People’s Choice Movement

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has been bringing out statements to guide the people on issues that affect the country. There have been voices, even among the bishops, questioning if these statements are being heeded at all. In spite of the doubts about the effectivity of these statements, the CBCP has decided once more in its plenary session last January to issue another statement on the forthcoming elections, with a faint hope that at least some people may be guided by it and act on it. Its statement, released last January 28, 2019, is entitled: “Seek the Common Good.” Among other things, it paints the crucial situation we are in:

“The midterm election in May 13 is crucial. In our country today the checks and balances in the government are being undermined. So far the senate is the institution in the government that is holding out as our country is inching towards total control. It is very crucial therefore that we elect candidates who are principled, courageous and who have the common good as their main concern and not their own political interests.”

So it encouraged lay people to bond and reflect together to pick the right candidates:

“We encourage voters to be very discerning in their votes. Let the lay groups engage in discernment circles to help one another know the candidates well and choose the candidates with the common good of the whole country in mind and not according to what the candidates promise, much less according to what they have received from these candidates.”

Then it pointed out a type of engagement that lay people can engaged in:

“Participation in politics for Christian lay people is not just to be limited to non-partisan involvement. Christians are also encouraged to engage in principled partisan participation. This means that they can campaign for good candidates as an exercise of their Christian faith.”

A not insignificant group of some 130 lay Christian leaders heeded the call. They organized themselves and discerned together the best senatorial candidates to support among the 62 contestants. Since 2015 these Christian leaders from the Catholic, Evangelical and Protestant persuasions have come up with GABAYKRISTO, a set of Christian criteria by which to measure the politicians. They researched the stance of the 62 candidates on various important national issues. They got the profiles of the candidates and they met several times to set up the criteria for screening the candidates. This is a serious kind of discernment circle that the bishops have been calling out. They call themselves the PEOPLE’S CHOICE MOVEMENT.

They came out with two layers of screening. The first screening is to vet the candidates on two know-out issues: belief in God and  federalism/charger change. They believe that a person who does not have the fear of God in him can easily abuse others. They also believe that the present state of the country is not ready for federalism and charter change. 30 candidates were eliminated on these two knock-out issues.

The 32 candidates who remained in the pool were then subjected to the second screening. They were rated using criteria based on GabayKristo, a guide of 20 specific questions which are divided into four categories –

·       Character and Honor,

·       Competence and Abilities,

·       Faithfulness to public service,

·       Faithfulness to God, the Constitution and the laws.

Each of the 20 questions was graded from 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest. The ten candidates with the highest scores were declared the selected candidates.

The following were the selected “10 BEST SENATORIAL CANDIDATES THAT OUR COUNTRY & PEOPLE NEED DURING THESE TIMES”. They are  presented below in alphabetical order - -

1.     Alejano, Gary

2.     Aquino, Bam

3.     Cominares, Nery

4.     Diokno, Chel

5.     Gutoc, Samira

6.     Hilbay, Pilo

7.     Macalintal, Romy

8.     Poe, Grace

9.     Roxas, Mar

10.  Tanada, Erin

Our lay leaders, with the People’s Choice Movement, have done their work of discernment. Now is the task for all the lay faithful to campaign the deserving candidates so as to counter the money and the political machineries that the TRAPO politicians are using. There are still two months for all to do this particular exercise of the Christian faith.

Broderick Pabillo

March 25, 2019

Season of Grace

LENT is known as a Season of Penance but it is also a Season of Grace. Special grace is poured out by Jesus Christ to people to be converted and be closer to the Him. It is 40 days of Penance, Prayer and Almsgiving. This is why we aptly call it Kuwaresma.

 In the Bible, 40 days or 40 years is a period of preparation. Hence the people journeyed for 40 years in the desert before they entered the Promised Land. Jesus too spent 40 days in the desert before he started his public ministry. 40 days and nights of rain cleansed the world of violence in the time of Noah to bring about a new creation. The prophet Elijah journeyed for 40 days to meet God on Mt Horeb as Moses fasted for 40 days before the Law was given to him on Sinai. Thus every year the Christian people pass through the 40 days of of lent to be renewed in preparation for the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter. In olden times the period of lent was a time of intense preparation for baptism which was administered on Easter. The catechumens participate in the suffering and death of Jesus in order to participate in his New Life in baptism. We die with Christ so that we may rise with him. This is the Christian life. Now for us who are already baptized, lent has become a season of intense purification so that we may fully share in the new life of the Resurrection.

