I believe in the integrity of Among Ed and his apostolate in bringing change in his own province of Pampanga. Someone, like him, has to bring God back in the playing fields of Philippine politics as part of the daily lives as Christians, not just as Filipino citizens. God must have a space not only inside the church but most importantly outside the church, in our homes, in our workplace, in government institutions most especially, where we, as a people, are conditioned that evil is acceptable to prevail.
It is about time to bring back God’s teachings and precepts outside the church and be sown again in our political arena. Among Ed did a good job in Pampanga with regard to the rise in revenue of the quarrying activities in his province as compared to the previous administrations. With such huge difference in terms of collection, we can see how many people were deprived in the past of what they truly deserve. With such development, we see exactly the difference between an honest leader with moral integrity and true concern of his constituent in contrast to a corrupt one, who works only for his own personal aggrandizement.
The CBCP seemed to be divided in their opinions with Among Ed’s intent to run for higher office. One bishop said that it is good for him just to go back to priesthood because it is where he belongs. Another bishop sounded fearful that Among Ed might be eaten up by our corrupted system of government. Such statement dismayed me so much. For God’s sake, our bishops themselves are so much influenced by the mental-conditioning done by our crooked-minded politicians of the so-called “separation of state and church”. This made us believe that good people has no place in politics and only corrupt individuals, or those who have the tendency or willing to be corrupted can run for public office. I understand the fear of our bishops that eventually Among Ed might be engulfed by our corrupted system of government. I myself was already skeptical in a way made to believe that Among Ed might just become one of them. This is exactly the kind of mindset that common Filipinos have now in mind. But if we continue to patronize this kind of thinking, who then can we trust to bring change to this nation among our present presidential aspirants? That is why for our dear bishops who were asking Among Ed to give up priesthood if he runs for the higher office, they are trying to tell our people to stop hoping against hope. It is about time to leave this country and seek for greener pastures.
But with Among Ed running for the presidency and the rest of the Kaya Natin candidates, we have hope! Because all we know, who among our presidential candidates, is honest enough, morally upright and God-fearing? Who among them is the one who will not waver when confronted with temptations? Who among them has no vested interest of changing the constitution during his term without thinking that he should benefit from it, and will open the chance for re-election? Who among them, who spend billions for his presidential campaign will not take effort to recover every centavo he has invested. “Huwag na tayong maglokohan, at huwag na rin tayong magpaloko mga kapwa kong Pilipino.”
In this 2010 presidential election we are given another chance, we are given a choice to elect the one who will truly bring authentic social and political change to our country, re-construct our systems of government, and restore our sense of identity as a people.
If I were to be asked who we should vote for president? Let me tell you straight—I will vote for Among Ed. And I will tell you why he is the right person. If we vote for Among Ed, he has nothing much to gain for himself because he is a priest. He has no family of his own who would need his full support for financial security. In fact he has sacrificed something transcendental in value in exchange of a mundane cause. He just bravely responded to God’s call, when God cried out, “I the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people’s cry. All who dwell in dark and sin, whom shall I send? He responded, “Here, I am Lord, is it I Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go Lord, if You lead me. I will hold your people in my heart”
But, if Among Ed succumbs himself to corruption he has lots to lose. It is not only that he will bring shame to his clan and to the Catholic Church, but above all, he is answerable to God because he is a priest forever according to the order of Melchesidek of old.
Who among our presidentiables is facing a greater accountability than Among Ed? None among them even has the delicadeza of taking that word seriously during their tenure as government officials. Among Ed is not only taking seriously upon his shoulders accountability before the Filipino people but above all to God.
What we need is a leader who has the moral integrity and credibility to lead this country, someone above the normal and traditional politicians who have stakes at the back of their minds. What we need is a new breed and charismatic leader, like Among Ed, who can motivate our people to change and build a stronger foundation of our nation. We have to work together to change and reconstruct our constitution, rehabilitate our systems and institutions in government. We have re-educate our citizenry with sense of patriotism, founded on love for God and country, and our fellowmen. We have to inspire our people to preserve our natural resources and to do voluntary civic actions in the service of our rural communities. We have to focus on our God-given vast of lands and talents as a people to be self-sufficient in our food supply and services. We have all the God-given gifts in our environment that we have to utilize for our people to enjoy not for the other countries to exploit.
