The Light to Dream and Sacrifice, for the Dream to Come True

By: Fr. Robert Reyes

My parents came towards lunch time. They were jubilant and full of optimism. They were aglow with the many happy turns of the morning at the Makati Regional Trial Court. Thank God, my parents are allowed to exercise the right to visit their son. Human rights still exist. I have not been totally isolated from the rest of society because of my contact with visitors from the church, lawyers and family and a few friends. Yet, a good number of friends have not been allowed to enter the custodial center. They were told “Only immediate family, parents, siblings, wife and children.” I have often complained that my status is peculiar- as a priest, I have no wife or children, even my relative, my own siblings have already migrated, my sisters in the States, my youngest brother in Canada. How many friends has been turned away leaving some “pasalubong” with a note of encouragement to cheer me up. I am more than cheered. I know how so many would visit if it were not too difficult, if the idea of the “custodial center in camp Crame were not that fearful and threatening”.

On the 11th Day of detention, Human Rights Day. I assert and affirm the right to a meaningful and fruitful life. I have affirmed this right in the past years through my constant and consistent appeal for a society of truth and decency, justice and equality, freedom and idealism.

In the last eleven days, I have spent my life with those who dream of a new Philippines rid of those who spread the darkness of greed and deception; a new Philippines breathing the air of genuine peace without the phantoms of arms, and foreign intervention; a new Philippines whose leaders are guided by conscience and a spirituality that recognizes and rejects the demons of compromise, corruptions and cronyism.

To you our relatives, friends and fellow dreamers, we offer our little sacrifice in detention. We offer you our perseverance, patience, good humor and most of all our undying optimism and hope.
One day, we shall all see and celebrate the Light…

Fr. Robert Reyes
December 10, 2007
International Human Rights Day
PNP Custodial Center, Camp Crame

May PAG-ASA pa!!!

Sa likod ng lugmok na moralidad ng bayan, hindi sumusuko ang KUBOL PAG-ASA sa matayog na pangarap na magkakaroon pa rin ng kalutasan ang mga problemang kinakaharap ng bayan. Ngunit hindi marahas na pamamaraan ang sinasaligan nito kundi mataimtim na panalangin at sakripisyo ng pag-aayuno.

Adhikain ng KUBOL PAG-SA na magkaroon ng liwanag ang mga nasa dilim, makamtam ang hustisya ng mga pinagkaitan nito, mapairal ang kapayapaan, masugpo ang karahasan at muling buhayin ang katapatan, at katwiran.Panalangin at pag-aayuno ang tanging sandata ng KUBOL PAG-ASA.

Panalangin at pag-aayuno na impluwensiya ni Fr. ROBERTO P. REYES.

Bilang alagad ng simbahan at kinatawan ni Hesus, pananagutan ni Fr. Robert na ipagtanggol ang mga naaapi, ituwid ang landas ng mga nalilihis, tulungan ang mga kapos sa buhay, pakinggan ang mga nagdadalamhati, isiwalat ang mga kasinungalingan, tumindig sa katwiran. Lahat ng ito para sa pagpupuri sa Diyos at pagmamahal sa bayan.

Sa ganito, matuwid kayang parusahan siya ng pagkakulong? Hindi kaya nararapat na hayaan pa nga siyang mangaral ng katwiran para sa kapayapaan? Hindi kaya higit kailanman ngayon siya nararapat na suportahan ng simbahan, ipagtanggol at kalingain?

Kailan naging kasalanan ang magmahal sa bayan?
Kailan naging kasalanan ang adhikain ang kapayapaan?
Kasalanan bang hanapin ang katwiran?
Kasalanan bang mangarap at magsakripisyo para sa pagbabago?

Naninindigan ang KUBOL PAG-ASA na dapat nang palayain si Fr. Robert.
Naninindigan ang KUBOL PAG-ASA na dapat kalingain ng simbahan si Fr. Robert.
Naninindigan ang KUBOL PAG-ASA na patuloy na mananalangin at mag-aayuno para sa bayan, para sa Diyos.

THE RIGHT TO STAND FOR ONE’S PRINCIPLES

THE RIGHT AND THE GIFT TO LOVE GOD AND COUNTRY
Fr. Robert Reyes

Today is our eleventh day of praying, sharing and dreaming on with junior officers and civilians. We have discovered our common passions and love, to work and make sacrifices for land and people. The last eleven days are both joyful and sad. It is sad to sit in a concrete cell with iron grills and iron gates regularly locked and unlocked to ensure that we stay detained, our freedom limited, our movement monitored.

However, our joy knows no limits. We do sit sad having lost our basic freedom, but we also feel the deep joy of being given the chance to show and express our love and devotion to the Mother land.

Today, our motto in GOMBURZA makes more sense, “Kristiyano ako kaya Makabayan!” In my cell, I encounter Jesus also detained, monitored and unjustly accused. To suffer detention, persecution is a privilege and challenge to intensify our faith and deeper our resolve to serve and give more of ourselves to

God, Country and People, most specially the poor and Marginalized.

Statement of Fr. Robert Reyes

Is it a crime to love one's country?

Is it a crime to work for peace?

Is it a crime to thirst for justice?

Is it wrong to dream and sacrifice for change?

I will not eat for all those who are afraid, reluctant and uncertain

I will fast for the light, the peace, the liberation which so many

feel and desire in the depths of their souls.

Do not fear. God is with us.

God will triumph over evil.

The Distant Church

Francisco Alcuaz

21 November 2007

Views Expressed by Francisco Alcuaz at meeting attended by different concerned and civil society groups and Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, Arch. Oscar Cruz , and Bishop Deogracias Iniquez

We are seriously concerned of the lack of activism of church leaders in relation to the moral bankruptcy - corruption, cheating and lying - of government officials. Priests have not reminded its members in their sermons that it is the duty of the faithful to be active in trying to stop corruption and to demand a higher level of good governance. The priests have not even done much to read in church or to distribute the pastoral letter of the CBCP demanding TRUTH and GOOD GOVERNANCE.

One of the greatest stumbling blocks to having an intelligent and free electorate to ensure the election of good leaders is the widespread poverty in our country. People in this situation can be easily bought and dictated upon by corrupt government officials and politicians. Poverty prevents them from mobilizing themselves spontaneously to show their indignation since they lack the necessary logistics.

Poverty has, therefore, to be drastically reduced for the Filipinos to resolve our recurring leadership problems. Some say that there are limitless hectares of farm area but they forget to factor in that there are not enough funds to irrigate and develop these with widespread and gargantuan scale of corruption in our government. We are left, therefore, with the substantial slowing down of our population growth as a practical approach.

But the priests have not been brave enough to use the pulpit and other means at their disposal to instill in its members specially those in the provinces the need to be rational and plan their family properly. They should strongly instill in its members conscience that bringing into this world children who they are unable to support and who will then end up as prostitutes in Malaysia and or Singapore and as exploited domestic help in other countries is wrong and even possibly sinful. They can even preach within the limits of natural family planning but they should contribute.

Evil at the highest level of government has spread out into all levels. In Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio, the crusading priest on leave, won against a jueteng lord known to be close to Malacañang and an ex- actor who appears to have pocketed hundreds of millions of pesos of quarrying fees.

In the first months of his term he already collected for the province more than his predecessors. ex- actor Lito Lapid or his son, collected in a year. This will be distributed to the province, municipalities and barangays for their projects. Good for the entire province.

But can you believe that all the mayors and provincial board members have ganged up on him to pass ordinances removing from the provincial government the authority of collecting these fees. Are they not happy that the provinces resources have multiplied, that hundreds of millions a year that was not being collected officially are now collected. No, they are not, and the only logical reason is that these officials from governor down to mayor were feasting themselves on funds which should have benefited all. Now their pockets are empty and they are crying blood. These Pampanga provincial board members and mayors display such callous behavior since they have no one else but the top official in Malacañang as their idol and example to follow.

It appears that many priest are concerned more with the superfluous” gold lacing” of churches which is not essential to the faithful. This is a throwback to the past with intricate and luxurious European churches now serving more as tourist sites than for prayer and worship.

