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Friday, July 15, 2005
Redemption
By Rene Lizada
Papa's Table
WELL, if you read that phrase from Galatians, then this country of ours is without the Spirit because instead of love there is so much indifference. There is no joy in this country, only suffering. Peace? You answer it. Patience? You answer that, too. As for kindness, well you just have to look around. Goodness, to a certain degree. Faithfulness? If you try and look at our supposedly called leaders it is very clear what they are faithful to. Gentleness and self-control?
Just watch our talk shows and see how much vile is spat.
The problem of our country is not economics. Our problem is neither leadership. Our problem is spirit. We are a broken country with a broken spirit. We have lost hope and we have become desperate. We have turned into a country of cynical people who listen to corrupt officials who do nothing but satiate their selfish needs, who take every chance to grandstand, to show off.
If there is anything that I have learned from listening to those "Garci tapes", it is the simple fact that we are not a free country. Our will, our hopes and wishes can easily be thwarted by conspirators sitting in high places. It is useless voting in this country. Of course, those defending the powers that be can talk off their tongues, but you and I what the truth is. They know it, too but they simply deny it. Why? Because they want to stay in power. It is a matter of spirit.
The opposition says that they just want the truth. Who are they kidding? They just want what the other has- money, influence, power. Look at the sordid group that they are. You want the country to be run by them? What really makes me mad about this whole mess in which we are in, our leaders treat us like we are stupid brainless people. We are not stupid, we are not brainless, but we are treated as such.
A few years ago, when talks of a coup were rife, a television crew shot an image of a soldier guarding one of the military camps in Metro Manila. He was in full battle gear. When a spokesman was asked as to why the soldier was in full battle gear, the condescending reply was there was a typhoon coming and that was why the soldier was in full battle gear. Does government think we are that stupid?
You watch our talk shows and you will see how much we have sunk. Everyone seems to be talking about the poor and how we should help them. The poor have become a convenient scapegoat for politics and politicians who are everything but poor and yet they talk as if their hearts bleed for the least of us. The poor have been trampled, used, manipulated all for the sake of amassing more power, more influence, more money. Our leaders sit in high chairs and they espouse for the poor while they rake in millions. Our spiritual leaders are no better. Behind all the self-righteousness that they claim to have some of them are just there for political and financial reasons. Take a look at some of their statements and you will find that they are fence sitting. Their statements are examples of saying something without saying anything at all. And yes, they too talk about the poor while they discuss the poor in their air conditioned rooms and suites.
I am reminded of a story about Saint Francis of Assisi wherein he was offered by the Pope to be the head of his order. You know what he did? He refused. He adamantly turned down the offer to be comfortable and powerful and influential because he truly wanted to serve the least of his brothers. Can we say that about some of our so-called religious leaders? You know the answer to that.
This country is trapped in a culture of corruption, violence, the quick fix, greed and hypocrisy. When those ten cabinet members resigned, the response of the Palace was quick and predictable. And boring. The Palace portrayed them as traitors and even corrupt. I wonder who the real traitors are. For a person like
Dinky Soliman to resign like that, there must have been something that she saw that was so unbelievably sickening. And yet they are portrayed as rats abandoning a sinking ship. Really? And who steers the ship?
I am sure that anyone who is president has noble and lofty dreams for our country. I believe that the president wants only the best. But they get swallowed up by the system. No one is strong enough, not one person can change the system. A system of corruption and greed is totally overwhelming even for presidents.
Joseph Estrada knew that too late. Gloria knows it too well. You put anyone there and they will succumb. To say that you will not is the height of hypocrisy.
Some people say that the casualty of this whole thing is truth. No one knows what the truth is anymore. That is wrong. It is very easy to find the truth in this country. Listen to our politicians. Listen to what they say and if you what to know the truth it is easy. It is the opposite of what they is true. It is that simple. When they tell you they are in control, you know that they are not.
When they say they do not want power, they do. As the saying goes, "when someone says it is not the money but the principle, it is the money."
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (July 15, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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