Israel who you have defiled." (1 Samuel 17:45)

"Who is this stupid God?"

"Pope, you SOB, go home."

Those PRRD's public statements have drawn a line in the sand that lays down the truth: God is on Leni's side.

WISDOM TO LENI'S ISRAELITES ARMY

"[Goliath's] armor was made of bronze [incompetence], his helmet [corruption] and coat [power abuse] weighed sixty kilos. He had bronze greaves [Marcos loot] strapped on his legs and a bronze spear [EJK] slung between his shoulders. (1 Samuel 17:4-6).

Goliath was too big, too heavy, and too clumsy to be missed by David.

TO CONCERNED PINOY

"Putting his hand into his bag, [David] took out a stone, slung it and struck [Goliath] on the forehead; it penetrated his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground." (1 Samuel 17:49)

The one STONE of David that will defeat Goliath -- YOUR VOTE FOR LENI.

HONESTY MAKES US VULNERABLE. LET US BE HONEST ANYWAY

 

A fellow went into a fried chicken restaurant to get some chicken for himself and his female companion. She waited in the car while he went in to pick up the chicken. Instead of handing the box of chicken, the store manager gave the guy the box where he had placed for camouflage the day’s earnings for deposit.

The fellow took the box, went back to the car, and drove away. When they got to the park and opened the box, they discovered they had a box full of money. Now that was a very vulnerable moment for anyone. But, finding the mistake, he got back in his car and went back to the place and returned the money to the manager. The manager was elated. He told the fellow:

“Stick around, I want to call the newspaper and have your picture taken. You’re the most honest guy in town”

“Oh, no, don’t do that!”

“Why not?”

“Well, you see, I’m married, and the woman I’m with is not my wife.”

The anecdote above was taken from the book “Charles Swindoll’s Favorite Stories and Illustrations.” Skin-deep, I picked out this story because it’s not only amusing but also real. It could happen to anyone. In-depth, I picked it out because it illustrates the paradox of good and bad inherent in human nature.

Dr. M. Scott Peck in his book “Road Less Traveled and Beyond” wrote:

“Whenever someone is bold enough to ask me, ‘Dr. Peck, what is human nature?’ my first answer is likely to be ‘Human nature is to go to the bathroom in your pants.’”

Tongue-in-cheek as it may seem, his description tells of “the way each of us started: doing what came naturally, letting go whenever we felt like it.” Of course, he referred to our childhood. Out of curiosity, I asked my wife about her dealings on this “human nature” with our kids.

WIFE

Our daughter Dionne, just like any child, let it go anytime, anyplace, and anywhere. As one popular sports shoe advertised years ago, “It’s everywhere.” When she’s one-year-old, I bought a potty trainer and put it in one corner. Every time I sense she’s going to pee or poo, I let her sit on her plastic potty trainer. Sometimes she peed or pooed; oftentimes, she didn’t.

As a working mom, when at home, I was bodily attached to her almost all the time. Going to the toilet myself, I would sit her on my lap, projecting a funny picture of both of us sitting on the toilet bowl. It took a lot of patience. In the middle of the night when I needed to use the toilet, I took her with me and let her sit on the bowl, and made a swooshing sound with my mouth. Most of the time, it worked.

When she’s three, our bedroom was set free from wet blankets. One day, we’re delighted to see she had gone to the toilet to poo after which I cleaned her with soap and water. Soon after, her bulky diaper, she didn’t like to wear anymore; and she started to like wearing a panty.

One time, we’re having a Christmas party in our office when, out of the blue, right after dinner, she told me she wanted to go to the toilet. I was worried a bit -- first time to come up outside our home. I heaved a sigh of relief when she carried it through. After she pooed, I wiped her with bathroom tissue paper. All of a sudden, she said to me, “It’s still dirty, Mom, I want soap and water.” Then and there, I knew my daughter Dionne had outgrown her natal stage of the “human nature.”

At this point, one may ask, what am I driving at? “Inday Sara” Duterte-Carpio appears to be running for presidency or vice-presidency in the coming election. In my previous article, I propounded the need for a role model leader to lead us to where we must go. A leader whose quality is defined by the set of principles and values he or she believes. I take issue with what “Inday Sara” said about Honesty:

“I tell them all, that there is no single candidate who does not lie, so honesty should not be an issue now.”

The backlash of such statement in defending Imee Marcos and Bong Go pressed her down in justifying her statement by rubbing salt to the wound, and further said:

“[W]hat the law requires for a senator, ‘able to read and write, natural-born citizen.’ Does it say the person should have good moral character? Does it say that the person has to be honest?”

Vera Files fact-checked and asserted primarily Republic Act 6713, specifically Section 4 as excerpted below:

“[Public officials] shall at all times respect the rights of others, and shall refrain from doing acts contrary to laws, GOOD MORALS (underscoring mine), good customs, public policy, public order, public safety, and public interest.”

Let’s go much deeper by looking again into what Inday Sara said: “I tell them all, that there is no single candidate who does not lie, so honesty should not be an issue now.”

“I tell them all that there is no single candidate who does not lie.” Correct. We are all born liars – that’s human nature.

“So, honesty should not be an issue now.” Wrong. We can alter our human nature – if we choose to do so – to be honest, to do good. The fellow who returned the chicken box full of money chose to be honest despite being unfaithful to his wife. My daughter Dionne who let it go properly in the toilet chose to change – to do good -- because her Mom whom she loves said so.