Comments:
Advocates against family planning claim that countries which have adapted stringent family planning programs are now suffering from a lack of manpower and are having therefore to import workers. Imagine, what situation the Philippines would be in if these countries did not end up with a worker shortage. We would probably have most of these 8 million overseas Filipinos, unemployed here in the Philippines and the government not able to pretend that the economy is booming. Almost 20% of our gross national product is contributed by remittances from Filipinos abroad.

“Regalo sa Pangulo sa Pagkakanulo”

(Gift for President’s Betrayal of Public Trust)
Pagluluksa at Pag-Asa
Philippine Consulate, Hong Kong

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes

November 8, 2007

There was neither noisy and prolonged applause nor a standing ovation directed to either camp. Just as Gloria did not receive the noisy din of appreciative supporters after she pardons her nemesis, likewise, Erap also left his Tanay mansion and returned to his Greenhills palace amid very little fanfare. Why should they be applauded? Instead, there was the morgue like silence of apathy greeting the shameless pardon of a guilty president by another who is no less guilty. Such acts of moral turpitude reveal more and more the icy morgues of moral relativism and compromise, where the deadly grip of mammon chokes the last surviving strands of principle and integrity. They say that the pardon is unconditional, with no strings attached. It was for unity and peace that Erap was pardoned. With this pardon, a string of revolting pardons is in offing. Pardon awaits Garci, Bedol with their former boss Abalos, Bolante and of course, their grateful mentors and benefactors in Malacanang. It is not that we wish to be un-forgiving, we just refuse to be treated as fools. Yes Erap is seventy and so are hundreds of convicts in Philippine jails. Yes Erap has served more than six years but instead of a regular jail enjoys his comfortable Mansion in Tanay. Yes Erap promises not to run for public office and so did his pardoner in Jose Rizal’s home town a few years ago.

She lies, he steals. He lies, she steals. Lying and stealing are both crimes and sins but obviously pardonable through an act of presidential prerogative. God does pardon but not without inviting us to learn from our sins and weaknesses first. What has Erap learned in his Tanay mansion? What has Gloria learned in Malacanang? I am afraid both have learned little and their behavior betrays an identical moral and spiritual bankruptcy.

But if our leaders refuse to learn and use power to bend the law and prostitute morality, then the people do not only have a right but a duty to denounce official hypocrisy and depravity. If some of us came out denouncing the brutality of General Than Shwe towards the freedom loving people and Buddhist monks of Burma, we should also express our anger and disgust at Erap’s pardon.

With Erap’s pardon, morality and decency are moribund. GMA and her spin doctors should be denounced and made to see their crime of the systematic and vigorous murder of morality. Shortly after Erap’s pardon, money went around in Malacanang. A former Mayor could not have described the situation better, “It is normal.”

Yes it is normal for the corrupted and corrupting to spread corruption. No, it is not normal for those who have been working for the thorough cleansing of the nation.

Today, in solidarity with the Black and White Movement, we present a “gift” to Gloria, “Regalo sa Pagkakanulo ng Pangulo.” We wrap the Philippine flag in white. We would have wrapped the Philippine flag in black if we were in the Philippines. But in Hong Kong and China, White and not Black is the symbol of death and mourning. Indeed, with Erap’s pardon, we mourn the deliberate, pre-meditated murder of morality and decency. But we put the Philippine Flag wrapped in the white of mourning in a box wrapped in green. For even as we mourn (white), we are not hopeless (green), we do not despair. Even as we mourn and denounce murder, we hope and continue the peaceful, parliamentary struggle for change.

We distribute white and green ribbons and invite all to wear these (white and green ribbons) to express both our deep sorrow and our unshakeable hope.

Gloria, Stop the Hypocrisy! Stop the Compromise! Stop the Corruption! Stop the Murder of Morality and Decency! Stop the Murder of Democracy! Resign!!!

Beyond Erap

Atty. Luke Espiritu

If something good has come out of Erap’s pardon, that is the fact that the oust Gloria movement has at last been purged of a fake symbol who represents neither the masses nor the idea of good government.

Prior to the pardon, several known oppositionists had engaged in the futile exercise of make-believe trying to prop up Erap as the rallying figure against Gloria’s evil regime. They had hoped that Erap’s following among the masses, or what remains of it, could strengthen the fledging anti-Gloria forces. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” so they might have thought.

This country is hungry for any modern day martyr that many were prepared to manufacture one whose only claim to suffering is to be confined to a private mansion where he could gorge on a sumptuous feast of lechon while playing hero to the outside world.

But, alas, Erap’s true color has unraveled. Trembling from the prospect of spending a single night in Muntinlupa, Erap has sought executive clemency and is now singing a different tune --- he will not join mounting calls for Gloria’s resignation.

Such a turnaround only confirms what has been clear from the very beginning. Erap can never be a driving force against corruption for he himself is corrupt. He cannot usher in a new type of governance for he is an old trapo. He cannot rail against criminals in public office for he has been a proven plunderer.

In other words, Erap is no different from Gloria. And with Erap and Gloria together, like old school chums suddenly finding love, this awful truth has become incontestable.

In a sense, this will prove beneficial to advocates of real change. For, they will no longer be burdened by a gaping contradiction, the kind witnessed in Teofisto Guingona who batted for Erap’s freedom several years after his stirring “I Accuse” speech that eased the ex-President’s downfall.

For a time, Gloria’s strategy of identifying with Erap’s camp all the progressive elements seeking her ouster was effective in keeping those individuals who are repugnant with trapo politics away from the mass actions.

But with Erap under her leash, Gloria has deprived herself of a convenient boogeyman. This time, she cannot attribute the widespread hatred of her regime to the alleged machinations of a political rival. She can no longer make a sweeping charge that everyone who opposes her is an Erap restorationist. She can no longer dismiss the brewing discontent as political bickering.

Ironically, Gloria does not realize the double-edged sword she is dangling over the people’s heads. The country must move on, she says. And indeed, the country is moving on, without Erap, in opposing her. The struggle will finally go beyond the irrational personality politics of the Erap fanatics.

The pardon will pave the way for national unity, Gloria further proclaims. And indeed, the nation --- strengthened after the exorcised demon of a convicted plunderer has gone to her side --- is as united as ever in seeking her ouster.

Among the anti-Gloria forces, the chaff has been separated from the grain. Erap may have compromised, but not the nation.

Rotten and Filthy Politicians

Ma. Gloria L. Alcuaz


Recent happenings in our country can be so disturbing and miserable. How can this government and undeserving politicians cry for moral recovery when they themselves are guilty of high level corruption. Have we lost our sense of history?

How come the soldiers accused of assassinating Ninoy are still languishing in jail when the no. 1 suspects are living it up? From one president to the next we don’t seem to realize & learn from their pitfalls. Even our church has become so anemic? Who cares about our so called economy when our no. 1 export of hopeless Filipinos risk so much of their family life and dignity just to send their hard earned sacrifice back home.

In the real sense our problem stem from our acceptance of our filthy and rotten politicians.

BEING RIGHT IN BEING POSSIBLY WRONG

Atty. Luke Espiritu

Senator Antonio Trillanes’ claim that Malacañang is responsible for the blast at the Glorietta mall has been dismissed as “speculative” and ‘irresponsible.” Recently, his former “kuya”, Gregorio Honasan, rebuked him for rushing into judgment without the benefit of evidence and while police investigations have not yet concluded.

However, who can blame Trillanes?

Trillanes is simply echoing what many others believe as true. The present regime is not beyond the business of killing innocent lives. Look at how activists and journalists have disappeared or been murdered in recent years. Moreover, the timing of the blast is uncanny as to betray a plausible motive. It happened while the Arroyo administration is --- again --- reeling from scandals, this time involving a dubious contract and bribery right at the very halls of Malacañang. Glorietta stole media attention from these issues and gave the administration a fresh lease on life.

True, Trillanes and many others may be wrong. The blast may be an accident or an act of unknown terrorists. However, if they were to be wrong in anything, at least they would be wrong only in one minute premise but not the conclusion. If blaming Malacañang leads people to realize how corrupt and evil this administration is, which is true --- bombing or no bombing --- then something good may come out of it. If that would bring about a long overdue upheaval, the possibility of being wrong is well worth the gamble.

