There are two Filipinos in the Philippines.
The first Filipino is faithful and brave.
He is faithful because he believes in God and he is brave because he could withstand the
tyrany of dictatorship for over twenty years and even for decades;
He is brave because he can live with the excesses of corruption and the violence of
Poverty ;
He is faithful and brave because he can gather millions to face tanks and the armies
and mount a peaceful revolution of prayers and flowers.
The first Filipino has the faithfulness and the braveness of the blood of martyr’s who
awakened a stuporous nation and declared that “The Filipino is worth dying for.”
He is able to survive the loneliness in foreign lands to serve strange people if only to
feed, cloth, shelter and to educate his family;
He is able to work long hours in thirst, hunger and in want only to be taken as a
captive and slave in his own homeland while his masters are squandering the fruits
of his labor;
The second Filipino is still the same faithful and brave Filipino who like Peter denied
his Master in times of adversity;
He was saved from a dictatorship only to defeat himself by being careless and unmindful
of the value of democracy and clean elections;
He denies the truth by carelessly accepting bribes of politicians in exchange for his vote
even when the future of his children is at stake;
He denies the truth by refusing to be a major stakeholder in the search for the right
leadership of his community and nation and care only for his own selfish self;
He denies the truth by keeping himself in the sidelines amidst calls for an ethical and
righteous governance;
He denies the truth by refusing to declare his faith to mount a peaceful coup against the
same old traditional and ugly politics;
He denies the truth by accepting the status quo and believing that Ninoy and Cardinal
Sin were failures after all;
He denies the truth by accepting that he cannot give up and sacrifice time,
effort and money because he can do nothing about traditional, corrupt, and fancy
politics;
However, the first Filipino has the capability to mount a war against his second self
because his heart dictates that he is a man of God, family and country.
He can declare his faith and cry out for Gods anointed to lead him and his country.
He can give his stake, he can mount prayers and prayer rallies to call upon God to save
his Nation;
He will not allow traditional politics and politicians to devour his children and fed them
to the ugly poverty of Spirit and want; hunger and homelessness in his own homeland.
He will summon the best of his leaders like Ed Panlilio, Ed Villanueva, Grace
Padaca; Nanding Pacheco, Fr. Robert Reyes and all the believers to come together,
fast and pray and frustrate before God to forgive his sins and to anoint the righteous
men and women to lead his country;
He will seek no less than a God fearing President to keep him and to guide him,
I am a Filipino. I too, am at a quarrel between my first and my second identity.
For the love of God, family and country, I will have to declare and to strive to be that first
kind of Filipino because that is my responsibility.
I cannot deny my God. I cannot deny my family, and I still dream of a life of Godliness
in a country that God has made for me.
I am a Filipino. “ I am worth dying” by a Christ in Calvary and in the Cross, and even in
the tarmac where my friend Ninoy was murdered.
I am a Filipino and I dream to see the day that one by one, millions of us will commit
to become leaders who can summon all the righteous of our generation to lead,
submit and humble ourselves in a selection of leaders where prayers and prayer rallies
have been mounted until God will hear our prayer.
I am a Filipino and I say enough to an evil society and I say enough to the wickedness that
has shattered families, communities, cities and provinces;
I am a Filipino and I say enough to the evil that has ruled our nation;
As a Filipino I declare that first, I am a man of God; that I will stand before God to
help me overcome my pride, my arrogance, my selfishness, my apathy. Then,
together with my countrymen, we will humble ourselves before God and pray, and
believe that God will hear our prayers because we shall turn away from our evil
ways. We shall claim His promise. We have a God who does not lie.
I am the first Filipino and I believe that the leadership and primaries of men is mean and
cruel but the annointing of God is blessed and pure. I believe too that there are many
out there who are willing to be counted. The blessed Mother Teresa, once told, “ be a
leader in your own little way”.
I am a Filipino and I am patriotic and I will live and lead in righteousness in my own little way. There is no other way but the ways of God because I know that in my humility and weakness, God will make me strong . I will continue to pray and believe that THERE IS A GOD WHO HEARS AND MAKES THE WAY FOR ME, MY FAMILY AND MY COUNTRY.
I am a Filipino and God blessed me enough to have conquered my other wicked self.