Let’s go radical by dwelling on Mother Teresa’s words:

“If you do good, people will accuse you of ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

Honesty makes you vulnerable. Be honest anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.”

Finally, let’s go spiritual by thinking about a leader with core values based on the Bible.

A leader with strong values built his/her house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. A leader with weak values built his/her house on sand. The rain came down, the stream rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

Spiritually speaking, Inday Sara, with her myopic view on honesty, has built her house on sand.

PINOYS' HOPE FOR 2022: A NEW CHAPTER OF SANE, COMPETENT, AND DECENT GOVERNANCE

“People are already tired.” (Vice- President Leni Robredo on the drop in PRRD’s satisfaction rating)

“[W]e have had almost two years of regress. The September 2021 SWS national survey found 57 percent saying they had gotten worse off in the previous year, versus only 13 percent saying they had gotten better off.” (Mahar Mangahas in his PDI column “Two Years of Worsening”)

Pinoys’ hope for 2022 is both simple and complex. Simple because it is obvious and common – Pinoys have had enough and tired.  It is complex because it will take a tough transformation of the nation.

CALL FOR SANITY

Coming under pressure from the UN for a probe and ICC’s announcement to investigate the drug war, PRRD administration thru DOJ released the details of 52 (among 6K plus) drug war deaths – a rare admission that abuses might have taken place. Some victims had no traces of gunpowder on their hands, nor had a gun at all – debunking the usual police excuse of “they fought back.” Police also used excessive force and shot suspects at a close range, among others.

In retrospect, the one tragedy that shocked and enraged the nation was the death of a 17-year-old high school student named Kian Delos Santos.

“Please… I have a test tomorrow,” Kian’s last words as he pleaded before he was killed. Around the country at that time, every mother could not help imagining: “He could have been my own kid.” And for Kian’s family, passing his next day’s test would have meant a lot of things: a step closer to his dream of no longer using a cooking oil when giving a massage to his father, of his mother’s giving up her overseas work as a domestic helper, of having a bed for each of his siblings, of expanding their sari-sari store to support his family. And, ironically, passing his next day’s test would have meant a step closer to his dream of becoming a policeman.

“Bato de la Rosa vows Oplan Tokhang 2 if elected president.” (Headline)

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” (Quote notably attributed to Albert Einstein)

The global impact of PRRD’s bloody drug war has been so grave and glaring that the three major prestigious international awards had rooted in such drug war their citations on the dangerous and relentless investigative reporting carried out by the fearless award recipients that exposed the brutal killing campaign.

·                        2021 Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa

        2018 Pulitzer Prize to Reuters

        2018 Time Person of the Year to Maria Ressa

NEED FOR COMPETENCE

Pharmally scandal simplified in my article “We Must Choose A Leader To Lead Us To Where We Must Go,” was like my house repair and my incompetent hiring of my buyer of the construction materials I needed.

Malampaya scandal, on the other hand, is like a profitable gasoline station I owned. Money-wise, it’s 17 times bigger than Pharmally scandal. Outright, I sold my gasoline station to somebody without even taking into account that someone more qualified could offer a better deal. In fact, I could have offered the gasoline station to my son who could operate it profitably.

Incompetence characterizes the decision-making process of both scandals. If we inject a “midnight deal” factor, then both situations will be stamped as corruption. Big time.

In the Philippine Patriotic Oath, the first and the last three lines are as follows:

I love the Philippines…

I will perform the duties of a patriotic, law-abiding citizen;

I will serve my country unselfishly and faithfully

I will be a true Filipino in thought, in word, in deed.

While both scandals have exemplified “incompetence in deed,” once in a while, “incompetence in thought or to think” also has turned up as shown below:

“Wow, how can you say there’s the chilling effect? Were GMA and TV5 also shut down? No. ABS-CBN is the only one that was not granted a franchise by Congress because of some issues.” (Senator Ronald de la Rosa)

Wow. Haven’t the senator heard this old Chinese idiom: kill the chicken to scare the monkey?

SENSE OF DECENCY

On the eve of the 2016 US presidential election, CNN political commentator Van Jones put the pain of Donald Trump’s election into soul-stirring words.

“It’s hard to be a parent tonight for a lot of us. You tell your kids, ‘Don’t be a bully.’ You tell your kids, ‘Don’t be a bigot.’ …Then you have this outcome, and you have people putting children to bed tonight and they’re afraid of breakfast. They’re afraid of, “’How do I explain this to my children?’”

Looking back in PH, close to six years ago, perhaps we also reflected on the same dilemma. We always have told our kids. “Don’t say bad words. Don’t insult others.” Then we had that outcome: PRRD’s election, and, maybe, as we put our children to bed that night, we’re confused: “How do I explain this to my children?”

So, for the next six years after that, in front of our TVs, we remember each time the usual expletives burst out of PRRD’s mouth, we adults in the room just look at each other, shake our heads, and hope our kids are not around.

The famous quote from “The Little Prince” is profound: “It is only in the heart that one can see rightly.”

But what is in the heart of a person? The Bible tells us how to know what is in his heart.

“His mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.” (Luke 6:45)

 Most Americans heaved a sigh of relief after they went past what Van Jones called the “nightmare.” I hope and pray we’ll go past the same in the coming May 2022 election with a new leader who will lead us in opening our Pinoy storybook with a new chapter of sane, competent, and decent governance.