Remember the Plaza Miranda bombing thirty six years ago? People laid the guilt upon Ferdinand Marcos. Then it became a symbol of the anti-Marcos resistance next only to Ninoy Aquino’s assassination. In fact, the event is still being commemorated to this very day as part of the Filipino struggle for freedom. Yet, it was not Marcos who perpetrated the crime but the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army.

And what of Ninoy Aquino’s murder which is widely believed to be authored by Marcos? Had protesters been armed with proof beyond reasonable doubt, akin to that in the courts of law, before they went to the streets and eventually ended his regime? Until now, the question of whether or not Marcos orchestrated the killing is still being debated. But this no longer matters. History works in mysterious ways. It can even accommodate some probability of error in order to effect change.

The point is, in the case of the Glorietta mall incident, Gloria represents everything that is evil in this country that she must be removed regardless of whether or not Malacañang is responsible for the blast.

But of course, the question still remains --- what if Trillanes is right?

Cleansing the Nation through Dance

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
October 23, 2007

What conscience, inner space, spirit, personality could take P 500,000 in a brown paper bag given with unspecified intention and source? Answer: “This is normal, it has always been done…nothing wrong with it….” says former Manila Mayor, now Environment Secretary Lito Atienza. (cf article by TJ Borgonio in Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 17, 2007) If we carefully analyze the question and answer in the context of what recently happened in Malacañang and what has been happening for the past forty years or so since the late dictator Marcos, the conclusions are more than disturbing. What is normal? Bribery, official at that, corruption..? Because it is normal, it should be taken for granted and people should just take it as a matter of course. Because it is normal and a fact of daily life, then people should keep quiet since there is nothing to complain about. The corruption is bad enough, but creating an environment of both impunity and tolerance towards moral decadence and depravity is something else.

The former Mayor turned Environment Secretary declared that he and so many others have received and will continue receiving money from the President’s office as “standard operating procedure” or “S.O.P.” He justifies this as money coming from the President’s discretionary fund. After this repulsive revelation, some past presidents were quick to deny that it happened during their watch. Presidents Ramos and Aquino flatly denied that they did it. Well another thing that has become commonplace in the Philippine truth-scape or better lie-scape is the habit of denial. If your are accused of anything deny and deny until you or they die….

Well let us stop wasting our time and assume that yes…corruption has become normal, ordinary, official and a non-issue. Truly, evil, the devil, attachment, greed, idolatry, addiction, delusion, mendacity, cheating are all normal, ordinary, official and a non issue. Thank you Mr. Atienza. We now know how deep the problem is. It is like talking to someone with “halitosis” or bad breath and telling him that something stinks. He looks at us and says, “I don’t know what you are talking about …surely, it is not me…”

Atienza’s statement stinks, and it stinks to the highest heavens. The stench could not be contained. The whole world smells of it and it emanates not only from Malacañang but from every noisy and silent politico who has learned to take bribes and found a way of silencing, placating or even killing their conscience.

The stench brought Kubol Pag-Asa to the COMELEC and the CBCP. We performed an indigenous ritual of cleansing and driving away the bad spirits, “masasama at itim na diwata.” We evoked and invited the good spirits, “mabubuti, puting diwata” to dance the dance of cleansing in order to cast out the darkness, the stench (symbolized by the black blanket). Then we prepared our offering. First, the pot, symbol of the Filipino soul. Second, earth, symbol of our humble humanity. Third, P 500, 000, bribe money, symbol of the darkness, evil within. Fourth, a burning candle to burn the P 500,000 until it turns to ashes. Fifth, water poured on fire, symbol of purity and freedom from attachment. Sixth, a living plant, placed in the soil, fertilized with the ashes of burned money, and nourished by pure water. This plant, in the soil, with the ashes, water and earth in the pot, is the symbol of our hope, adamantly struggling against the spreading hopelessness.

We thank the COMELEC officials who received us and graciously accepted the gift of our hope, the people’s hope. Thank you commissioners Resurreccion Borra, Romeo Brawner, Rene Sarmiento and Nicodemo Ferrer.

But we find it difficult to understand the apparent coldness and indifference shown us by a representative of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines. Still and all, we came in solemn and humble procession from COMELEC with our message of gratitude and our gift of the pot with the soil, ashes, water and the young plant, symbolizing our hope. Many of those who were present, asked, “is such shabby reception also normal in the Church?”

The morning was complete and meaningful in spite of how it ended at the CBCP compound. We went home more deeply convinced that the dance has only begun. It must continue for as long as the darkness and stench cover the land.

The Power of One

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
October 15 2007


A country where dishonesty seems endemic and even normative, the eruption of its opposite is almost anomalous. Are honest people in the Philippines either oddities or a species on the verge of extinction? Is this how morally bankrupt our country and her people are? The answer is not that obvious precisely because of the nature of honesty. Many honest people are quiet and normally do not flaunt their virtue. There are thousands, I believe even millions of honest Filipinos both in and out of their homeland. There are thousands of honest overseas Filipino workers here in Hong Kong. How else could our Pinays be hired as Domestic Helpers if honesty were not their most desired trait? Yet no one talks nor writes about the honesty of the Pinays and Pinoys in Hong Kong. And that is part of the problem. Honesty is such a private trait that it passes unnoticed and most if not all Filipinos would take it for granted that honesty is better kept a private matter if it were to be a virtue.

It then seems that honesty is implicitly paired with humility. The honest person is also humble. Thus honest persons are expectedly quiet persons. Agreed! How else can the whole country survive if everyone everywhere is a crook. The noisy ones in the Philippines are more likely the crooks while those who quietly do their jobs without fuss and fanfare are the honest and dutiful ones. Look at the NBN-ZTE scandal. Look at the noise coming from both sides of the coin. Aren’t we inclined to ask a different question than who is telling the truth? Aren’t we inclined to ask, is either noise or silence directly proportional to the benefits or profits that one gets through the acquisition or non-acquisition of a deal whether legitimate or not? Silence and noise seem to alternate between known personages from son Joey to father Speaker Jose, from NEDA Director Neri to President Arroyo, from resigned Comelec Chair Abalos to his Malacañang Boss, from Senator Joker to Senator Defensor?

Meanwhile amid the noise, isn’t it reasonable to conclude that the nation remains afloat in spite of the crooks and because and only because of the quiet and honest Filipinos? If there is collusion whether noisy or quiet, among the crooks there too is the communion of virtue among the good. Thank God for all the good Filipinas and Filipinos who collectively continue to do their work quietly and honestly.

But we now need a different kind of honesty, more explicit and public. We need to review and renew the meaning of humility which is not equated with quietism and pacifism. We need some of those who belong to the communion of the virtuous to emerge and proclaim virtue publicly in their lives. While private virtue is noble and saintly, there is a place for public virtue, the good not merely displayed but proclaimed and offered as an example, a model to follow and live. Virtue is ultimately useless if kept under the bed or the bushel basket. Virtue need not be a blinding and glaring spotlight. It can shine just as effectively even as a lone candle burning in a dark forest.

A few days ago, Among Ed or Among Gob of Pampanga revealed that he had received P 500, 000 from Malacañang. He also announced that the money will be distributed to the Barangays after the forthcoming barangay elections. Because of this Among Ed has earned a new title, “Honest Ed.” Well and good. But I am sure earning another title is the farthest thing in Among Ed’s mind. He wishes to lead his people by example. This is what he proclaimed at the beginning, “ours will be a leadership by example.”

But there is something vital and crucial here. Among Ed has and continually breaks the silence of the virtuous and invites all to exercise virtue publicly, to bring faith and morality into public life. Among Ed seems to be the only one for now but what power flows from one. I am sure from one, soon, very soon many will follow.

Calling Forth the Fire of Youth

Atty. Luke Espiritu
October 4, 2007

Young people, take courage. Do not grow old before your time and cease dreaming. Seethe against evil with an all-consuming passion.

Oh, believe me, people --- not only the ill-willed but the good-intentioned, as well --- may pull you down as you spread your wings and dare to fly to places unknown. For, the ill-willed cannot bear your railings against injustice and oppression, while the good-intentioned may unwittingly misjudge you, probably thinking that they already have you completely figured out. And, generally, both have lesser tolerance for the brashness and boldness of your age.