The discipline of lent is spelled out by Penance, Prayer and Almsgiving. Penance means self-denial. We deny ourselves to gain more self-control and to free ourselves from the pull of sin. We heed the call of Jesus: “If you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” (Mk 8:34) This is done through fasting and abstinence. First, we abstain from sinful words, works and habits. Then we can fast from what we naturally crave, hence from food. Those who are 14 years old and above abstain from all meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of lent. Those who are 21 years old till 59 years old are asked to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, which means, to take only one full meal during those days. We can also include other forms of penance such as no chocolate or no coffee during the 40 days, or no television or no facebook, or even doing physical exercises during this period. The purpose is to say “no” to self so that we can say “yes” to God and to others. We say “yes” to God by praying more and intently during these days. It can mean reading the Bible, visiting the Blessed Sacrament, making the Way of the Cross, or praying the Rosary. We say “yes” to others by various works of charity, like the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Hence in lent we have Alay Kapwa, Fast to Feed, and more intense participation in Pondo ng Pinoy. Let us listen to what the Bible says: “The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.” (Isaiah 58:6-7)

The reception of the ash on Ash Wednesday means that we are ready to enter this special season of repentance. Hence one formula that is said as the ashes are being imposed is: “Repent and believe in the Good News.” Since Biblical times the ash on the head is a symbol of humility and penance. We are reminded of this by the other formula that is said over us: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

Let us then enter into this season of grace with humility and a repentant heart.

Reclamation in Manila Bay

(CBCPNews)

The Reclamation of Manila Bay has been talked about for many years now. It is made up many projects--at various stages of conceptualizations and even implementations--covering more than 600 hectares stretching to several cities and provinces along the Manila Bay area. One thing that many observed is the lack of transparency and consultation with the stakeholders, especially the people to be affected by the projects, such the small fisher folks, the farmers, and the residents along the shores of the bay. The small fisher folks will be displaced and their livelihood affected. I do not know if they are being considered by the government which is supposed to protect them.

Reclamation projects are very expensive and so the partners are the big businesses and even multinational foreign groups. In such projects therefore the ones who will benefit are the rich and the powerful. These are not done for the good of the ordinary people. The benefit to the ordinary people will just be the trickle-down effect, which is using the sweat of the ordinary common workers to  bring profit to the rich.

To reclaim the sea means that a lot of filling materials will be used at a massive scale. Where will the land come from? Either from the sea bed or from the land. In both cases the ecological balance of the sea and the land will be altered. Remember, we are speaking of more 600 hectares of reclaimed lands! Reclamation projects are not environmental neutral. They bring damage to the environment. And again who will suffer? The poor farmers, the poor fisher folks, and the ordinary dwellers in those areas where the materials are to be taken from. The massive displacement of land will affect many people and their livelihood.

There are many complains about Imperial Manila, that is, that Metro Manila is syphoning the development projects and the money of the whole country, and decisions are being done here, and mostly,  just for the good of Metro Manila. In fact this is one argument that those who support federalism are bringing forth. They want to spread development also to the other parts of the country so they clamor for spreading projects outside of Manila. They want to take away political and business control from Manila. Are the reclamation projects around Manila Bay promoting Imperial Manila? Yes, if business wants contiguous large track of lands for their projects, they can no longer get them in Metro Manila. But there are large tracks of lands in the provinces. Why not spend their billions and trillions to invest in those places, thus spread out development more evenly to other areas? By approving these projects the government is sending out a discordant signal with its criticism of Imperial Manila!

Concentrating development to Metro Manila is not good, not only to the other provinces, but also to the people of the Metropolis themselves. The massive structures and businesses that will be set up will attract more people to Metro Manila. This in turn will add up to the population congestion, resulting to more traffic, more garbage, and more pollution! It can even result to more flooding.

People are expecting the Big One—the massive earthquake that Manila and its surroundings experience every 400 years or so. It can come any time. Underground movements of the earth can trigger liquefaction, especially in areas where the earth is not that compact.  What damage liquefaction will do to reclaimed areas is not studied that thoroughly.  Should not this be a big reason to move the projects to safer grounds?

There are so many apprehensions about the big scale reclamation projects along Manila Bay. These should be properly addressed and explained to the people. We do not want just any kind of development, especially aggressive development that is being forced down the throat of the public, a development pushed only by big business interests with the nod of a government which is not concerned with long term effects to the ordinary people and to the environment. We want to know and be assured! The above concerns are to be addressed!