We need to go back to the two-party system with separate campaign funds generated from our taxes, so that every citizen will value his vote to the letter. We need to have elected Supreme Court Chief Justice and Ombudsman, instead of presidential appointees. We need to have court justices elected by the Judiciary and Bar Council thru secret balloting. The same is true with the AFP Chief and Chief PNP to be elected thru secret balloting by the board of Generals. Key-positions must be elected either by the people or the organizing body that they represent so that we can do away with “utang-na-loob”. We need to elect our con-con delegates during his term to ensure a clean and reliable delegation to work on charter change. All these we need to do before it is too late for our nation to recover from malignant disease of culture corruption and lack of care.
The 2101 presidential is our very last chance for change. To achieve all these, what we need is a president, like Among Ed, who will serve as a transition for change that our people can completely trust. A leader who has no hidden agenda to reap the fruits of his labor once he is done sowing for charter change.
So that once everything is put in place he will give up the position to next deserving president when his term is over. As a result, no matter who will be the next president he will have no power to disentangle our in place institutions and systems of government just like the previous presidents did in our history. The reason why in America, the euphoria and the feeling of hope of having a newly elected president is felt by every American citizen, because they know he will imbibe the idealism of their forefathers sown in the fore-grounds of their established institutions and systems of government that no president can alter.
Among Ed will serve as the voice in the wilderness of Philippine politics that will instill change in our rotten bureaucracy and institutions. He will serve as the beacon to guide our government officials in all sectors of government back to the right track of public service and accountability. As a priest by virtue of ordination, he will always be a priest in every aspect of his life and in his tenure as a government official. If we will give him that chance to lead our country towards the promise land like Moses did, then, we will have that chance to purify ourselves, as a nation and God will heal our land in the process.
What we need is a righteous leader who will lead his people to put ashes on their head and sackcloth around their shoulders and to bring this nation back to God. We need a leader like Among Ed, who can lead us towards moral rebirth and spiritual transformation. What we need is a leader who can truly lift his hands at Mt. Sinai in prayers with the tablets of the commandment on both hands. He will be a leader who can implement every law of our land to the letter without compromise but with equality. What we need is leader (a Moses) who is willing to hand over the responsibility to Joshua (the next president) who will finally lead our country to the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey (when his term is over after overhauling our corrupted system of government).
What we need is a leader who will implement change with outmost objectivity and impartiality. What we need is a leader who has the moral ascendancy to lead, one who has the power to persuade and influence people in achieving one goal. Once our people see that their leader has the moral authority to lead, they will follow without reservation and willingly contribute their support in achieving our nation’s dream of CHANGE… It will be easy to tap individuals who are willingly and selflessly give their time and efforts to build this nation for the good of every Filipino. If we reach that point where government officials selflessly serve out of patriotism and with outmost concern for the poor, without sacrificing our natural resources, then we can alleviate the lives of our people and we will become self-sufficient as a nation.
For those skeptics and politicians who emphasize the separation of state and church in order to discourage our voting population to support Among Ed by saying, “Among Ed cannot serve both God and Mammon” , and also the famous biblical excerpt “Give to Caesar what is Cesar’s and to God what belongs to God.” Let me tell you that these individuals just want to make things difficult for our people to comprehend. They obscure the truth behind these statements because of their personal interest. I do not know why it is difficult for our politicians to realize the truth, or may be they just willingly ignore accepting such truth that, “WHATEVER BELONGS TO CAESAR BELONGS GOD!”
That is why Philosophically in simple logic we can indubitably say in this premise:
“Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar; to God what belongs to God
Since, what belongs to Caesar is God’s
Therefore, whatever you give to Caesar goes to God.”
Henceforth, let us be sure that whatever we give to Caesar is pleasing before the eyes of God.
Let us remember this there is no such thing as if every Filipino has to be dichotomized, separating his soul from his body: his soul to belong to the church and his body to belong the state, in which case, each entity is walking separately in two different directions. That is exactly why we never move forward as a nation because we always want to get the best of both worlds: HELL and HEAVEN.
In 2010 presidential election is our only chance for change. You, me, all of us have the choice…. Which way will you chose? …. which side shall you go?