But, let not the raging fire in you be dashed.

Let not the perfidies of the present generation taint you for you are called forth to build a new nation. Our collective shame shall not be visited upon you for it is we who answer to you and not the other way around. So make your cries be heard for it is our duty to listen. Let us hear you demand the legacy of a better world. Nay, let us hear you condemn our failings, knowing that behind every condemnation is a dream only you can dream.

Finally, let us not, of this generation, dismiss your rage for it is sacred; for it comes from the same well-spring of passion that has engulfed the martyrs; for the martyrs also raged; for inherent in this rage is your own commitment to selfless sacrifice.

Prayer for Peace

St. Francis

Lord/
Make me an instrument of your peace/
Where there is hatred …let me sow love/
Where there is injury…pardon/
Where there is discord…unity/
Where there is doubt…faith/
Where there is error…truth/
Where there is despair…hope/
Where there is sadness…joy/
Where there is darkness…light/

Oh Divine Master/
Grant that I may never seek/
To be consoled as to console/
To be understood…as to understand/
To be loved…as to love.

For/
It is in giving…that we receive/
It is in pardoning…that we are pardoned/
It is in dying…that we are born to eternal life.

The Rule of Pakapalan

The Rule of Pakapalan

Atty. Luke Espiritu
October 3, 2007


Barely a day after Benjamin Abalos’ resignation had been lauded as an example to be emulated by public officials --- and even described as an act of delicadeza --- when the disgraced former Comelec chair came out with threats of criminal prosecutions against Romulo Neri and Jose De Venecia III.

The lesson learned is clear. People should have held back with their praises of Abalos’ resignation because it is not at all a showcase of delicadeza, much less of contrition, or submission to the principle of accountability.

Despite categorical statements, under oath, that he had attempted to bribe Neri with P200 million and actively lobbied for the grossly disadvantageous ZTE contract, Abalos has summoned every appearance of a person “aggrieved” by lashing out at his accusers. In other words, bukong-buko na, nagpapalusot pa.

Indeed, Abalos’s conduct is far from being admirable. On the contrary, it only shows that the rule of pakapalan still reigns supreme in this Banana Republic.

Pakapalan connotes shamelessness and moral bankruptcy. It is a norm where might is right and right is wrong. It enables public officials mired in corruption to scoff insolently at truth seekers. It sustains a thoroughly messed up moral order where crooks and charlatans in government can still maintain a veneer of respectability that is quite inexplicable, nay, utterly mysterious.

Moreover, pakapalan enables these officials to flaunt their high crimes for everyone to see and yet play opossum, i.e. as innocent victims of detractors and destabilizers. In fact, they can even depict themselves as some sort of heroic figures who are complete opposites of what they truly are.

Pakapalan is when an alleged “President” says “I am sorry” and yet confesses to no wrongdoing. It is when a Commander-in-Chief of a military tagged as the culprit behind the forced disappearances of activists talks about protection of human rights at the United Nations. It is when a First Gentleman declares, without batting an eyelash, that the phrase “back off” is not even in his vocabulary. Abalos’ latest example is therefore not unique.

The problem with pakapalan is that it insults the intelligence. It practically treats the Filipino people as little cretins incapable of judging criminals in public office. While there are some who willingly permit their intelligence to be insulted, it is almost a sure bet that the majority are simply drooling for an opportunity to shove the faces of these makakapals into their fine as_ _s.

Their Shame, Our shame, Their Freedom, Our Freedom!

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
October 2, 2007

Lost of face, shame, embarrassment brought about by a variety of causes drive many Asians, including Filipinos to acts ranging from dramatic to tragic. Failure, rejection, being caught red handed, conviction in court, etc. have led to the tragic and drastic end of lives. This is easy enough to understand when it affects us, our persons, our self-worth, reputation and well being. We have heard of and read about how extremes of shame and embarrassment have killed the human will to live. In Japan, suicide is even more honorable than living with the shame or dishonor of one’s misdeeds. One either commits “hara-kiri” which literally means slitting one’s stomach or “suppuku” which entails having oneself beheaded by one’s closest friend.

But what if it is not about us? What if the shame is upon others whose actions are blatantly shameless because of the depths of depravity and inhumanity their actions have sunk into? However, the other’s shame seems beyond our control. What if the other or others have lost all sense of shame and honor? Do we have any responsibility for the shameful acts of others? What if they have become callous, hardened and viciously shameless to their very core? Is it enough just to condemn and denounce their shameful acts and their shamelessness to boot?

Something most depraved and shameful is happening in Burma. From now on I choose to call this beautiful and noble country Burma in recognition of the historical dignity of a people before the present Military Junta stole their right to self-determination, symbolized by the very name the Army Generals have chosen, “Myanmar.” Last week, monks walked the streets of Burma creating a saffron sea of peaceful defiance of evil. Since 1962, the year the military under General Ne Win overthrew democracy and established what they called the “Burmese Way to Socialism,” the Burmese people have suffered untold oppression and the constant trampling of their fundamental rights as persons. The only force that quietly stood up to the cold, chilling power of steel and gun powder was the gentle and hidden power of the Dhamma in the hearts and shaven heads of Buddhist monks and laity who comprise the majority of the people. In 1990, a lay Buddhist in the person of a woman rose in prominence by winning Burma’s National Election. In spite of an overwhelming victory over the Burmese military regime, she was never allowed to take office and instead has been on and off put under house arrest. The world knows this woman well and draws inspiration from her courage and faith. Aung San Suu Kyi over the last seventeen years has given a face to the Burmese people’s struggle for freedom and democracy. Last week, a few monks who have been part of the peaceful walk for peace and freedom visited Suu Kyi. Many of these monks have been imprisoned. Many of them have already been murdered.

Today two faces speak to us of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi and the Buddhist Monks. Two sad and suffering but courageous faces speak and beckon us to look their way, heed their cries muted and stifled by desperate, fearful, soulless military might. Aung San Suu Kyi even in house arrest speaks to us. Recently, the Buddhist monks have done even more. They walked and allowed their beaten, tortured, imprisoned and bleeding bodies to speak. Many of the monks are now in prison. Local and Foreign Media are suppressed. Telecommunication and internet connections have been cut. The Military Junta is slowly isolating Burma from the rest of the world. It is isolating the Burmese people from the rest of human kind.

This reminds us of Hitler’s holocaust, to silence a people not for now but forever. To silence by extermination! During those black and shameful years, many nations and institutions stood in silent horror at Germany’s inhumanity. Most churches were silent. The Catholic Church was silent. While systematic murder took place, the world was engulfed by a death-like, shameful and shameless silence. The world cannot be silent again. The world cannot be numbed into shameful and shameless surrender to evil. Certainly, the hungry, tortured and murdered in Burma are letting out shouts, screams, shrieks too horrible even to imagine. We cannot hear them as they have been locked up and away in prisons and detention centers. Burma has become a contemporary “konsentration lager” eerily reminiscent of Hitler’s Germany. The only salvation of those within the death camps is for those who are outside to speak out and against this hideous monstrosity.

We can begin by expressing not only disdain but collective shame for we are part of the same humanity that imprisons and kills not only freedom and democracy but the very people who hunger for these.

I am a Filipino Catholic priest, although neither Burmese not Buddhist, a human person all the same. I shout with all my might to the highest heavens in shame and indignation against the inhumanity of the Burmese Army to the Burmese people. We are tempted and rightfully so to declare that the Burmese Military Junta should be ashamed of themselves. Thereby, we blame them, then keep quiet and walk away righteously content that we have done enough. No we share the shame and allow it to move us to save innocent and holy lives. I am ashamed and ask the rest of the world to bow low to kiss the mud of our collective shame with lips that will not be sealed.

