The following article will be published tomorrow or the day after in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. If you agree with it substantially, kindly pass on or alert others of kindred spirits.
Eduardo B. Olaguer
*****
OPEN LETTER TO P. NOY’s JUSTICE and FINANCE A-TEAM
We, the Advocates of Truth in Lending associates hereby announce that we are joining the national clamor “to defeat the enemies of the state through good governance… by wielding the tools of justice, social reform and equitable governance” as was so sincerely and inspiringly proclaimed by President Noy Aquino in his inaugural address.
Thus we humbly dare to speak for the tens of millions of our countrymen who for so long have suffered with us, especially during the last twelve years, from unconscionably and iniquitously EXCESSIVE interest rates which have gone as high as 36% per annum that have been routinely imposed by commercial banks under the supervision of the Bangko Sentral; or those surreptitiously collected by quasi-financing companies NOT supervised by the latter charging at least 45% per annum; or by installment-sales Dealers of motorcycles/tricycles with their going rate of at least 58% p.a. AND, worst of all, by giant department stores and their “SUPERMALL” owners-BANKERS who charge their BONDED agents/dealers 2-month fixed interest charges of 5% to be added to and payable with the principal in 4-equal installments every 15 days, which actually translate to an effective rate of 57.6% per annum when computed on the basis of the Bangko Sentral’s statutory and mathematical definition of effective “Simple Interest” for such installment credit transactions. In turn, these agents/dealers recruit their own customers who will pay for their purchases on installment using the bank-and-mall-owner’s Credit Cards, at the higher rate of 7% (instead of 5%) for two months’ credit as the add-on interest charge, payable together with the principal in 4 equal semi-monthly installments. These naïve customers enter into such atrociously objectionable contracts, OBLIVIOUS of the universally recognized mathematical fact, (but certainly KNOWN by the mall-owners-bankers) that they are being actually charged interest at the stupendous rate of 80.64% per annum, based on the Bangko Sentral’s statutory formula. That formula has the force of law because it is mandated by Section 2i of CB Circular No. 158 which are the Implementing Rules and Regulations of The Truth in Lending Act (RA 3765).
The root cause of this free-for-all nationwide GRAVE SOCIAL INJUSTICE perpetrated by means of gouging naively trusting consumers with unconscionably USURIOUS interest charges, is the fact that Ferdinand Marcos issued P.D. No. 1684 on March 17, 1980 thereby authorizing the old Central Bank to prescribe the maximum rate of interest. And so in 1982, the Jobo Fernandez-led Monetary Board WENT OVERBOARD by issuing its infamous Circular No. 905 which provided among others, that: “The rate of interest …. on a loan … regardless of maturity and whether secured or unsecured, that may be charged or collected by any person… should NOT BE SUBJECT TO ANY CEILING prescribed under or pursuant to the Usury Laws as amended.” (emphasis added)
Nevertheless in various landmark Decisions e.g. Corazon G. Ruiz vs Court of Appeals (GR. No. 146942), Medel vs Court of Appeals (299 SCRA 481), Sps. Solangon vs Salazar (GR. No. 125944), the High Court has been consistently INVALIDATING excessive e.g. 3% per month (which is actually 42.576% per annum!), stipulated interest rates, and instead has reduced them to the legal rate of 12% per annum! And in Almeda vs PNB and Court of Appeals (256 SCRA 307) the High Court has reiterated that “Any contract which appears to be heavily weighed in favor of one of the parties so as to lead to an unconscionable result, IS VOID”! (emphasis added)
It is high time therefore that P.Noy’s A-Team of policy and decision makers in the fields of economics, finance and justice working in collaboration with Congress, should immediately take steps to REPEAL this highly anachronistic and INIQUITOUS Presidential Decree No. 1684. Otherwise, it will only be in our oft belittled “Pilipines” where there continues to be such a barbarically CRIMINAL albeit legalized USURY imposed by and/or in collaboration with seemingly respectable Christian businessmen including prominent Catholics who despite being conscienceless USURERS, routinely participate in the “Holy Sacrifice of the Mass” and even dare to receive the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. They ought to be reminded that whether legal or not, USURY remains MORALLY ABHORRENT. (vide Catholic Catechism paragraphs 2409 and 2536)
Hopefully therefore, our most respected Catholic economists will all see the GRAVE SOCIAL INJUSTICE in such a sad state of credit affairs, considering that no country in the whole wide world has ever attained sustainable long-term economic growth and stability, while burdened by high interest rates, and MUCH LESS when UNCONSCIONABLY EXCESSIVE. Thus our Supreme Court’s aforecited Decisions enlightened by its Justices’ mostly intuitive grasp of real economics AND with a deep sense of SOCIAL JUSTICE, have been consistently STIGMATIZING interest rates greater than 18% per annum as “iniquitous and contrary to public policy”, even if mutually agreed to by both borrower and lender!
Admittedly it will take at least a year for the repeal of Presidential Decree No. 1684 even assuming OPTIMISTICALLY, that the shaky majorities in both the Senate and Lower House will be in agreement.
In the meantime however, there is SO MUCH that is DOABLE and OUGHT BE DONE IMMEDIATELY, in order “to defeat the enemies of the state through good governance” strictly on the basis of that little known and much less understood nor appreciated old Central Bank Circular No. 158 which provides the statutory teeth for the Truth in Lending Act together with the wellknown relevant provisions of our Civil and Penal Codes vis-à-vis commercial obligations and contracts.
These forgotten statutory teeth of CB Circular No. 158 which was issued in October 1963, are the technical provisions under Section 2i thereof, which contain the statutory definitions (hence with the force of law) of Simple Annual Interest Rates i.e. interest rates per annum, and the statutory limitations on the widely mis-used interest computation formula I = PRT/365, as follows: (with emphases and comments added)
“Simple annual rate” is the uniform percentage which represents the ratio, on an annual basis, between the finance charges and the amount to be financed.
