GOD
MANILA, MARCH 1, 2012 (INQUIRER) There's The Rub Voice of God By: Conrado
de Quiros - History repeats itself, first as tragedy and second as farce.
The Iglesia ni Cristo rally at the Luneta last Tuesday had an ignoble
precedent a little more than a decade ago. It also had to do with religion, it
also had to do with the Luneta, it also had to do with an impeachment.
And it was also justified as a prayer rally despite politics dripping all
over it like lard from a cooked goose.
That was the National Day of Prayer and Fasting held at the Luneta in
November 2000 by Erap's friends, many of them religious leaders.
Chief of them, if I recall right, was Mike Velarde who committed his
religious troops, also called El Shaddai, to the occasion. The event did try to
avoid explicitly political statements, dwelling in great part on religious
platitudes that had to do with sin and forgiveness.
But its intentions were clear. Erap was being battered by the impeachment and
could do with a little help from his friends. So they helped.
It didn't help. A couple of months later, the people themselves spoke in the
form of People Power. And before you could say Velarde, Mike or Jose, Erap was
gone.
The Iglesia rally dogs the same path. It did try to avoid explicitly
political statements last Tuesday, dwelling in great part on religious
platitudes that justified its existence. But its intentions were clear. Renato
Corona was being battered by the impeachment and could do with a little help
from his friends. So they helped.
It won't help either.
One insider summarized their cause on the eve of the rally: "It seems
Malacañang is not getting the message of the church. This is just another way to
show our displeasure." The displeasure has to do with P-Noy firing Magtanggol
Gatdula as NBI chief and apparently trying to pressure Serafin Cuevas to resign
as chief defense lawyer of Corona. Another insider put it this way on the day of
the rally itself: "It seems that this (administration) is only interested in
exacting revenge against its political opponents (instead of) bringing
meaningful reforms for the good of the Filipino people."
Malacañang has denied pressuring Cuevas to resign. Why on earth would it want
to do so? Cuevas is at least vastly more entertaining—and civilized—than Miriam
Defensor-Santiago. As to Gatdula, what does the Iglesia want P-Noy to do? Keep
Gatdula after he was implicated in the kidnapping and extortion of a Japanese
national? Or indeed after he refused to follow his order to remand the woman to
Immigration? The Iglesia says Gatdula wasn't given due process. But of course he
did. The principle is that public officials are there only so long as they can
prove themselves fit for their office, not so long as the world hasn't proved
them to be kidnappers or extortionists beyond a shadow of doubt. It's a
principle Corona would do well to learn. It's a principle the Iglesia would do
well to learn.
In fact, the Iglesia's stance is just a variation on the theme of, "We don't
particularly care if he's an SOB so long as he's our SOB." A thinking the
churches of this country seem to have embraced with a passion. The El Shaddai
excels at it, the Iglesia excels at it, the Catholic Church excels at it. Lest
we forget, the Catholic bishops, archbishops and even cardinals were Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo's moral prop during her time. Despite a range and scale of
crimes that rivaled only Marcos'. In lieu of "vox populi, vox Dei," the voice of
the people is the voice of God, it was "Gloria in excelsis Gloria," glory to
Gloria in the highest. It's enough to make you believe that in this country,
religion and morality are not hand in glove, they are oil and water. Ne'er the
twain shall mix.
A couple of months after Erap's prayer rally, he became history. I don't know
why we have to wait that long to make Corona history. I've been saying it for
some time now, about time we took to the streets again, if not indeed to the
Edsa Shrine, if not indeed to the Luneta itself, to make our displeasure known.
Our displeasure over the way the Judiciary has turned to mob rule, using the law
to hide the truth, using the law to despoil the law, using the law to thwart
justice. Our displeasure over the way the impeachment has gone, the impeachment
court surrendering its power to the very people it is meant to try. Our
displeasure over the way the institutions of this country, the courts, the
church, the military cannot see beyond narrow self-interest, to hell with right
and wrong, we don't care if he's an SOB so long as he's our SOB.
About time we made our pleasure, or affirmations, known as well. Our
affirmation that, contrary to what the Iglesia says, ridding the Supreme Court
of its dregs like Corona and Arroyo's justices, and prosecuting Arroyo herself
are not a distraction from more important matters, they strike at the heart of
the matter. Our affirmation that, contrary to what the usual suspects in the
impeachment court say, the Senate has no more vital, more important, more
life-and-death thing to do than to impeach the impeachable, legislating means
nothing if the spirit of the law can't take hold of this country anyway. Our
affirmation that, contrary to what Corona and Arroyo and their allies say,
impeaching Corona and prosecuting Arroyo do not draw attention away from
meaningful reforms, it is the most meaningful reform there is, cleaning up this
country once and for all, being the surest way you can put food on the table of
the hungry, being the surest way you can give hope to a despairing people.
Some voices just issue from the mouth of the devil, others from the mouth of
God. Vox populi, vox Dei, the voice of the people is the voice of God. It's time
we undertook People Power once again. That is the voice of the people.
That is the voice of God.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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