As Filipinos commemorate the declaration of martial law by the late former president Ferdinand E. Marcos (FM) on Sept. 21, 1972, I can only reminisce (ruefully) the government injustices, killings, kidnappings, oppressions, news distortions and political persecutions that ensued shortly after FM signed Proclamation 1081. I was a high school student at that time -- very young, but with eyes very opened. Thus, I was led to write the following piece.
Submission to government is one thing, but submission to ruthless, crooked, murderous, atheistic, diabolic authorities is quite another. The Bible admonishes submission to “governing authorities,” but not to evil authorities.
But be fair. Don’t judge the children by what their fathers did, unless they defend/justify the sins of their fathers and sugarcoat history. I want to believe that BBM (Bongbong) and Sara (Duterte) are not their fathers and vice versa. They deserve our prayers as the top two officials of the land, especially at this most trying, critical point of the nation’s history. Only the bitterly colored Filipinos will not pray for them. 1 Timothy 2:1-2.
Here’s the Scripture text, among others, pertaining to submission to government which are being misinterpreted, misused and abused by assorted people of screwed minds/souls, including religious leaders, alas! Hence, the reason many of them appear to be in cahoots (“religiously”) with the devil to commit wrong in society -- silent over sanctioned evils and subservient to evil rulers, hands down. They pray for and lay hands on them rather than their victims and would-be victims.
Please note well the biblical perspective of the Scripture text I added in the quote. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (This refers to authorities that have existed, are existing and will yet exist -- that are “from God” and “instituted by God.” But will there ever be authorities that come from God and are instituted by God -- that are abusive, cruel, corrupt, ungodly, blasphemous, murderous -- unless such a god is sadistic, a false-god? Or unless the authorities have metamorphosed from good to bad, to its hellish worst, and in which case God’s anointing is withdrawn just as He did to some of the Old Testament kings).
Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed (Note, “appointed” by whom? God. They are not election winners due to guns, gold, goons and guile, and “surveys” or “popularity”), and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad (in our country, it is usually the opposite that is true -- they are terror to good and those who advocate uprightness, but good to the bad and their allies, however bad they are).
Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant (stress, the authority is “God’s servant,”not servant of himself/any person or of political/vested interest or the devil) for your good (not for people’s exploitation). But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword (righteous judgment, not prejudiced, partisan, self-serving, politics-laden condemnation/persecution) in vain. For he is the servant of God (“servant of God”) an avenger who carries out God’s wrath (not man’s wrath) on the wrongdoer (not innocent). Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath (God’s wrath) but also for the sake of conscience (not the conscienceless?) ....” -- Romans 13:1-7
Having said all of the foregoing, there is no basis (biblically) for any people to lead an armed rebellion against their government. Revolutions don’t have to be violent. The peaceful, bloodless, miraculous Edsa revolution of 1986 was God-led, not people-led.
God Almighty has His way to correct wrongs and fight evils and exact vengeance and judgment for the oppressed and victims of injustice, e.g., Leila de Lima and the many politically persecuted prisoners, including the countless harassed and red-tagged individuals and groups. Isaiah 55:8-9, 2 Peter 2:9, Psalm 9:5, Psalm 37.28. “... The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.” -- 2 Peter 2:9
Paradox of all paradoxes: The “authorities” that fight rebels may not be fighting rebellion at all, truth be told. They are fighting for “something else” connected to the “budget.” Given the chance and opportunity, they may (themselves) lead rebellion with their covert agenda at the forefront of their heart and motive. This is calling a spade a spade, but much to my hesitation in order to sound “diplomatic,” I am compelled to say it as it is -- if only to liberate all of us.
The communist rebellion in the country is self-dissolving as its membership has greatly diminished and continues to disintegrate and diminish, much less as its founder and chief guru, Jose Maria Sison, is already dead. Could this be why “authorities” have to red-tag and “monitor” just about everyone who criticizes the government and advocates good governance -- to make the insurgency appear “big” and a “threat” to national security, with the ultimate goal of justifying their existence as a “task force” (with a “budget”)?
If ever there’s a need for something like the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), it should have been during the watch of former presidents Marcos, Fidel Ramos and Cory Aquino. Incongruous. The present Department of National Defense and National Security Council can well do the job to end (truly) the naturally shrinking, disappearing local communist insurgency, sans any special task force with dubious budget allotted to it, year after year -- forever and ever. Amen.
Dissolve the NTF-Elcac and the government will not only save billions of people’s money, red-tagging, human rights violations and human lives, not to mention minimizing government corruption. Greater still is that such an act will ultimately stop/end this pestering “insurrection” in the country as it has long been suspected that the “insurrection” continues to persist for reasons associated with or akin to the “budget.”
Abolish is the word, not just defund.