I end with a chilling reminder from the German philosopher and political activist Hannah Arendt:

“For many years now we have met Germans who declare that they are ashamed of being Germans. I have often felt tempted to answer that I am ashamed of being human. This elemental shame, which many people of the most various nationalities share with one another today, is what is finally left of our international solidarity; and it has not yet found an adequate political expression. Our father’s enchantment with humanity was of a sort which not only light-mindedly ignored the national question: what is far worse, it did not even conceive of the terror of the idea of humanity and of the Judeo-Christian faith in the unitary origin of the human race…”
(Cf. Hannah Arendt, “Essays in Understanding, 1930-1954, Formation, Exile and Totalitarianism,” (New York: Schocken Books, 1994)

Nothing But Rage

Atty. Luke Espiritu
October 2, 2007

Much has already been disclosed and discussed about the ZTE scandal that there is nothing more to state. What other talk is there to add? The facts are clear. The contract is grossly disadvantageous to the government. The December 2006 ZTE proposal covers only 30% of the project in the entire country. Out of the contract price of US$229,481,280 million, over US$130 million will line the pockets of certain government officials as kickbacks. Worse, the money will be sourced from foreign loans that will be shouldered by generations of poor Filipinos.

In contrast, Jose De Venecia III (JDV3) has sworn to the fact that his company, Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI), offers US$ 240 million to cover 80% of the country. Moreover, AHI’s proposal is without cost to the government since the national broadband project will be undertaken under a build-operate-transfer scheme. Yet, it was the ZTE contract that was approved and signed.

I am not a fan of JDV3, much less of his father. However, the implication of his revelation is clear. We are once again being bled dry by rapacious officials who have no qualms in mortgaging the country’s future for their own private ends. The story is all too familiar like Baba Black Sheep and Jack and Jill are to kindergarten kids. Indeed, what more can be said? Res ipsa loquitor (The thing speaks for itself)!

All talk is inconsequential. It is the time to RAGE.

If our fathers and brothers are murdered or our mothers and sisters ravished right before our very eyes, is it not that we are rendered speechless? Instead we tear our clothes, beat our chests and pull our hair in righteous indignation. Our eyes and the veins can burst with the bloody spasms of utter fury.

So, all I can say to those who have sold the country into debt slavery is this: woe to you and to your children who partake of your plunder and bask in your infamy. May your bodies rot and your lives read like a curse. May the God of history’s upheavals catch you in your sleep and slay you in your beds. May this generation, or the next, behold your heads on a pike!

A Sacrifice, True, Pure and Liberating

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
September 24, 2007


Life is beautiful. Life is precious, of inestimable value. Having it is a cause for celebration and thanksgiving. Losing it or facing the prospect of losing it is one of the most painful and difficult experience that faces us and those dear to us. Life is all about birth and death, beginnings and endings. We are all born and someday we also shall die. Yet even if death is certain, and inevitable, each one is born in hope and promise. Cris was born twenty years ago. His parents were filled with hope and fostered the promise innate in their child. Someday, Cris will be someone who will do them proud. Today we gather together to remember Cris. We remember him with both joy and sadness. Cris has died and the hope and promise of this one child of God seems to have died and gone with him. We mourn that lost and more, we are indignant for Cris’ life ended violently, wastefully and senselessly. This senselessness and wastefulness is evil and inhuman. It is the story of human arrogance and blindness. It is the story of a cycle that seems to endure for millennia. From the personal to the global, we witness the black senselessness and wastefulness of violence and the destruction and death it breeds. From frat violence to wars and the many kinds of violence in between, a burden grows and weighs upon us day after day. The story of Cris reminds us of the story of another man whose gentle and compassionate life questioned, challenged and denounced not only violence, but its very roots, the lust for power. This is the story of a man who carried and shared the burden of those who were victims of this idolatry that sought to replace God with man, love, truth, justice and peace with power. Chris reminds us of the story of Christ, a story of sacrifice meant to liberate the disempowered and to enlighten and hopefully liberate the slaves and idolaters of power.

More than two thousand years ago, he endured rejection, ridicule, torture and the ultimate punishment of a slow excruciating death on the cross. Yet, his was a peaceful and righteous life overflowing with justice, love and compassion. He was every inch a man of gentleness and dignity so infectious that many are drawn and inspired to look, listen, and touch even just his clothes. For indeed deep in his core is the essence of life, the form and substance of each breathing, living, human. This he brings and promises to share with all, “That all may have life, and have it to the full…” He knew a life so full whose thirst was quenched by the sweetest water that touched his lips like nectar and soothed his spirit as a mother’s voice would her hungry child. Yes, a mother knows what life is all about. Fathers also know it so well that words are superfluous compared to the rich eloquence of each tender, life-giving, sustaining act.

From all eternity, it was and will always be God’s will because it is what God is, and if we find God and remain in God as He did, we will find love. (John 15:10) Finding God is finding love and vise versa. Finding love is finding life and vise versa.

Cris Anthony Mendez knew this. He received life. He received love from his mother and father, whose own lives draw sustenance and vitality from its ultimate source, the Father. Cris, like all young UPeans came to UP sustained and inspired by this life source to seek more life both for himself and others as well. Cris must have noticed that quiet naked male figure standing with open arms and head slightly tilted back so as to look up both in supplication and oblation to the heavens. That beautiful muscular, strong and hardy body is no abstraction, distant and irrelevant. It stood for every young Upean, both male and female who similarly looks up asking to be blessed as she or he lifts chest and head to offer up mind, heart, spirit and body. University life will be just like this, an oblation of all that one is so that as he passes each single day in class, in the library, in the cafeteria, in the tambayans, in nearby parks and malls, he will move from life to more life, growing and developing himself so that one day, he could and would offer his life to neighbor, family, friends, humanity and yes to its very source, God.

More than 2000 years ago, that gentle young man reached the fullness of his mental, emotional, spiritual and physical faculties. He was ready and launched himself into the world to offer his gifts, his whole being to bring light, joy, peace, truth and justice into the world. He was filled with the spirit that propelled him to bring glad tidings to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…” (Lk 4:18-19). He was free and overflowed with a different freedom, not one that the world gave but rather different, deeper, and more complete. He moved amongst the sick, the hungry, the unlettered, the homeless, the lost, the poor and listened to them. They told him their stories and he felt and understood their deepest cries and longings, making these his own.

He walked the earth and shared the joys and pains of all. Each moment, he lived and moved without doubt and hesitation because his strength and direction, passion and motivation came from someone who knew him well more than a friend or teacher. He looked up and drew everything from His Father. Where teacher or friend may sometime fail in judging character, not His Father who knew him in his depth and loved Him completely and unconditionally.

The world he discovered and the people he encountered were strange and ambivalent. Even his closes friends, his own disciples. They followed him but later on also betrayed him. They listened to him and basked in his wisdom, only to hide themselves behind walls of darkness and fear. In His world, many sought the comfort and security of numbers. You were either a member of a group enjoying either fame or infamy or identified with individuals who were feared and respected. At the beginning, his charm and popularity attracted crowds and his intimate circle of supporters and followers. In the end as threats to his popularity and authority began to increase, many rapidly fell away and avoided him. He saw this, but he did not lose heart for he knew what and where his strength came from, for he like a mature and healthy branch was strongly attached to the vine. Even when persecution, arrest and death became imminent, he remained faithful to his call, and deeply grafted into the vine. He was like good seed planted in good soil, bearing fruit in due time, giving life and nourishment to those around. But good seed and good soil are not all. Jesus was born into a family of faith, fidelity and love. The witness of both parents, of father and mother provided the necessary environment and structure that cultivated and brought the seed into fruition and fruitfulness. They knew how to pray, to speak and listen to God at all times. They shared this with their son who grew in both filial devotion and fidelity to God. It has never been easy for his parents. They knew hardship and sacrifice which were not avoided but endured not for its own sake but for something greater, that they will understand and faithfully live out the holy will of God. From his parents’ sacrifice to his own. Slowly, he learns and more and more offers his own life as sacrifice. Yes, his own and never, never others as sacrifice. Like a farmer tending his grape vines, he also prunes dead branches, and the unwieldy, undisciplined ones as well. The pruning may be at times unpleasant, but they are always done gently with utmost respect and love. The Father prunes his son and his son also learns to prune himself.