In the case of a single payment upon maturity, the simple annual rate in percent is determined by the following method:
finance charge 12 x
amount to be maturity period
financed in months
Addendum: (Comments)
a) Let the “finance charge” or interest be denoted as I
b) Let the “amount to be financed” or Principal be denoted as P
c) Let the “maturity period in months” be denoted as T and 12 as the number of months in one (1) year.
d) And thus by substitution with the above algebraic symbols, the “simple interest” formula with LIMITED APPLICABILITY is the result, per CB Circular 158 (2i) derived as follows:
The Simple Annual Rate R = I/P x 12/T or: R = 12I/PT
e) And by transposition, it becomes:The Interest Charges or Finance Charges I = PRT/12 where T is the maturity period expressed in months which may often be less than 12 months, and R is the given or resulting Simple Annual Rate as the case may be, while P is the principal or amount to be financed
f) And so if the maturity period T will be expressed in days (which may often be less than 365 days) instead of months, necessarily the denominator 12(months) should be replaced by 365 (days). Thus the formula becomes: I = PRT/365, Thus too:
I = P x R x T/365, where P is the Principal, R is the given Simple Annual Rate, and T is the maturity period expressed in days, at the end of which “one single payment” of interest I is due.
g) Hence I = PRT/365 MAY NOT BE USED on a monthly/quarterly basis PRIOR to loan
maturity!
In the case of the normal installment type of credit of at least one year in duration, where installment payments of equal amount are made in regular time periods spaced not more than one year apart, the simple annual rate (R), in percent, is computed by the following method:
Number of payments
finance charge in a year x
amount to be total number of
financed payments plus one
In cases where the credit matures in less than one year (e.g., installment payments are required every month for six months), the same formula will apply except that: the number of payments in a year would refer to the number of installment periods, as defined in the credit contract, if the credit matures in one year. For example, the number of payments in a year would be twelve for this purpose in a case where six monthly installment payments are called for in the credit transaction.
Incidentally, RA 3765 requires all establishments extending credit, to have all the above statutory provisions posted prominently within their premises!
Sad to say, our commercial banks and other commercial lenders or financiers are favored with the obvious and benign tolerance of the Bangko Sentral whose chief executive Governor as well as its Chairman of the Monetary Board who is often the Secretary of Finance, are both usually former Presidents of our biggest commercial banks. Thus it practically explains why our local BIG MONEY LENDERS have succeeded in SUPPRESSING the statutorily-mandated FULL publication of CB Circular 158. And as a result, the formula I =PRT/365 and the more complicated formulae for installment purchases on credit, are often FRAUDULENTLY mis-used or ignored in computing the monthly or quarterly interest charges on loans and/or their corresponding “effective” rates. And so the FRAUDULENT compounding and bloating of already bloated interest rates well beyond their contractually stipulated Simple Annual Rates are cleverly or even CRIMINALLY DISGUISED! And so too unfortunately today, virtually a handful of borrowers outside big corporate boardrooms know for a fact that Section 2i of CB Circular No. 158 PROHIBITS the use of the formula I = PRT/365 except for interest charges covering “single payments upon maturity”!!! And worse, installment-sales buyers/customers unwittingly accept installment payment plans whose effective interest rates range from 57.6% per annum to as high as 80.64% per annum!
In addition to our urgent recommendation for the immediate STOPPAGE of such widespread fraudulent victimization of innocent borrowers, we also completely agree with the incoming administration’s LOGICALLY CORRECT policy of FIRST IMPROVING TAX COLLECTION EFFICIENCY, before even considering the oppressive alternative of RAISING TAX RATES or TAXING OTHER NEW SOURCES of commercial revenue. Thus for example, it is a far simpler matter of IMMEDIATELY ORDERING the B.I.R. to APPREHEND and PENALIZE those responsible for the widespread commercial banking MALPRACTICE of NOT ISSUING OFFICIAL RECEIPTS on interest charges collected from borrowers, instead of increasing the Withholding Tax on such earnings. For it is a widely known fact that instead of O.R.s, merely Debit Memos and/or Statements of Account are issued by these banks to acknowledge interest payments directly deducted from the borrowers’ bank deposit accounts, thus facilitating large scale TAX EVASION…
Our collective records show that all the abovedescribed commercial lending malpractices among others, have been brought up repeatedly to NO AVAIL to the official attention of both the Bangko Sentral and the B.I.R. as well as in various judicial courts over the last ten years. Nevertheless, these FRAUDULENT malpractices have continued UNABATED with ever growing IMPUNITY!
Thus in a letter-complaint dated 5 April 2000 addressed to members of the House and Senate Committees on Banks, with a copy furnished to Mr. Rafael Buenaventura as Governor of the Bangko Sentral, one of our incorporators brought up the mathematically precise fact that the STATUTORY formula I = PRT/365 when fraudulently mis-used on a monthly basis instead of only for single payments of interest and principal “UPON MATURITY”, and if applied on an 18% per annum Promissory Note, such mis-use results in an effective rate of 19.56% per annum, or an illicit gain of 8.67% MORE (19.56/18), in terms of EFFECTIVE interest income earned by the lender-bank. Applying this ILLICIT incremental gain of 8.67% on Two Trillion Pesos in commercial bank loans outstanding in 1999 with an assumed average stipulated interest rate of 18% per annum, he conservatively estimated in April 2000 that the fraudulent incremental “boondoggle” was around P31 Billion per year. That was TEN YEARS AGO! That amount should now be at least DOUBLE on an annualized basis.
In comparison, the one-time Bolante boondoggle in fertilizers worth some P728 Million, PALES in comparison. Therefore: tama na, sobra na!
The Incorporators
ADVOCATES FOR TRUTH IN LENDING, INC.
(In the process of incorporation)
P.O. Box 745 Araneta Center
Cubao, Quezon City 1135
Atty. Nelson A. Clemente Atty. Nathaniel A. Lobigas
Romeo J. Jorge Eduardo B. Olaguer
Priscilla D. Zapanta Carmelito R. Zapanta
Atty. Runy M. Sarda
Wednesday, July 14
Friday, February 12
MARY, “Mediatrix of All Grace” (Part 2)
TO LIGHT A FIRE!
62-100212
One of the most significant features of the Catholic Church that distinguishes it from any other religion or “church”, is its constant and endless stream of “private” supernatural revelations as distinguished from the “public” or official revelations contained in the Old and New Testaments. Particularly significant are the claims for such private occurrences during the past two centuries involving the Blessed Virgin Mary and Her prophetic announcements of apocalyptic Divine Justice “soon” to be faced by mankind.
