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Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Editorial: Sin's legacy
EARLY yesterday morning, former Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin died after a long battle with diabetes and kidney disease at age 76. His death, while expected, nevertheless casts a long pall over a nation that is currently in the eye of a political storm no thanks to Jueteng Gate and Gloria Gate.
There are political analysts who wondered what the cardinal would have commented on the twin scandals hounding President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who may suffer the same fate as her predecessor Joseph Estrada after being caught in a private conversation with the now infamous former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Virgilio Garcilliano.
But then as one analyst pointed out the Church leadership nowadays doesn't have the same spirit and socio-political fervor displayed by the late cardinal thus the question of whether the people will be stirred up into another Edsa revolution remains to be seen. Though the anti-Arroyo people say they have the numbers but that's another subject we'll have to talk about later.
Why we talk about Sin in the context of the current political situation can be gleaned from the fact that through most of his Church leadership Sin had been involved in two Edsa revolutions the latest installing President Arroyo in power. With his passing his "anointment" of Arroyo is somewhat being negated by the boiling controversy over her and increasing questions about her legitimacy as president.
But while the audio CD scandal is being investigated in Congress we often wonder whether Sin's brand of "Church activism" would fuel anew the Cagayan de Oro Archdiocese which had lately become vocal against the city government's plans to allow the installation of slot machines as well as online gambling.
This had been missing from the local Church ever since the city government under the administration of Mayor Vicente Emano had allowed the establishment of lottery machines that the former protested against strongly during the time of the former Mayor Pablo Magtajas.
Time will tell of course. In the meantime the city residents of Cagayan de Oro or at least those who have supported Sin in his alliance with former President Corazon Aquino in deposing Marcos and later the ouster of then President Estrada would evaluate for now the religious and political legacy he left for the country.
(June 22, 2005 issue)
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