“I am the vine and you are the branches,” says the Lord. I am the Lord and you are my slaves, says an unfeeling and unreasonable boss. If you want to join me, my group, my organization, my firm or my party, allow me, my companions to prune you Never, never, prune yourself. Trust me, trust us. I, we shall prune you and prune you well. Thus, you will learn how and why we sacrifice. The Roman Empire and the Church both towered over Jesus. The men who controlled both State and Church wielded power that seemed complete and absolute over individuals like Jesus. Power seemed to give men divinity and impunity. Clearly many have become blind because of the power they possessed. No one should be allowed to challenge and threaten that power. This is the reason for their “pruning.” It was a different pruning. It was in fact meant to control others while they slowly inflate the balloon of their authority and control.

The Gospel does speak of pruning but certainly of a different kind. It is pruning applied to oneself not by others but by one’s self attuned to the Father who awakens and enlightens us to see the ugliness of “idolatrous power,” that breeds selfishness, ambition and greed.


Today, we celebrate the Eucharist, the memorial of Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary. It is an exemplary sacrifice, both symbolically and literally meant to be translated into every Christian life. It is the right sacrifice, of dying to one’s illusions of power and control, of dying to the many forms of violence, aggression and compulsion in our lives. Today, we reflect on the beautiful image of the “Vine and the Branches,” of our profound connectedness to God and our need to constantly renew that relationship less we fall victim to idolatrous power and violence. Today, we shall also witness the donation and dedication of a painting of an ex- UP Fratman and leader Joel Ferraris of Hong Kong entitled, “The Wrong Sacrifice.” The painting is the artist’s way of expressing his profound indignation and rejection of Frat violence and his appeal to frats to see the blindness, arrogance and vanity that have repeatedly led to senseless and wasteful deaths.

The centurion has a battle worn helmet but does not have a face. He has a sword but its edges are dull and jagged. He has a gold watch from which emanate money that eventually turn into chains. He has a shield that separates him from his victims. Beneath him is a reproduction of a scene from Juan Luna’s “Spolarium,” with dead gladiators being dragged out of the arena. Noticeably, the soldier wears a coat and tie. He seems honorable and dignified. Opposite and below the centurion, is his victim, a neophyte. His head is turned away from the centurion, as if to look back and ask if he could still turn back. There is a tear, a muted cry due to and against the agonies of torture. His face is sad and at the same time full of fear. His head carries a strange crown of olive leaves turning into questions and degenerating into maggots. A blindfold reveals one eye and the empty hollow of one socket of a skull. The other half of the neophyte’s body has already been consumed by death. The ribs on the left cage can be seen and the bones of the left arm and hand raised up to touch and receive the gold coins are discernible. A paddle and a sword in front of the neophyte seem to form a cross. The sword represents the distorted and erroneous doctrines forced into the neophyte’s head. The paddle represents the many forms of inhuman ways of initiating and hazing neophytes. On the paddle one sees the names of all those who perished in frat related violence at the University of the Philippines. To the lower left side of the neophyte is a child, the infant that was him. The hands are those of his mother gently holding this precious life, full of hope and promise. Over the child is the cross that brings the green light of life and hope, a welcome respite from the heavy red tones of the story of violence and idolatrous power on the other side.

Lastly, the UP Alumni Association of Hong Kong headed by Butch Durias wish to offer a modest donation to the family of Cris. They too wish to express their sympathies and their indignation as well over the violence that claimed another young UP life.

In front of the administration building we pass and behold the beautiful body of a young man gazing heavenwards with arms outstretched. We have a name for him, oblation. In many ways, this figure brings us back two thousand years ago when another man stretched out his arms to receive the nails that fastened his body to the cross. The sacrifice of this man is finished but ours continue. His sacrifice was noble and he continually asks us to ennoble our lives by making worthy sacrifices not of others but of ourselves for others. The University of the Cris, our University may yet become the University of Peace that is all of us learn the live and offer the right sacrifice.

Two Cardinals, Two Presidents

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
September 19 2007

Erap’s conviction last week did not produce the crowds for which the six thousand strong police force had been deployed around the Metropolis. Instead of thousands there were only six hundred who protested from an area several meters away from the Sandigang Bayan. The six hundred looked rather superfluous if not comical as they mounted their protest before a thick phalanx of policemen blocking the way between them and the Sandigang Bayan which was several meters away.

Contrary to the alarm sounded by those from various sectors, from media to business, from the competing camps and the church, there was no build up of protest. The bland turn out of protesters reminds me of a parallel situation where somebody ruins my enthusiasm to watch a movie by blurting out the ending or the movie’s climax. People are not only cynical when they say, it’s all in the bag. Politics in the Philippines has become too predictable and obvious that it no longer excites . Erap’s conviction in a way may be considered a triumph of justice but the moves that will emanate from either camps are something else. Normally upon conviction, a criminal is immediately led to his cell in a regular Philippine prison, in New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa for instance. Instead Erap is brought back to the comforts of his Tanay mansion, a move justified by political leaders like Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and Senator Francis Pangilinan as a way of avoiding Erap’s humiliation. (cf. Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 13, 2007)

Is genuine justice at work on the Erap case? Why worry about Erap’s feelings, his humiliation in particular. Isn’t humiliation a necessary if not a directly intended consequence of crime and its punishment?

Days before the Sandigang Bayan decision to convict Erap, posters with a picture of Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila were being circulated by women supporters of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. There were no quotations from the Cardinal only his picture. The statement printed on the poster with the Cardinal’s picture came from Gloria’s ladies. But the Cardinal’s picture though unaccompanied with his words was obviously used by Gloria’s women to legitimize their pro-Gloria message before Erap’s conviction. Yet days earlier, Cardinal Rosales made his own statement worth quoting here, “Kung ako ay mabait, sa kalsada ba pinatutunayan yan o sa mismong bahay? Kaya kung meron tayong batas na nagsisiyasat sa katiwalian ng isang tao, sibilyan, o namumuno, dapat siguro, dapat yata igalang natin yun ( For example, if I am a good person, is that proven in the streets or how I live my life? So if we have a law that will investigate the illegal acts of a person or official, then we should respect it.) Rosales said it was time Filipinos obeyed the laws and not flock to the streets whenever they disagreed with a decision or policy. He asked the laity to remain sober during these times since Erap’s plunder case was beyond politics, rather it was a case of morality.” (cf. Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 3, 2007)

Cardinal Rosales being a church leader has good reason to insist on morality yet is there such a thing as “pure morality” with nothing to do with politics or others aspects of life. Besides in the Philippines where almost ninety per cent are Catholics, do high church officials play a purely moral and spiritual role? Is it then a purely moral appeal to ask people to keep off the streets and obey the laws instead of taking to the streets to protest a decision or policy they disagree with? While one should not display his or her holiness on the street, but streets remain an important venue and symbol of democracy, in fact the last remaining recourse for the marginalized and disadvantaged poor? I remember listening to lectures about and against the dangers of “privatistic faith” when I was a seminarian. I am afraid that I hear more than subtle hints of privatism here.

Then a few days after Erap’s conviction and sentence were promulgated, Cardinal Ricardo Vidal of Cebu makes an appeal for Erap’s pardon. The Cardinal, a close friend of Erap said, “Whatever the administration will do later on, let us hope it will be pardon.” (cf. Cebu Daily News, September 14 2007)

In Philippine politics, it is impossible for high church officials not to encounter their counterparts in Government. In the process a good number of them become friends. It is quite clear which Cardinal is a friend of which President. Now going back to the bone of contention, whether “pure morality” sans politics exists? Another reality may seem to muddle the issue but does it? I am talking about friendship. Should there be a clean divide between friendship and morality or friendship and politics? I have my answer and surely you also have yours because we are Filipinos….

The Miracle of Compassion

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
September 17, 2007

She lay still and alone, her eyes were partly open with an empty and lifeless gaze. She was alive but barely. Fe, like thousands of Filipinas, recently left her beloved family and country came to Hong Kong fired by dreams of a better life not only for herself but for her loved ones. That dream, unless a miracle happens will remain nothing more than a vain attempt known only to her and her kin. Fe lies comatose at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Jordan, Hong Kong. It was not sickness but a near fatal vehicular accident that led to her present condition. On August 15, 2007 Fe Bachenela Ucab was hit by a car and has remained unconscious until now.