Starting with La Sallete (1846) and Lourdes (1858), both in France, Fatima in Portugal (1917), Beauraing (1932) and Banneux (1933) both in Belgium, Amsterdam in Holland (1945-59),Garanbandal in Spain (1961-1965), Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovinna (1981 up to now), Akita in Japan (1973), Kibeho in Rwanda (1982-88), Hrushivan in Ukraine (1987) and Lipa in the Philippines (1948 and 1992-94), plus many more albeit less known, Our Lady’s singleminded core message has been centered on Her urgent pleas for constant prayer (particularly Holy Mass and the Rosary) with sincere penance, as the only way towards spiritual conversion (metanoia) into the safety and salvation in Her Son Jesus Christ. She makes these requests together with stark reminders about the ever worsening material, political, economic, moral and spiritual crises confronting the whole world.
Regardless of whether or not we believe in those private apocalyptic revelations, there is nevertheless widespread acceptance of the fact that modern civilization is now threatened with imminent near-total chaos and/or destruction, as a result of any one or a combination of probable events such as a global economic meltdown, warming of our oceans particularly those in the polar regions, extreme weather conditions, our planet Earth’s collision with an asteroid, Richter Scale 7 to 8-magnitude earthquakes, tsunamis, diseases like SARS, swine or bird flu, and even nuclear war erupting from any of the explosive geo-political controversies involving Palestine, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Taipei, Russia, Europe, China, the U.S. and the Middle East.
On February 16, 2006 CNN Television aired a scientific panel discussion during which it was claimed that as many as 142 million lives could be lost through a pandemic Bird Flu outbreak. Earlier it was posted on the website of <> that on September 17, 2005 Islamic fundamentalist President Ahmadinejad of Iran addressed a prayer right there in New York City during a speech before the General Assembly of the United Nations, to Iran’s and all Moslems’ expected liberator and “Messiah”, the so-called 12th Immam, who is expected to come soon. And thus he said a month later on October 26, 2005 as reported by the Al Jazeerah News, that the 12th Immam’s return would be the start of a world-wide conflagration whereby
And just a couple of days ago, the Eastern seaboard of the United States was again blanketed with almost a meter thick of blizzard-driven snow, causing the virtual paralyzation of the whole region including the Federal government in Washington D.C. for four successive days. Widespread speculations soon followed about a coming “Snowpocalypse” or even “Snowmaggeddon”. And practically every recent moviegoer was also reminded about Nostradamus and the related film of his predictions concerning his version of “Apocalypse Now”, widely shown in movie theaters throughout the world.
But from Our Lady’s supernatural point of view, such probably imminent physical catastrophes, though also a part of her own prophetic warnings, are NOT her main concern. In fact she considers that such cataclysmic natural phenomena, social upheavals and economic meltdown involving MAMON and his MONEY, including a geo-politically triggered nuclear war, are but God’s ultimate alternative recourse other than Our Lady’s pleas, in order to drive home the fundamental existential fact -- that without Jesus Christ, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, mankind will surely sow and regretfully reap his own terrible destruction.
And so I still vividly recall that evening when my late dear departed brother, Antonio B. Olaguer, S.J. and I were gifted with the rare privilege of having a marathon after-dinner tête-tête with Lipa’s visionary Teresing Castillo sometime in 1993 or thereabouts. It was some 45 years after Our Lady had completed Her first series of apparitions circa 1948 as Mediatrix of All Grace. And this second time around, through Her own voice perceived by Teresing to be emanating from a “globe of light”, She repeated Her global warning e.g. “The days are counted and judgment will come!”, and that “God’s wrath is still held by my (Our Lady’s) pleading hands… (for the world) to repent and be converted ….. (because as our Mother, she) would not like to be witness to His plan of punishment.”
And much later in November of 2006, I was once again providentially privileged in being one of those invited, aside from Teresing Castillo, separately but following each other, to confer privately with the latest visionary from
The private supernatural messages coursed through Anne since the year 2003 are contained in eight booklets or Volumes and other books published by Direction for Our Times and distributed here in the
Seeing Anne and Teresing Castillo from a short distance warmly greeting and embracing each other there at the top floor of the Intercon Hotel in Makati City, later on made me realize that it was a rare yet edifying opportunity to be a witness for a particular truth: the truth that their acceptance and obedience to Our Lady’s messages and urgent pleas for prayer and penance were a sure guarantee of a deeper universal truth – that these two visionaries, as Our Lady’s and Her Son’s true friends and disciples, had been destined to become “victim souls”, to be immolated by long years of suffering including SLANDER and VILIFICATION, but always for the sake of Christ and in Christ.
Coincidentally but certainly providentially too, the first of the eight booklets of the messages given to Anne contain Our Lady’s affirmation of those previously given by Her to Teresing which I have cited earlier. It reads as follows: (with emphases added)
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Blessed Mother: “Do you hear My Son’s voice? He is calling His children with authority. Dear little ones, He does this in an effort to save them. The Voice of my Son bears authority and that is why He says His children will know that it is He, their God, who calls out to them. My little ones must make a choice now. And they must choose God and all that is good. Chosen ones, it is time to pray, and you have been called upon to pray. Join your mother in this mission of mercy to your fallen brothers and sisters. Together we minister to their souls, preparing their souls to melt with love for the Divine Rescuer, who seeks them out at this time. Truly, we call you with an unparalleled urgency. You feel this in your hearts and this is an accurate, divinely placed, knowledge. Little ones, be joyful. God has chosen you to help Him and that is wonderful for you and for every soul that you reach. Through you, I will reach out to many. I am helping Jesus, with every grace available to me at this time. Much of this grace comes from your prayers and sacrifices and little offerings. So do not begrudge me these gifts. Children, I am also using, in a special way, the lives of my holy ones who are consecrated to me. Priests and religious, holy men and women, console my heart in extraordinary fashion right now and I am maximizing the tremendous graces I receive from these righteous souls. Religious in the world are under attack. Be brave, religious souls. Your mother defends you as her own and you will be raised up to your rightful place soon. Instead of being honoured by the world, you are reviled and slandered. This will not endure. I want to say that there are those religious who have disappointed my Son and turned to the evil one. Do not think, oh souls of Satan, that you will escape divine justice. And for you who have damaged innocent souls? All of heaven quakes with the retribution that will be yours. I say this to you with a special gravity. Repent. Admit your sins and become cleansed. Only in this way will you enter into the
And much earlier on October 29, 1977 our Blessed Mother gave a similar, albeit milder warning through Reverend Father Stefano Gobbi (Message No 138 from Our Lady Speaks to Her Beloved Priests), as follows: (with emphases added)
138
October 29, 1977
Feast of Blessed Michael Rua
Doubts and Perplexity
a. “Do not be surprised, beloved sons, that my Adversary does everything he can to obstruct this work of mine.
