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Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Wenceslao: Where is PBMA headed?
By Bong O. Wenceslao
The arrest of eight members of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) and the confiscation of high-powered firearms, ammunition and other paraphernalia in Lapu-Lapu City Friday night has prompted people to ask whether the act was sanctioned by leaders of the religious cult, and where the group was headed before they were apprehended by the police.
Since the death of Alona Bacolod Ecleo, allegedly in the hands of her husband, PBMA supreme master Ruben Ecleo Jr., violent acts have been attributed to, at the very least, members of the cult. PBMA leaders have denied their group’s official participation in these acts. But if the violent moves continue, then nobody will believe those denials.
The greatest danger the PBMA will pose to society is when it paints the filing of the parricide case against Ecleo and the subsequent arrests of its members for various causes as persecution by people of other religions—meaning, bringing these to the level of religious war. That will surely be taken by its members as a license to spark mayhem.
Or has the PBMA already started waging its version of “jihad”? One is pushed to consider this point with the Lapu-Lapu arrests that seem to suggest a group of PBMA members were planning an armed strike against a still undetermined target in Metro Cebu. Is sowing terror now part of the mission of some cult members?
Which brings us to the other side of the equation: the government. Isn’t it time for government to view the PBMA through a magnifying glass instead of downplaying the worrisome incidents linked to it or, worse, looking the other way? Should law enforcers wait until it is already too late, when the problem can no longer be solved in a peaceful way?
There is no doubt that the PBMA has become more than just another religious cult—its power has grown because its leaders are in politics. Ecleo’s mother is a congresswoman. The group has a give-and-take relation with the Barbers clan. Then there’s its ability to toy with the weaknesses of our criminal justice system.
In short, while the PBMA may not have become a major peace and order threat yet, government’s refusal to look squarely at the telltale signs may turn that possibility into a rea- lity. Where the PBMA is headed should be the concern of all of us—and that includes the government.
TEXTREAX. From M. Tiu of Guadalupe, Cebu City, on the calamity that hit the Luzon area: “I urge all companies, schools, clubs, etc. to donate budget for parties this season to the victims. Let’s help rebuild lives, one family at a time, this Christmas.
(e-mail: khanwens@yahoo. com/text 0927-4912362)
(December 8, 2004 issue)
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