I received word about Fe through Evelyn Cabuscos, a member of an OFW-support group concerned for survivors of life-threatening ailments. Evelyn first sent me an SMS informing me about Fe. She added that I should go and administer the sacrament of the sick to her. The only time I had to visit Fe was last Sunday evening after my mass at St. Joseph Church in Kwun Tong. At around 6:30 p.m. five ladies from the St. Joseph Filipino Community of Kwun Tong came with me. Evelyn was already waiting for us at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Five Filipina OFWs, Lydia Bartolome, Jade Merzo, Felipa Bravo , Rosalinda Villanueva and Franz Fontabla joined me on a different journey. We walked from the church to the MTR station at Choi Hung from where we rode the train taking the Green Line to Mongkok, then transferring to the Red Line towards Central and getting off at Jordan where Queen Elizabeth Hospital was a only a ten minute walk.

We were quite for the greater part of the trip. We did not know what we will see. Fe was just a name without a face. Fe was just another sad story of an OFW dream now precariously hanging on the edge of life. The journey from Choi Hung to Jordan took some time which was necessary to prepare for this unusual encounter. From the train ride to the walk on the streets of Jordan, then finally the uphill trek to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, I sensed anxiety and even fear. I do not know who among the women has ever experienced visiting someone whose condition is similar to Fe’s.

It was about 7:15 p.m. when we reached the lobby of Queen Elizabeth. We had to hurry a bit since visiting hours end at 8:00 p.m. Evelyn came down and accompanied us to the ward in Section G where Fe laid in bed alone. Only four at a time were aloud to enter. When we reached the ward, we saw Fe lying on a corner bed among six other beds occupied by Chinese patients surrounded by their families. Fe was alone and has been this way since she was admitted to the hospital more than a month ago. No family member, friend, town mate has visited her since. Fe’s situation was communicated to Evelyn by Elenita Cleofas, an OWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Adminstration) officer. Thanks to Evelyn, we found Fe and were able to stand around her and briefly surround her with love, care and concern.

Fe’s condition is truly sad and heart-rending, but her circumstance seems to even add a bitter taste to the unsavory story. No one, no family, no friends has visited Fe. This little group of OFWs is one of the few to come and show care and compassion. At first, I asked the four who were aloud to enter to come close as I began the prayers for the sick. I told them that I will say my prayers bending over and speaking directly to Fe’s left ear. I requested them to do the same after me. With some hesitation some of them approached Fe, bending over to whisper prayers and words of encouragement to Fe. Understandably some could not approach Fe. The sight of Fe helpless, unconscious, completely alone felt like a wedge being driven into their hearts.

I stood quietly witnessing the solidarity of pain shared by mothers and women separated from their families by the demands of work and survival. They seemed overwhelmed by an ambivalent, double edged fear. On the one hand, there is the fear of being abruptly taken from loved ones and on the other hand, fear of losing grip on one’s life and future. But they just won’t stand paralyzed by fear. They moved forward, to speak to and pray for one of their own, a fellow woman, wife, mother, daughter, sister and overseas Filipino worker. It was a painful and unpleasant moment where the pain and the fear of uncertainty, loss, and a seriously threatened life was shared and transformed into a circle of solidarity and compassion.

We had to leave Fe who was alone again but not entirely, for even if I did not hear what her fellow OFWs whispered to her, somehow their message may be an echo of what I whispered into her ears, “God is in you and journeys every moment with you. You are not alone. Through your pain and suffering, God’s son’s loneliness and suffering reaches out to us and etches itself in our hearts and souls. We leave and carry you in our minds and hearts….” We left more quiet than when we arrived. We all felt a heaviness, a burden to do more than just pray for Fe….Indeed, as we left, seven walked towards the MTR and the busses that were to bring us home. But in each heart a name with a face and a strange voice speaks in muted yet painfully intelligible sounds. We hear her…she cries and weeps…her name is Fe Bachenela Ucab.

KUBOL PAG-ASA and Among Ed

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
September 8, 2007
Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary

After more than two years, the prayer and fasting group that was born during the forty four day hunger strike at People Power Monument (PPM) along EDSA highway is still kicking and alive. I remember that faithful morning of July 10, 2005 when a handful of us pitched tent on the stage area of the PPM. We were ready for a 24 hour black fast, no food, no water, as protest against the election anomalies that gravely put to question the current Government’s legitimacy. Towards four in the afternoon, we were all glued to the radio intently listening to the reading of the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines statement. We were completely oblivious of our hunger and thirst. We listened and waited, pinning our hopes on a word, a line that will shed light on the spreading moral darkness and give clear direction to the political impasse that paralyzes the land. The word, the line did not come…Instead, something that threw us off completely, “WE ARE NOT ASKING YOU TO RESIGN!!!”

The statement was long but that was the crux of it. The bishops have decided to give her a chance. The moral, spiritual voice of the land suspended judgment on the legitimacy of the Arroyo Government. And to the consternation of many, she and her family seemed ready to receive the happy news. They were somewhere near the Malate Church. Minutes after the Bishops’ statement was read, they came out on national TV strolling along a part of Mayor Atienza’s Bay Walk. The cameras followed them to a nearby restaurant where they had a merienda (snack). Their faces not only relieved but truly happy and jubilant. After all, life did not stop for them. Life in Malacanang will go on. Thanks to the “statement.” Life goes on…the show goes on.

This little group praying and fasting decided to hole in, fast and pray for as long as necessary. The group called themselves Kubol Pag-Asa. The group has survived and continues to serve God and Country in their many, small but consistent ways of proclaiming the gospel of Hope, truth, justice and peace.

Last August 29, 2007, Kubol Pag-Asa visited Fr. Ed Panlilio, the priest turned Governor of his province. In the past Fr. Ed was fondly called Among Ed. Now people call him Among Gob instead. From Among Ed, Father Ed to Among Gob, Father Gob.

Our appointment was at 8:00 a.m. We arrived at the Provincial Capitol around 7:30 a.m. With us was a five foot statue of the Lady of the Miraculous Medal, a gift from one of my former parishioners.

When Among Gob arrived from one of his many safe houses, I walked towards him and we spontaneously hugged each other, for Ed and I have been friends since we met in 1980 as seminarians soon to be ordained priests. We presented Lola Dahl’s (Mrs. Asuncion Leetai, older sister of Fr. Leetai SJ, first Filipino rector of San Jose Major Seminary, where I studied) gift of our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. The gift is also a prayer that the miracle of Among Gob’s victory may be sustained by his devotion to the Lady and the gift of her gracious and abiding presence and guidance to the people of Pampanga.

After, we were served coffee and sandwiches, we sat down to talk and listen to Among Gob. Our simple message to him was a commitment to pray and fast for clean, principled, uncompromising governance in Pampanga. We also promised to remain in contact with him and find ways and means of helping him and the people of Pampanga give birth to a different and truly new politics. Then it was Among Gob’s turn to speak. Here is the gist of what he said:

“ Ours is a “leadership by example.” From articulation of moral principles to concrete advocacy…from working on the outside to working within. Robert and I were Martial Law seminarians. We were inspired by Gospel values. We asked how we can help inspire by a spirituality that is Christ-centered and Marian. My first 100 days followed a program called HEAL, which stands for Healt-Education-Livelihood program. I immediately began going around the province. I was quite shocked at what I discovered. In the provincial hospitals, there is very little available medicine. Eight hospitals do not have ambulances. Some do not even have electricity. One hospital has a public dump beside it. The education sector needs serious attention. The public school system is not doing very well. The students in general are at the 57% of the General Average Accomplishment. The passing of course is 75%. So we have launched a simple target of 57-75. Slowly, to move, motivate, facilitate the education process using all available means towards at least the 75% level of achievement. Then from there we move higher. Our teachers are a overworked and underpaid. Some schools do not even have textbooks. As to livelihood, we have developed a fund for Micro-Enterprise. Because of the enormity of the work, we have also began an Adoption Scheme, where businesses, rich institutions, rich individuals can adopt a school or a hospital. What is quite a surprise to us is the recent finding of the lahar levy or taxes collected from the lahar quarrying in the province. In the last administration, the declared annual collection of levy on quarrying was P 29 million. Last July, our collection for just a month was almost P 29 million. What was allegedly collected in one year, we collected in one month….”