b. His favorite weapon is to sow doubts and perplexity about what I am doing in the Church. He tries to base these doubts on reasons which are seemingly solid and justifiable. Thus he instills a critical attitude toward whatever I tell you, even before you have received and understood my words.
c. You happen to hear of certain brothers of yours who are cultured men and often even experts and masters in theology, who reject those things I tell you, because they sift all my words with their minds, which have already been filled with the richness of their culture. And so they find insurmountable difficulties precisely in those phrases which are so clear to the simple and small.
d. My words can be understood and accepted only by one whose mind is humble and well-disposed, who has a simple heart, and whose eyes are clear and pure. When the Mother speaks to her children, they listen to her because they love her. They do whatever she tells them, and thus they grow in knowledge and life.
e. Those who criticize her even before they have listened to her and those who reject what she says before putting it into practice, cannot be her children. These people, even though they increase in learning, cannot grow in wisdom and life.
f. I tell you this so that you will not be troubled if you hear that even the learned and the teachers find difficulty in my words, while everything appears so clear and simple to whomever I call to be little. Look to your heavenly Mother who knows very well where and how to lead you so that the plan of her Immaculate Heart may be fulfilled. Do not allow yourselves to be either discouraged or surprised by the doubts and the perplexities which can even increase, without however being prejudicial in any way to my great work of love.”
Therefore it has to be emphasized that the much more significant and essential messages given by our Blessed Mother to both Anne and Teresing as well as those through Father Gobbi, have to do with God’s LOVE for mankind, now expressed more often during this Marian Age, through our Blessed Mother. She pleads with us to repent and to reconcile with Her Son Jesus Christ preferably through the intercession of Her Immaculate Heart. And it is precisely such seemingly unsophisticated, thus incredible to the sophisticated and even irrelevant, messages that most of the secular world will reject. In fact, Christ Himself predicted such a typical reaction from among “the wise and learned” (Matthew 11:25). For indeed whenever we are so full of our proud thoughts, we reject divinely inspired promptings and messages which to the simple, poor and oppressed, are so limpidly edifying.
And so I believe we should pray for and take real pity on the Papal Nuncio and the President of the
And yet there are still too many Catholic bishops and priests nowadays, who think that it is fashionably “progressive” for them to consider all private supernatural revelations as mere superstition or at best irrelevant.
EDUARDO B. OLAGUER
Catholic Xybrspace Apostolate of the
<>
February 12, 2010
Thursday, February 4
THREE CHEERS!!!: FOR THE FIVE PAST PRESIDENTS OF OUR INTEGRATED BAR
TO LIGHT A FIRE! 61-020410
I have always believed that a “NO BRAINER” in any profession or work is basically a “NO BRAINER” too for ordinary persons gifted with common-sense, even if they are in some OTHER field or discipline.
Thus for us ordinary non-lawyers who have an adequate understanding of the English language and a College-level grasp of basic logic, a provision of our Constitution which states that the appointment of a successor-in-office to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court SHOULD be made by our President within ninety days after that judicial office becomes vacant, is NOT CONTRADICTED but merely QUALIFIED by another provision which mandates an EXCEPTION to the prior rule. And so such appointments are EXPLICITLY prohibited by our Constitution from being made, starting two (2) months prior to a Presidential election and until the end of the incumbent President’s term of office. Besides, as in the case of the incumbent Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno who will retire on 17 May 2010, the mandatory period for making his successor’s appointment extends 90 days after May 17 or until August 14, 2010. And since by EXCEPTION the prohibited period will end much earlier on June 30, 2010 therefore, there will still remain some 45 days for the next elected President to fulfill the mandate of the law.
For most basic it is in LOGIC that an EXCEPTION is NOT a CONTRADICTION! Thus my Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary (10th Edition) defines “EXCEPTION” as an “exclusion: a case to which a rule does not apply”; whereas “CONTRADICTION” is defined as a situation wherein two related propositions, statements or rules CANNOT BE TRUE OR POSSIBLE, BOTH AT THE SAME TIME. Thus if one of the two is true or possible, the other one must be false or impossible. And conversely, if one of the two is false, the other one must be true. As an example, the Christian proposition that “God exists” is contradictory to atheists’ belief that “There is NO God!” But such is NOT the case in the abovecited provisions of our Constitution! And so in contrast, the statement “All souls will be eternally saved EXCEPT those who refuse to be saved!” just like those Constitutional provisions, do NOT contain a contradiction at all. Indeed a NO BRAINER…
And so in order to “cure the contradiction” (sic!), or more precisely, to FELONIOUSLY circumvent thus KNOWINGLY VIOLATE the law, PGMA wants to make the appointment prior to March 12, 2010 when the 2-month prohibitory period kicks in, even if there is still NO VACANCY in the position of SC Chief Justice at that time obviously because Chief Justice Puno would NOT YET have retired prior to May 17, 2010!
Thus the public statement issued by the past (covering the last 10 years) National Presidents of the Integrated Bar of the
v The proposal… to circumvent (the) Constitution… is sheer arrogance of power.
v It is preposterous (and) ludicrous… to claim… the proposition is necessary…
v It is sheer sophistry to say now that this rule of succession (Section 2 of the Judiciary Act of 1948) has been repealed by the 1987 Constitution… (considering that the latter) provides that “all existing laws not inconsistent with this Constitution shall remain operative until amended, repealed or revoked”.
v It insults the intelligence of even the most puerile mind for anyone to argue that the Chief Justice is not a member of the Supreme Court. (For if so according to PGMA and her mouthpieces, the successor to Chief Justice Puno is NOT covered by the pre-election ban KUNO!)
