IN A satiric social media post, an evangelist who must be talking out of airheaded imagination, claimed to be the owner of this earth and possessed a switch button to cause the earth shake if he wants.
The recent tremors which the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) cannot predict are not related to this prankster because they did not spare his kingdom in Mindanao. Neither this is the day President Rodrigo Duterte referring as the "dangerous time ahead". So everyone is still encouraged to prepare for the "big one" by mastering the drop, cover and hold.
Well, there are three common types of revivalists proliferating in this troubled ecosphere that notably grabbed our attention: 1.) plain gospel preacher who preaches peace and love; 2.) soothsayer or a preacher who predicts the future by applying mystical theories; and 3.) doomsayer or a preacher who uses eschatology to tell us that there is a judgment day to reckon all our works moral or not, set after the Armageddon. The last two types of preachers will talk about man-made and natural calamities including earthquake, weather disturbances, famine, pestilence, and chaos of governance that often lead to war. But the good thing is that after the evangelization, these preachers will not leave us in distress, instead prescribe something for us to do to escape from misfortune.
Duterte is not among the evangelists mentioned above when he warned of a "very dangerous times ahead". He did not elaborate the kernel and morrow of his monition neither presented the way out from the imminent trouble. But every time the president speaks for the future, I am horrified because it will happen. Like when he warned "it is going to be a bloody war" against drugs, it is happening now.
Duterte is an all-knowing president. In the Roxas night market bombing for instance, he gave the details about the mode, the timing and the doers while the police authorities are yet to pick the residue at the ground zero for supplementary investigation. Another case is the twin bombings in a cathedral in Jolo. The president detailed two days ahead of the investigators that the suicide bombers were in backpack, passed through the center aisle going to the altar and exploded.
We do not know exactly the magnitude and expanse of this "very dangerous times ahead" warning, whether this is related to the brewing conflict in the WPS; or he may be referring to probable escalation into another civil war at Misuare's bailiwick for the mid-day attack of a Filipino suicide-bomber at a military camp in Indanan, Sulu; or this could be related to a logjam ambition for federalism; or maybe related to the impending civil disobedience because of the ill-timed closure of Kapa; or it could be related to his anointing of Cayetano in the fervently contested speakership at the house; or all of the above to pursue a nationwide martial law. All of us with widely opened eyes remain anxious and clueless about the warning.
With Duterte's hands sweating and the Armed Forces fingers fixed to set off the triggers, our only hope is that President Rodrigo Duterte will be blatant of his policy during his Sona on July 22, 2019 so that with the informed decision we will all align behind him and support his programs if only to circumvent the impending misfortune. (abrigodann@gmail.com)