After listening to Among Ed, a brief period of comments and questions followed. We had to go as the waiting room on the other side was beginning to crowd with others waiting to see Among Gob. We said a prayer, thanked Among Gob and promised to return soon. Fr. Ed has gone a long way from priest to social action director and now Governor of Pampanga. Not only his detractors and political rivals are looking hard at him. Even the less supportive members of the Church are not too keen on supporting him.

Kubol Pag-Asa came to show support not only to a man of God but to a Filipino who wants to burn his candle while he still can. With our prayers, fasting and collaboration in forging the elusive challenge of a different and new politics, we too choose to let our little candles burn as brightly as possible. We left Among Ed…We also left the statue of the Blessed Virgin…Yet, we felt that after that brief but meaningful encounter, we have not really left. Something has begun…something new, different, something worth nurturing and supporting….with the grace and guidance of Jesus and Mary….Amen…

Fraternity violence

The Cris Anthony Mendez Case
Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
September 3, 2007

Through out the seven years (1996-2003) that I worked as Parish Priest and Catholic Chaplain at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, the issue of Frat Violence was a stubborn and truly recalcitrant issue that seemed stronger than the combined efforts of students, administrators, and other concerned sectors on campus. All kinds of activities aimed at frat harmony and campus peace were tried from masses, prayer services, dialogues, peace pacts even dramatized with the surrender of frat weapons of destruction and death like baseball bats, knives, steel pipes, rocks, etc. I even recall doing several runs around the academic oval protesting frat violence. One of the most symbolic actions was a walk of little school children protesting the death of Nino Calinao who was shot in broad day light by hooded men along a corridor just a few meters from the Arts and Sciences entrance, better known as the AS Steps. The name of Nino was indeed symbolic and ironically eloquent. Nino meant little boy. Kalinaw, peace in Cebuano.

Violent frat men are no more than dangerous little boys who have gone bad. Fraternity violence is nothing more than the dangerous prattle of the spoiled, attention hungry boy whose self-worth is defined by the capacity to inflict pain, destruction and death on others whether it be on the intimidated neophytes awed and hypnotized by the mystic of becoming one of the frat men. By then, assuming one survives the entire range of initiation rites from psychological to actual physical torture, he leaves the “despicable” lot of a mere barbarian and joins the noble ranks of Frat Gentlemen.

Are fraternities all violent? Some claim no. But those who claim they are not may in fact be innocent of losing or wasting a life during hazing or an internecine frat skirmish. But in the other aspects of the frat’s life, is there a conscious and consistent effort not only to avoid violence but most of all, to get rid of what causes it in the first place?

Deeply hidden in the psyche of frats and their members is the primitivism and barbarism of the Macho. In fact, one need not be a member of a frat to experience this dangerous energy. We see this manifested even in little children who seem prone to hurt others and quite pleased to destroy objects within their reach. The typical school bully exists from elementary to college and even beyond. Education and human formation are thus both necessary to guide the child on the path of self-discovery, self-expression and self-control.

But what if the opposite is espoused? What if the bully becomes the model or paragon of virtue?
Fraternities are unfortunately not confined to the university. Working within and beyond the universities, colleges and schools is the Frat Alumni. These are the graduates who have left the university and now occupy rather influential and prestigious positions in society. Many of these older men claiming to be gentlemen are quite dangerous. The frat officers keep close ties with them and are quite willing and happy to do so because of the generous support that consequently flows.

A rather complex and extensive network links and binds these young and older men. The younger men look up to their older patrons and models. The older men sitting in their offices are waiting for their younger counterparts to grow and measure up to the standards set by their fraternity’s tradition. Unfortunately, one unspoken standard is the ability to unleash the violent beast within, training it carefully and secretly in the so called art of receiving and inflicting pain.

Wars are carried out by a different kind of fraternity called the Army. Have you heard of hazing at the Philippine Military Academy, West Point or Annapolis? Wars are carried out by media, banks, corporations and even churches against both the disloyal and the enemy. The issue is violence spawned by untamed, unbridled chauvinism lusting for power and control. Not only school fraternities suffer from this.

If there is something that this latest act of primitivism in the University of the Philippines has to say, it is to remind all of us of how violence in the form of greed, revenge, suspicion, domination and most of all indifference continues and persistently lurks within individuals, groups and institutions. What has happened after Leny Villa, Dennis Venturina, Nino Calinao, Mike Icasiano and the many others who have fallen victims to fraternity violence?

Fraternity violence is only part of the culture of violence that has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. Other forms of violence exist and thrive in the University of the Philippines and other universities. If the death of another innocent and promising neophyte will make us pause; if it will make us notice the violence within and without; if it will help us realize how, like frat men we are part of an entire web and culture of violence and the lust for power and control, and thus move us to effect change within and without, then something different, something new may just happen after this sad episode of another victim of empty macho triumphalism, Cris Anthony Mendez.

Sampu-Sampu

“2010 Asayment ng Bayan”


There are twenty nine months left between October 10, 2007 and May 2010. While some of us are vaguely aware of how little time there is before the 2010 Presidential Elections, there are individuals and groups who have the very opposite frame of mind. Politics seems clearly divided between the interested stake holders and the indifferent. The interested stake holders may be those who see real and concrete benefits which politics offers. The majority may be subscribers to a seasonal show or production. But do we really have the luxury and the freedom to choose between direct engagement and total indifference towards politics? The father of Myanmar’s detained charismatic leader Aung San Suu Kyi once said, “We may not be interested in Politics, but Politics is always interested in us!!!”
While many tend to look at politics as a separate compartment of life, behaving as if life could actually be compartmentalized and effectively sanitized from the unwanted intrusion of politics, a more realistic and responsible view exists. Some may say that in life there is politics. A more realistic and responsible view says that politics is life, life is politics. Politics being the exercise of power exists where there are people. Thus we speak of the politics of married life, of the family, clan, community, nation, church, corporation, organization, media, school, hospitals, bodies, nations, etc.
We can pretend and behave as though our lives are bereft of politics but this is an illusion. Our persons, orientations, attitudes, decisions, choices and actions are products of particular political milieus, experiences, choices, and the ever so subtle layers of our social life. The point is not to avoid, run away from but transform, if you want Christianize or evangelize politics. The following are an initial attempt at a concrete response to the challenge of healthy, responsible, productive and constructive politics:

I. Kubol Pag-Asa’s Ten Point Commitment:

Presence, Visibility, Consistent, Credible Witnessing
On-Going Dialogue
Discerning Prayer
Sacrifice, Fasting in particular (Fast Wednesdays)
Intelligent, Discerned and Disciplined Risk Taking
(The Example of the Mount Everest Team)
Constructive Personal and Societal Criticism
Solidarity with Marginalized Sectors
Creative, Timely and Effective Articulation/Expression of Stand
Creative, Timely and Effective Advocacy
Adoption of the Long View


n.b Kubol Pag-Asa will choose Ten Leaders to Engage With. Initial discussions have been conducted with the following leaders:
1. Gov. Eddie “Among Ed” Panlilio - Pampanga
2. Gov. Grace Padaca - Isabela
3. Rep. Rissa Hontiveros-Baraquel – AKBAYAN

II “Asayment ng Bayan”

1. Sampung Minutong Pag-aaral; Pagninilay at Panalangin sa Bawat Araw
2. Sampung Mahahalagang Aral Sa Kasaysayan.
3. Sampung Katangian ng Mabuting Lider.
4. Sampung Katangian ng Mabuting Mamamayan.
5. Sampung Halimbawa ng Mabuting Lider.
6. Sampung Pangunahing Suliranin Ng Bayan.
7. Sampung Angkop na Katugunan.
8. Sampung Dahilan Kung Bakit Ako Kailangang Makilahok Sa Darating Na Pambansang Eleksyon (2010)
9. Sampung Nais Kong Gawin Bilang Paghahanda Para Sa Darating na Eleksyon
10. Sampung Pangarap Para Sa Bayan