But the Attorneys/Past IBP Presidents Raoul R. Angangco, Jose Aguila Grapilon, Arthur D. Lim, Teofilo S. Pilando and Feliciano M. Bautista saved what was best, for the last, when they cited Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code and Section 3(a) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (R.A. 3019) both of which “impose the penalty of imprisonment and permanent disqualification from public office” on violators thereof. Thus by inference, on the basis of those statements from our courageous and clearheaded IBP Past Presidents, those harsh provisions of existing CRIMINAL laws would clearly be applicable in particular to Supreme Court Associate Justice Renato Corona or to anyone else “who succumbs to the temptation of power and accepts an illegal appointment to become the next Chief Justice (because he/she) benefits from the proceeds of the crime and shall stand criminal prosecution.” (emphasis added)
For the benefit of those who may disagree, the abovecited statements are reproduced here below in FULL together with the relevant Constitutional provisions involved.
But the most vexing question remains: why would the President of the Philippines and her would-be accomplices to such an obviously NO BRAINER criminal act with CONSPIRACY to boot, take such a GREAT RISK of becoming convicted felons incarcerated behind PRISON BARS? What’s behind it all? Are they that desperate?
EDUARDO B. OLAGUER
Catholic Xybrspace Apostolate
of the
<>
February 04, 2010
Relevant Provisions of our Constitution
Article VIII Sec 4. (1) The Supreme Court shall be composed of a Chief Justice and fourteen Associate Justices. It may sit en banc or in its discretion, in divisions of three, five, or seven Members. Any vacancy shall be filled within ninety days from the occurrence thereof.
Article VII Sec. 15. Two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term, a President or Acting President shall not make appointments, except temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will prejudice public service or endanger public safety.
Article VIII Sec. 9. The Members of the Supreme Court and judges of lower courts shall be appointed by the President from a list of at least three nominees prepared by the Judicial and Bar Council for every vacancy. Such appointments need no confirmation.
Article XVIII Sec 3. All existing laws, decrees, executive orders, proclamations, letters of instructions, and other executive issuances not inconsistent with this Constitution shall remain operative until amended, repealed or revoked.
STATEMENT OF PAST NATIONAL PRESIDENTS
OF THE INTEGRATED BAR OF THE
We, the undersigned past National Presidents of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, strongly condemn the actions of a powerful yet subservient few who are proposing to commence the procedure in nominating applicants for the vacancy to be left by Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno prior to his mandatory retirement on May 17, 2010.
Under Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution, the President is prohibited from making any appointments at least two (2) months prior to the next Presidential Elections. In fact, the Supreme Court categorically declared in the case of In Re Appointments, 298 SCRA 408 (1998), “that this ban not only applies to the Executive but also to the Judiciary.”
The proposal to appoint a Chief Justice is obviously intended to circumvent this Constitutional prohibition against midnight appointments and lay the basis for the outgoing President to appoint a Chief Justice of her choice despite the absence of a vacancy. This is sheer arrogance of power.
It is preposterous for those behind this ludicrous proposal to claim that the proposition is necessary in order for the Supreme Court to function unhampered by the “hiatus” occasioned by a vacancy in the High Tribunal. At present, the Supreme Court is composed of Chief Justice Puno and 14 Justices. Upon the retirement of Chief Justice Puno, 14 Associate Justices will be more than enough to constitute a quorum.
At that point in time, by operation of law, the most senior Associate Justice will then take the place of Chief Justice Puno as Acting Chief Justice pursuant to Section 2 of the Judiciary Act of 1948. This is a time-honored tradition observed for more than half a century in the history of the Supreme Court.
It is sheer sophistry to say now that this rule of succession has been repealed by the 1987 Constitution. Section 3 Article XVIII of the 1987 Constitution provides that “all existing laws not inconsistent with this Constitution shall remain operative until amended, repealed or revoked.” The framers of the 1987 Constitutional Commission are clear in their deliberations that in the event of the inability of the Chief Justice to act in any capacity, for any reason, including his retirement, the most senior Associate Justice shall assume the position as Acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
In fact, the same rule of succession was followed in 1992 at the end of the term of Chief Justice Marcelo B. Fernan where then Associate Justice Andres R. Narvasa assumed the position as Acting Chief Justice prior to his official appointment as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. To argue an implied repeal is disingenuous.
It is also a misrepresentation of the letter and intent of the law to say that the President can appoint the next Chief Justice even in the absence of a nomination from the JBC. The flimsy justification advanced in support of this position is that Section 9, Article VIII of the Constitution on the power of the JBC to submit nominations refers only to “members of the Supreme Court.”
It insults the intelligence of even the most puerile mind for anyone to argue that the Chief Justice is not a member of the Supreme Court. Section 4(1), Article VIII of the Constitution clearly states that the Supreme Court is composed of a Chief Justice and fourteen Associate Justices. Since the ratification of the 1987 constitution and the establishment of the JBC, all appointments of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, including the appointment of Chief Justice Puno by the incumbent President, were issued on the basis of the list of nominees submitted by the JBC. It taxes credulity how such a misinterpretation of the Constitution can be foisted upon our people.
What is clear is that anyone taking part in this shameful conspiracy to trample upon the Constitution in blind obedience to the whims of today’s wielders of power will have to contend with penal laws that punish their actions.
Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code defines the issuance of midnight appointments and promotions during an election ban as an election offense and punishes with imprisonment and permanent disqualification from office all principals, accomplices and accessories in this illegal act.
Section 3 (a) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act also punishes with imprisonment and disqualification from public office anyone “persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations duly promulgated by competent authority or an offense in connection with the official duties of the latter, or allowing himself to be persuaded, induced, or influenced to commit such violation or offense.”
That both penal laws impose the penalty of disqualification from public office emphasize that these acts constitute a clear betrayal of public trust. Let it be known that apart from individuals now obviously complicit in this attack against our fundamental law, anyone who succumbs to the temptation of power and accepts an illegal appointment to become the next Chief Justice benefits from the proceeds of the crime and shall stand criminal prosecution.
When the powerful begin to misinterpret clear provisions of law to suit their selfish ends, the law becomes a tool for the mighty when it was meant as protection for the weak.
We implore the Judicial and Bar Council to stand in defense of the rule of law and to restore decency in the process of succession to the highest office in our judicial establishment. We ask them not to bow down to the blatant abuse of power by a partisan few.
We simply ask people in whom we have reposed our trust to serve our nation, to follow the Constitution, to act with a modicum of decency, and to stand on the right side of history as we join hands in defeating the machinations of those betraying the public trust.
