We shall overcome!

EASTER is a mystery. In spite of all the predictions of Jesus that he will rise again, all his closest disciples were disheartened by his death and disbelieved the news that he was risen. Even the women who first saw him could not believe. And the apostles himself could not believe him as truly risen even when he was with them, showing them his hands and his side and eating with them. Up to the moment of the ascension the apostles were still doubting, according to Matthew (28:17). Why? Because the resurrection is out of this world. Yes, it happened in history but it is first of all an event of faith. It is too wonderful to behold!

One needs to have faith to a have grasp of what the resurrection is, and faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. More than what we do to get it, it is primarily a gift of God to us. Faith is grace. This is why it is a mystery. However, when the apostles were armed with this grace of faith they were transformed to be men of courage and wisdom. They spoke boldly testifying even among the Jewish leaders. The leaders were at a loss. We are told in the Acts of the Apostles: “The members of the Council were amazed to see how bold Peter and John were and to learn that they were ordinary men without education.” (4:13)

Belief in the resurrection enables us to break through the chains of human possibilities. It says that death cannot contain life. Life triumphs over death, truth over sin, peace over violence, light over darkness, truth over lies.

It is the belief in the resurrection that enables us to speak out the truth in spite of the trolls that spin out false news and are engaged in cyber bullying. We continue to resist the moves to entrench those in power in spite of the machinery and the resources of the government on their side. We denounce the cowardice and lack of principles of our politicians even if they have the super majority. We cry for accountability even if the Lower House of Congress is being muted, and the Chief Justice and the ombudsman are being harassed, and all kinds of manipulations of the laws are being made to give a veneer of legality to the tools of harassment, like the quo warranto. We do these and we never stop because of our faith in the resurrection.

The power of the resurrection did not only work in Jesus. It is also working in us. St. Paul wrote: “I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light so that you will know …how very great is his power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength which he used when he raised Christ from death…” (Ephesians 1:18-19) With our faith in the resurrection then we say with firm conviction: “We shall overcome.” So we never stop fighting what is false and the power grab that is being staged in our country these days. The resurrection bids us to speak out!

-->

-->

Federalism is just a smokescreen

The expressed reasons given by Duterte and his people are pushing for federalism is to give greater autonomy to the regions so that they can have a fair share for funds and resources for their own development. They claim that there is much poverty in the countryside because imperial Manila has taken the lion’s share of the countries resources. Duterte then presents himself as the hero fighting for the decentralization of power and resources. Is this true?

From the actuations, the speeches, and the programs of the man we, however, do not see this. In fact he destroys the independence of other institutions in the government so that he can do what he wants without any opposition. He is one who wants to centralize power and who cannot take any criticism for his actions. He does not want any accountability. So he has taken over the Lower House, which is now just a stamping pad of the Executive. He wants to destroy the Judiciary because it stands in his way to do what he wants. Thus all the machinations to do away with the Chief Justice Sereno! He has issues with the Ombudsman because it wants to investigate him. He and his cohorts have trained his guns against the Commissioner on Human Rights because he asks a lot of questions and questions the human rights violations of his police. Now he is gunning against the International Criminal Court for its preliminary investigations against him. He is hurrying up to change the constitutions – not really to promote federalism - but to concentrate more power on the presidency as seen in the proposed resolutions for the Cha Cha. Do we have a man here who wants to devolve and decentralize power? Federalism is just a ruse to have the constitutions changed so as to have more power and to perpetuate himself and his family in power. He claims to fight corruption but he never speaks about political dynasty which is a major cause of corruption in country. Naturally he do not and cannot speak against the evil of political dynasties because he belongs to one. His administrations and his people in congress will never do away with political dynasties. It will further entrench it with the new constitutions they are proposing.

As for the claim that imperial Manila is getting all the resources of the country – how come he does not chance this when he is now in the position to do this even without federalism? He has the power to make the budget to favor the Visayas and Mindanao. But he does not do it. In fact his administration has increased the expenditures for Luzon and the NCR, rather than diminish it. Action speaks louder than words! Let the figures speak:

Duterte gives less regional allocations to Visayas and Mindanao in his budget

                                  2016                                                     2017                           2018 (Proposed)                                              

NCR                          P445 (14%)                                     P536 (16%)                           P897 (23%)

Luzon                        P628 (20%)                                     P718 (21%)                           P769 (20%)

Vis                             P298 (9.9%)                                    P328 (9.8%)                          P360 (9.6%)

Minda                        P396 (13%)                                      P416 (12%)                          P470 (12%)

Source: Govt Budget Administration (PAGBA)

file:///C:/Users/nc2017/AppData/Local/Temp/2018-National-Budget-the-Status-of-the-2017-Budget-Level-Dir-A-Arevalo.pdf

Imperial Manila’s budget is greater in the time of Duterte!

                                           AQUINO                             DUTERTE

                                          2016                                      2018

NCR SHARE                    (14.8%)                                 (23.9%)                                    

VISAYAS                          (9.9 %)                                  (9.6%)

MINDANAO                     (13.2%)                                 (12.5%)

Source: PAGBA Report

NCR has bigger per capita share in Duterte’s budget

                                            2018 Budget                         Per Capita

•       NCR                            817.95 B                                P63,000/person

•       VISAYAS                    412.9 B                                  P22,291/person *

•       MINDANAO               608.4 B                                 P25,499/person*

* approximate Average per capita

*Source: DBM 2018 Budget file:///C:/Users/nc2017/AppData/Local/Temp/2018-People's-Budget-for-posting.pdf