PamagCUSA Blog

There is not much exciting news from the Philippines lately as the massive scandals which have rocked the very core of the GMA Administration has subsided to the point that the Senate has recently announced that it is withdrawing the armed security escort for the once much-ballyhooed "whistle-blower" Lozada thereby practically pulling the rug under his feet. In fact, it has been reported that graft and corruption charges have recently been filed against Mr. Lozada and his immediate family for alleged "kickbacks" when he was the President of a government-owned/controlled corporation. Which makes one wonder why no similar charges were ever filed against former COMELEC Chairman Abalos for a seemingly clear-cut case of graft and corruption with regards to the ZTE-NBN deal. It truly makes one frustrated that in our country, anyone can get away with murder provided you know the right people in government. After all, in the Philippine "justice system" it is not much what you know about the law that counts but "who" you know in law enforcement. Again, we are left with the question of where do we go from here? In all retrospect, it has never been truer than it is now that, in order for the Filipino people to achieve any sense of unity and political, social and economic stability needed as a strong foundation for Filipino Nationhood, every Filipino who profess to believe and belong to the Catholic/Christian faith, must, as a matter of prerogative, put into practice, fundamental/essential doctrines of said spiritual persuasion. As written in 2 Cor. 5:14-15…"The love of God compels those of us who have reached the conviction that since Jesus Christ died for all, all of us died. He died for all so that we may no longer live for ourselves but for the sake of Jesus Who loved us and gave Himself to us." But in this day and age of every one looking our for #1, i.e., seeking one’s self-interest and self-centered agendas, this exhortation is much easier said than done. This is why one of my favorite verses in the Bible which I humorously and yet, in all sincerity, address as the letter of Paul to the Philippins 2:1-5 (supposedly Philippians but omitting the letter "a") states…"In the name of the encouragement you owe me in Christ, of the solace that love can give, of the fellowship of the Spirit, of compassion and pity, make my joy complete by your unanimity, united in spirit and ideals. Never act out of rivalry or deceit. Rather let each one of you think humbly of others as more superior to yourself, each one of you looking at the other person’s interests rather than your own. Your attitude must be the same as Jesus Christ."

What we were before is not as important or expedient as to what we can always be or aspire to be. Perhaps due to the fact that we have been a colonized people under the domination of foreigners…the Spaniards for about 500 years, the Americans for almost 42 years, the Japanese for 3-4 years and with more than 20 years of suppressive martial law under the Marcos regime…we are essentially a people with no strong sense of political will, self-worth and identity. As can be readily seen from our history, we are a hodgepodge of different and sometimes conflicting cultures/values brought about by these dominating influences such that as a people with a lot of young people, we are not sure exactly who we are now. Where we are going has not really been so well defined and unless we know who we are and where we are going, how do we expect to get there?

Presently, there is a growing clamor for profound changes in our political structure with many calling for a parliamentary or lately, a federal form of government as expounded by the Honorable Sen. Pimentel and the like. I dare to say that we may have the best system/form of government in the world, be it a presidential or a parliamentary system and in fact, a federal system but I solemnly declare and proclaim again and again to the Filipino people that unless we, as professing Christians, put into practice what we supposedly believe, truly reform our lives and change our hearts, our minds and our attitudes as one nation under one God and Father, with one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one Spirit, be other-centered and not self-centered, we will just go on in circles or "rigodon", as we call it. Philippine politics would always simply be a case of the same dog but with a different collar. Alibaba may very well be gone in 2010 but if the 40 thieves in the likeness and image of an "Abalos" are still around calling the shots, what else is new?…Di ba?

Atty. "Bro. Ramon" Ocampo is currently the President of the Bangon! Bagong Pilipinas (BBP) Movement, an advocacy/movement for the moral, economic and political transformation of the Philippines. For details in joining the movement, please log on globalhello.com/bbp or e-mail Atty. Ocampo at bbp.1010@yahoo.com.