Signed
RAOUL R. ANGANGCO
(1995-1997)
Signed
JOSE AGUILA GRAPILON
(1997-1999)
Signed
ARTHUR D. LIM
(1999-2001)
Signed
TEOFILO S. PILANDO
(2001-2003)
Signed
FELICIANO M. BAUTISTA
(2007-2009)
Monday, February 1
MARY, “Mediatrix of All Grace” (Part 1)
TO LIGHT A FIRE!
60-100201
My wife Daisie and I together with four other married couples/lay associates of ours in the Marian Movement of Priests (MMP) were highly privileged last Thursday, to have been assigned to the 9AM-to-11AM slot for the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, there at the World Trade Center as the MMP lay members’ prayer support for the Second National Congress of Priests.
Among the organizers’ gifts of appreciation to each of us was a booklet entitled “I am MARY, Mediatrix of All Grace” authored by Teresita L. Castillo, and published with a) the Imprimatur of His Eminence Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal (Archbishop of Cebu, Philippines); b) a FOREWORD from the Archbishop of Lipa, Batangas, His Excellency Ramon C. Argüelles; and c) a corresponding MESSAGE from the immediate past President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and Archbishop of Jaro, His Excellency Angel N. Lagdameo.
I thought I was already quite familiar with the entire story about Our Lady’s series of private apparitions with many instances of “shower of petals” and “messages” given to Sister Teresita when she was still a 21-year old Carmelite Novice in their monastery at Lipa City in 1948, and again, some 43 years later in 1993 and 1994. For sometime in 1994 I had a long private interview with her together with one of her priest-confidants, my brother, the late Antonio B. Olaguer S.J. And four years ago she and I also discussed there in her house in Parañaque, the latest congruent and CONFIRMATORY messages being given since 2004, to Anne the Lay Apostle from Ireland and published in a series of booklets being distributed in the Philippines by Direction for Our Times through the Assisi Foundation of former Ambassador to the Vatican, Howard Q. Dee.
But reading for the first time her own personally-written account of those supernatural events (for I had intuitively believed in her since the first newspaper reports in September 1948 about those events, when I was still a first year high school student at the Ateneo de Naga), made me feel as if her story were as fresh, exciting yet even more edifying and COMPELLING than before!
Yes, I tried for the past couple of days to reach her through the telephone. For I wanted to ask her permission to reproduce her booklet in this Website, for the purpose of discussing its profound ramifications for all of us and in connection with my previous blog articles on basically the same matters pertaining to our Catholic Faith. Apparently I am only one of many thousands who would like to talk to her after having read her booklet. Thus her telephone must have been taken “off the hook” because it is now constantly emitting a “busy” signal.
And so, considering the fact that her booklet has no mention of any “copyright” claim nor any name of the Printer or Publisher, and is apparently NOT FOR SALE, I have come to the conclusion that Teresing Castillo will not mind if I repeat her full story in this blog and website of the Catholic Xybrspace Apostolate – <www.catholicxybr.org>
Here it is therefore, dear readers and visitors, so that you may all know Jesus Christ even more intimately through Mary, his Mother and ours too.
EDUARDO B. OLAGUER
Catholic Xybrspace Apostolate of the
www.catholicxybr.org
February 01, 2010
Monday, January 18
Whereto and Whatnow Philippines? (Part 5/Conclusion)
TO LIGHT A FIRE
59-100118
The first half of the Philippine Daily Inquirer editorial last January 3 entitled “Sources of Hope” was somewhat parallel to that of the CBCP President’s message for the New Year, thus it started as follows: (emphasis added)
The Latin phrase “annus horribilis” has been in the popular lexicon ever since Queen Elizabeth II used it to describe 1992, a year plagued by misfortune for her property and her family. The same has been said of 2009; it surely qualifies as one of the worst years in living memory.
It comes as no surprise, then, that polled before the year ended, an overwhelming majority of Filipinos from all walks of life (89 percent, according to the Social Weather Stations) expressed hopefulness about this year.
We have dwelt on the disasters and the grim events that hogged the headlines in 2009, the political and economic difficulties that beset a nation battered by natural calamities.
What we wish to do now is point out that even as official irresponsibility and impunity alienated the public, and the economy and nature battered the citizenry, we were able to witness heroism and compassion temper these events, giving hope and providing inspiration to all of us.
Suffice it to say that if we saw our political institutions preferring to live lavishly, lie constantly, exercise impunity with a near-total failure on the part of the citizenry to exact accountability, we saw individuals and even groups demonstrate how to serve humbly, and live lives that bear authentic witness to truth and public service.
While still far less prevalent than we hope, these witnesses to virtue and duty have helped the public to realize that official corruption and indifference have a price; and that the public has the means to change the situation for the better.
Former Prime Minister (and recent convert to Catholicism) Tony Blair’s World View column entitled “A time of tests”, was also all about the tough times that decision makers have to face today. It ended up with the following conclusion:
“So no matter how difficult it is, we should remember what it is we believe in and why.”
“So now is the moment, even among all the uncertainty, for some clarity- and that clarity comes best from a worked-out strategy based on a strong set of convictions.”
TOUCHE! And thank you dear Mr. Blair…
If we combine the first half of the PDI editorial with Tony Blair’s last few lines, surprisingly and providentially we end up with a combined commentary that leads to a very Christian point of view and logical synthesis as well. On second thought, it should not be surprising at all, considering that some 90% of our people are Christians as well as Mr. Blair, most of whom we can safely presume to have acquired a certain level of HOPE which is one of the three Christian theological virtues, from where all human virtues are rooted, e.g. justice and fortitude.
Thus to synthesize: the local examples of “heroism and compassion” triggered by Ondoy and other disasters have truly given “hope and provided inspiration to all of us” and constitute “authentic witness to truth and public service”, even in the face of the government’s penchant for “irresponsibility”, telling lies to the public with “impunity” and the citizenry’s frustrated-efforts to “exact accountability”.
And Tony Blair’s suggested solution to the world’s equally or even more complex, problems of security, global warming and economic meltdown, for the purpose of achieving “clarity” in order to arrive at effective remedies and authentic service for the common good, starts, common-sensically, with what the decision-makers truly believe in -- “a worked-out strategy based on a strong set of convictions”. Indeed, any rational and potentially effective solution to any problem must start with one’s clear idea of what a “GOOD” END RESULT should be, and WHY.
