Thursday, December 21, 2006 Wenceslao: Love and loving By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
SUNDAY'S rally at the Luneta against the constituent assembly (Con-Ass) scheme of the House of Representatives was supposed to spark a political storm. Or at least draw in half a million people. The number of people that came was far from the target. That is probably the reason why President Arroyo is again blabbering about Charter change.
I don't know what happened. Perhaps the administration congressmen's decision to shelve the Con-Ass resolution did the trick. That must have dissipated the people's anger at the way the Arroyo administration ran the Charter change express. Or does this mean that even Catholic Church leaders can't push the people to go back to the streets?
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I thank Fr. Roderick Salazar for sending me the statement of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (Ceap) titled "Character more than Charter Change." That statement turned out to be the battle cry of Sunday's prayer rallies in Metro Manila and in Cebu. In a sense, it is good that Ceap raised that issue now.
A constitution amended under the present political setup will never come out good, even if we adopt the constitutional convention (Con-con) mode. Just look at the kind of people we have elected into office, both in Malacañang and Congress. Is that assurance enough that the people will vote for the right delegates to the Con-con?
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By the way, when the character change call was raised, the most common reaction among people I talked with was, "look who's talking!" Which reminded me of the old saying that every time you point an accusing finger at someone don't forget that your three other fingers are pointing back at you. Bad news for the Cebu archdiocese.
Remember the case of the priest who molested students of the Abellana National School during a confessional, which was part of a Life in the Spirit Seminar? That was dredged up by Cebuanos who consider it hypocritical for the Church to be calling for character change when it can't even discipline its priests. Or at least name the erring one.
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Lest we forget, Christmas is only four days away. But will there be a ceasefire in the discussion on political issues in deference to the anniversary of the birth of the Child Jesus? I hope politicians, both in the administration and the opposition, will momentarily keep their peace. They should allow the people to focus more on the season's message.
That should include discussion on the Asean summit, which has pried Cebuanos' attention away from the usual talk about Christmas. I take it that Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has made herself scarce, although for a different reason. That means her critics should shut up, too, and focus on the yuletide activities. Time to talk about love and loving.
E-MAIL. From reader Jepoy Amante: Hindsight is indeed 20/20 vision. Before typhoon Seniang hit land, would these “experts” have dared to take a free boat ride in the seas of Cebu with their families? Gov. Gwen Garcia and Ambassador Marciano Paynor should have offered free island hopping tour to critics of the postponement of the Asean summit because of the typhoon.