And so I submit that there can be no better and clearer template, for such a set of convictions or beliefs for our predominantly Christian nation than that familiar and acceptable Doxology, the Lord’s Prayer: the “Our Father” which most of us already know! In fact the Catechism of the Catholic Church which the great John Paul II left as one of his most enduring legacies to us Catholics, emphatically states that the Lord’s Prayer “is truly the summary of the whole gospel.” (paragraph 2761), a topic which is discussed in the very last sections of the Catechism.
But for far too long we Filipino Christians have implicitly yet mindlessly accepted the conventional secular notion that it is possible “TRULY to be good” merely for its own ABSTRACT sake. The late Jesuit Father John P. Delaney used to refer sarcastically to this commonly misunderstood tautology about moral goodness or virtue as “it is good to be good”. It is Christianity’s basic belief however, that Christian values are morally “good” because these stem directly from our FAITH in Jesus Christ who gave and LIVED the most authentic examples of all virtues including “heroism and compassion”, in obedience to “Our Father”, thus showing us “the Way, the Truth and the Life” via the Christian and Blair-suggested “set of convictions”. And all these are embodied in the Gospel as God’s Eternal Word, and synthesized by our Lord Himself in the “Our Father” prayer.
Thus for example, for the last 2,000 years the Gospel and the Catholic Church Magisterium have been consistent in teaching the TRUTH about the sacredness and inestimable value of even JUST ONE HUMAN PERSON, whose body, soul and spirit are worth more than “the whole world” (Matthew 16:26). Why? Because ALL PERSONS are created by God in His own image and likeness for the purpose of enjoying eternal life with Him in Heaven. In fact that was one of the first truths about our Catholic Faith that I learned from my Kindergarten teacher, the Benedictine nun Mother Gracia in St. Scholastica in 1940 – that “God made me to know Him, to love Him and to be happy with Him forever in Heaven!”
I am aware that statements like these are JARRING to the sensibilities of people like former President Fidel V. Ramos. He even considers it a violation of the Philippine Constitution and Filipinos’ freedom of conscience, when our Bishops boldly and publicly proclaim the truth of the sacredness of human life by urging us Catholics NOT TO VOTE for candidates who support the Reproductive Health Bill’s provisions which promote the suppression of human life from becoming NASCENT, or even from attaining full maturity in their mothers’ wombs, by suffocation through contraceptives/abortifacients.
Nevertheless it is such transcendental faith-AND-moral issues which our Catholic Bishops are DUTY-BOUND to continue to speak out on, as forcefully and boldly as they may, because that is precisely what and why by solemn and sacred oath they have dedicated themselves to do and LIVE FOR and even DIE FOR! Thus to “Our Father”, these Bishops have pledged “Thy Will be done!”
Thus too, Pope Benedict XVI exhorted his African bishop-colleagues during their recent weeks-long Synod, for them to “deal with reality, but from the perspective of God and His Word”, and that “reconciliation, justice and peace are not possible without a profound purification of the heart, without a renewal of thought, a metanoia (conversion), without a newness that MUST come precisely from the encounter with God.” (emphasis added)
And so just like the PDI editorial, Tony Blair’s World View and William Esposo’s Noy or Never proposition last January 3 of the New Year, certainly NONE of these were “unconstitutional”, nor a violation of anybody’s “freedom of conscience”, obviously because these were not being imposed but merely proposed. And in the case of our Catholic Bishops’ exhortation to our voters, it was given to us Catholics in the context of their sacramentally conferred moral and spiritual authority, albeit with caritas in veritate or charity in truth, to boot! For such is the “heart of the Church’s social doctrine” according to Pope Benedict XVI in his latest encyclical, which by implication Fidel V. Ramos would similarly consider as violative of the Philippine Constitution if copies of Caritas in Veritate were to be distributed to us by the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines…
Providentially just like Tony Blair’s column piece, last Sunday’s First Reading for Holy Mass from the prophet Isaiah, and Responsorial Psalm as well, are both fitting reminders to us Catholics and Christians alike including Fidel V. Ramos, and also for me, to cap this last part of my series of articles about our nation whom Providence has gifted to us all in His unlimited Love and Wisdom..
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as men make merry when dividing spoils.
For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. For every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, from David’s throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains by judgment and justice, both now and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this! (emphasis added)
Psalm 98: (Responsorial Psalm)
ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH HAVE SEEN THE SAVING POWER OF GOD!!!
Amen…..
Catholic Xybrspace Apostolate of the Philippines
www.catholicxybr.org
January 18, 2010
Tuesday, January 12
Whereto and Whatnow Philippines? (Part 4)
TO LIGHT A FIRE
58-100112
Recounting basically the same horror stories cited by Patricia Evangelista on events which recently besetted and besotted our nation, former Justice of the Supreme Court, Isagani A. Cruz unlike his half-century-or-more younger Daily Inquirer colleague’s cynical tone, nevertheless concluded his New Year’s first Separate Opinion article, with clear optimism by invoking “the blessing of Almighty God”.
It is Ms. Evangelista’s cloying yet understandable cynicism about our nation’s future, which young Senator Noynoy Aquino and his think-tank supporters such as Philippine Star columnist William M. Esposo, should take note of very seriously.
Yes, it is a highly probable fact that somewhere around at least 40% of our voters, about a third of whom are of the same age-generation as Patricia Evangelista, presently agree with Mr. Esposo that it should be “Noy or Never” on May 11, 2010. That 40% is indeed a significant plurality which even at this early stage of the pre-election period, might be sufficient to propel Senator Aquino to the Philippine presidency this coming May 11, assuming that NP candidate Manny Villar’s recent rally in the latest opinion surveys will not be sustained.
But for those of us of an older generation such as former Justice Isagani A. Cruz, who like me is perhaps also ambivalent about or at least NOT AGAINST a Noynoy Aquino presidency, my concern is NOT about his NOT WINNING on May 11, 2010…
My main concern about Senator Aquino is about AFTER his winning the presidency yet FAILING THEREAFTER to validate the hopes of oft-disappointed young idealists like Patricia Evangelista.
Thus my REAL FEARS of his possible simple FAILURE or even gross BETRAYAL of those hopes and “dreams” of some 40% of our voting population who have presently put their TRUST in Noynoy Aquino’s perceived honesty and integrity, have little to do with his relative lack of hands-on executive experience. For I would have the very same fears if Manuel Villar and even more so if Erap Estrada were ahead in the opinion polls.
In fact Senator Aquino’s campaign for the Presidency thus far has been handled, presumably under his overall leadership, far more competently than his political rivals have expected, despite Aquino’s rejection of BIG MONEY contributions because of the usual strings attached to it. There is apparently a reasonably cohesive working relationship between the old Liberal Party survivors with their recent balimbing recruits, and the various volunteer groups led by simon-pure personalities from civil society, and with all of them submitting themselves to the leadership of the Senator. Albeit it may be only thus far, considering that Senator Aquino is still ostensibly the frontrunner in the surveys.
And so let us suppose that Benigno C. Aquino III is elected President of the
But will such an initial and seemingly self-accomplished Noynoy Aquino success in leadership by being elected President continue for another six years in terms of not just a normally effective national GOVERNANCE but a never-before-seen but NECESSARY MORAL LEADERSHIP? Will he be able therefore to gather together and inspire better than did his mother circa 1986 and Fidel V. Ramos circa 1992, an A-TEAM of at least a THOUSAND NEW honest AND competent co-leaders and colleagues in government throughout those next six years, to form a) a cohesive and competent Cabinet, b) allies in the House of Representatives and the Senate to support his legislative agenda, and c) many others in the Civil Service competent and trustworthy enough to clean up and streamline the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Department of Education, the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines at the very start? For the real “dream” about Noynoy Aquino is not merely about his becoming a better President than the present one, which should not be too difficult, but for him to be a GREAT President.
And so above all, how will he accomplish the absolutely necessary radical moral conversion of those abovecited Top 1000 co-leaders and associates including HIMSELF, PLUS at least another one hundred thousand mid-level bureaucrats and frontliners in those key agencies including the COMELEC, the judiciary, the Coast Guard, the DPWH, and the members of BOTH COVENS in Congress (NO PUN untended!), plus hundreds of other agencies which directly dispense justice and other essential services for our people especially to the poor? And where will he get honest and competent replacements for those to be booted out, quick enough and smoothly enough without fanning a nationwide rebellion of the MOST CORRUPT and intransigent government employees who are expected to defend their cash-cow SINECURES perhaps with their very lives?
And lastly, how fast will he acquire the Solomonic wisdom to adjudicate internal controversies on wide ranging and complex matters of law, economics, education, foreign affairs, the environment, job creation, reproductive health, peace and order, as well as the resilience to absorb all the stresses and strains from all the above while burdened by the expected FIERCE infighting for political and financial spoils among his closest allies, friends and relatives, AND, still have the gumption to fend off the political attacks and continuing personal defamation from the various groups among the new opposition? I hasten to add however that neither Manny Villar, nor Erap Estrada would necessarily do any better (to say the least) under those same circumstances, given the usual TRAPO type of leadership they have demonstrated in the past. Not even Cory Aquino herself nor Fidel V. Ramos, much less Ferdinand Marcos and PGMA who all went through their respective post-election gauntlets, were able to prevent the Philippines from SLIDING DOWN and being overtaken, just on ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE and good governance alone, one after the other by Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and now even by Vietnam.
Yes dear Chair Wrecker and your kindred spirits of good will, on those terms I agree with you but with a slight twist: NOY et al or NEVER AGAIN!
Patricia Evangelista therefore, may be justified in her cynicism considering the fact that our corruption blighted nation has to pass like a wounded camel through a needle’s eye just to survive for the next six years, REGARDLESS of who our President may be.
To the twelve apostles who in shock asked for Our Lord’s explanation upon hearing His “camel through the needle’s eye” reply to the rich young man seeking His guidance in reaching heaven (Matthew 19: 20-26), Christ’s answer was that what is impossible to man does NOT apply to God for whom “all things are possible”. Thus Solomon (for a while), Ignatius of Loyola, Mother Teresa of Calcutta and many other true believers, albeit highly exceptional cases, succeeded by God’s grace even beyond their own imagination, in the governance of their respective- institutions and above all, in the moral/spiritual conversion of their own selves, even without any previous executive experience and in the face of seemingly impossible odds…. And so by the same God’s grace with the help of at least tens of thousands of his real friends and supporters, is I believe, the ONLY WAY Benigno C. Aquino III will become a truly great President/Chief Executive of the
Thus I thank former Justice of the Supreme Court, Isagani A. Cruz for the last phrase in his January 3, 2010 Separate Opinion in the Philippine Daily Inquirer – “under the blessing of Almighty God”. For it leads to the only feasible and realistic solution of the many gargantuan and Aegean stable type of complex problems facing our people, the vast majority of whom are Catholics and/or Christians.
For if God Our Father Almighty and our Christian Faith are irrelevant to our nation’s prospects of rising from the pits the present and previous administrations have brought us to, then there would be NO COMPELLING REASON for objecting to any CPP-NPA scheme to have Joma Sison or Satur Ocampo as our next President anytime soon.
And almost certainly if Noynoy Aquino is elected President this year but FLUNKS thereafter, Mar Roxas would become the next hopelessly sacrificial candidate of the Liberal Party, just like the Gibo Teodoro of today. And the young generation of talented idealists like Patricia Evangelista will have become even more cynical vis-a-vis all political reform possibilities.
And so we could have, if not Joma Sison, a re-invented General Hermogenes Esperon as dictator, or else a President Jinggoy Estrada, or a new CON-ASS generated new Constitution, soon begetting a Prime Minister Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with Matt Defensor or even Danilo Suarez as her puppet ceremonial President, together with Agnes Devanadera or even Mirriam Defensor Santiago as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court with all of them acting as Defensores Gloriae. Take your pitiful pick….
And so, would that Senator Noynoy Aquino or whoever is elected as our next President, will re-read and take to heart the Biblical advice which the late Jaime Cardinal Sin caused to be engraved at the EDSA Shrine soon after those historic days in February of 1986. It is the same advice given during a private appearance by God, Yahweh Himself, to Solomon after begging God during the dedication ceremonies for the
“I have heard your prayer. I choose this house to be the place where sacrifices are to be offered to me. When I close the skies and there is no rain, when I command the locust to devour the land, when I send an epidemic among my people, and my people who bear my name humble themselves, and pray and look for me, and turn from their wicked ways, then I MYSELF YAHWEH will hear from Heaven and forgive their sins and restore their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:12-14)
EDUARDO B. OLAGUER
Catholic Xybrspace Apostolate of the
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