Salutation #131

A Word on the Corona Trial -

It is my hope that
(1) our representative peers in the Senate
obtains for us a fair result from out of this trial and that
(2) the nation unto whose entirety we all ultimately belong
benefits from and grows stronger from having undergone this ordeal,
(3) justice is done to all parties involved, and finally
(4) that this trial does not become a dangerous preoccupation for our Republic
that we forget to duly apply our energies on other matters
just as vital and at times, even more pressing.

Mabuhay! God be with us all.



(We Shall Persevere)

Senator-judges of the Republic,
each of you servants-elect of the nation
and my fellow Filipinos -

It now falls upon your shoulders
the unenviable task to make fair each thy judgments
on this very difficult impeachment trial.

As thy fellow citizen
equally engaged with each of thee
in this, our one Republic of the Philippines,
I only ask that in that coming hour of judgment
you do not lose sight of her vision and longevity;
that you should make your decisions independently
but not as individuals against an individual
even in this case, our very own Chief Justice,
but as instruments within a whole
presently charged with the specific task
of ensuring that the whole perseveres correctly
and in the most efficient way possible.

I have no doubt
that our Republic will persevere
and God-helping, ultimately prevail
regardless of the verdict.

How fast or how far
depends upon each of you
in that hour of judgement
just as how soon and how completely
depends upon all of us working together
as one heart, one people, one Country.

Do justice to thy nation first,
bearing into mind and heart that
we all move forward as one
only according to the weakest,
and most vulnerable elements
within our society.

This trial is unprecedented
in the pain and confusion it has wrought
against each our nationhood within
and while it is not as divisive
as the other rifts that need our concentrated efforts
it has nonetheless been
the most painful to witness
and experience in our lifetimes.

Our Chief Justice
is a public servant
and so is our President.

It was never fair in the first place
to have had to be made
to choose between the two.

The branches of our Republic
of whose Seats of Office they serve
and duly occupy being co-equal
to each thy own, Senators,
you all know without a doubt
what kind of an ordeal our beloved Republic,
replete with her own institutional memories
and collective remembrance
that shall far surpass and exceed us
beyond these times and persons,
has undertaken and undergone
to bring this trial forth into fruition
and now
it is time to reap
what was has been sown.

Your judgments as a whole
must contain - in each themselves -
the necessary provisions
that ensure that the rudiments
of a functional peace is preserved
between the complimentary branches
of the Executive and the Judiciary
as well as the collective wisdom to guide together
the path of these two separate branches
of necessary institutional human governance
within our one Republic whole
so that their co-equal, interdependent, democratic lineages
may in time find themselves perfectly conjoined
in harmony and maximum working order once again
and united with thy own
and in peace with the people
and so ever thus, far into the future!

For these are crucial times.

We should never again
stand so divided in our innermost self
as a Republic.
---<--@



A Personal Retrospective -

Something in me was restored
watching our senators yesterday,
something precious...

It was not the judgment
that I myself hold as remarkable
but the process - wherein -
our representative Senate,
empowered by our Constitution,
created for all a path
where there was previously none.

The final decision to convict
being not at all a judgment of individuals
but a single collegiate act of the Senate body
was delivered in decisive fashion.

The brave minority decision
as well as that of the majority
together form something
unprecedented...

But only if one so chooses to rise above
the persons and personalities of our own times
into the realm of ideals and visions
where dwells the spirit of our Constitution
and the Peace of our Republic.

We are indeed better off
for believing than disbelieving,
in hoping than in despairing,
in being better than in being bitter.
---<--@

Reflection -

If we hate our own institutions within our own Republic,
who shall be left to serve them? 

How can these branches of Republic service bear for us trustworthy fruit
if we who are its stewards forsake to nurture them even in spirit?

How can any Country mature without its institutions?
---<--@

Salutation #130

From the Book of Life proceeds -

   the Eternal Law!

Thus
is the way of all nations
established for all nations by God -

   for our law serves life, 
   and our life observes the Law.

'Tis but one great cycle
of exile and of exile returning -

   proceeding from peace, 
   and leading again into Peace!
---<--@



(The 2nd Cause: The Cause of Law - Unity)

The 2nd Cause
is concerned with Law
- and - the juridical processes
that guide, form, and strengthen
the evolving social consciousness
of the national community.

   (For human law
   as it is manifested - in time -
   is ever imperfect and as thus require
   - constantly - the guidance of the Eternal Law
   written in the hearts of all Mankind.)

- selah -

LAW is
what imparts necessary shape
and requisite strength to human reason
- and - human reason - as it directly relates -
with the LORD God - the one Author of Law -
and consequently, other human beings
(as well as other living beings,
seen and unseen).

Therefore,
Law must first be reasonable.

- selah -

Law must be made meaningful
to human reason - unaided by faith,
and so must draw its binding force (of truth)
out of a desire to advocate and advance
the authentic freedoms, intrinsic rights,
and the sheer quality of life
of those constituent communities
of whose citizens its necessary promulgation
is intended by the legislative branch
of the Responsible State.

- selah -

Law serves all of life.

But Law must - first and foremost -
be placed ever in the service of Sacred Life.

We
of the generations
of the children of Mankind
being both the guardians of the law [of the nations]
- as well as - its beneficiaries must dwell
in constant remembrance that:

   Life is a pre-existent good
   - life is before everything else was -
   the transcendental substance of its Truth
   is of the One Who is both limitless and eternal -
   and law inspired by the LORD
   is one written in defense of Sacred Life
   which is like clothing given for our nakedness,
   sewn as shelter for the needs of all living creation
   particularly human life.

   Therefore,
   law [human] is Law [Eternal] that serve all of life.

      (The intention
      of the law [of the nations]
      is to respond to human needs,
      and in particular, those human needs
      that are needful of its protection.

      Therefore,
      a law can not be written
      to create and/or to exploit human needs
      because this is the reverse of its original intention.

      The reverse [of law]
      can never ultimately hold true
      - against the flowing out of exile time -
      for it shall never hold fast in the one heart of Man
      being naught but a tyranny of words
      and of entire languages of words -
      offensive, empty, and barren.)

One
who beholds the law
and lives to abide with the Law
- in the heart -
must ever be aware
that those common human needs
are forever protected by the Eternal God -

That Law exists
in the service of Sacred Life!

- selah -

A law that serves
is one that is observed.

One must first observe the law
who desire to gain from its original intention.

In this way,
law is no respecter of persons
but is above all persons
(and personalities).

Therefore,
if any human community is to benefit
from the original intention of law,
then it must first be willing
to freely and completely apply itself
to its prescripts and ensure that the rule of law
both extends to all and applies to all
(which is effective promulgation and civic participation
founded on effective civic education respectively).

What precedes
this necessary civic observance
is an inherent public trust of whose original domain
is founded at the very foundation of law.

To be sure,
law was something inspired by God in Mankind
having variously revealed it to our humanity
- throughout Salvation History -
as a sign of our LORD's manifest will
to lead all hearts to the Truth.

It is an extension of His good will for all nations.

   (The highest [noblest] form of law being
   the Law of the Gospel or the Law of Christ-Love
   or the one Law [beyond which there is no more law].)

Since
the purpose of Justice - is -
the restoration of the Original Ideal,
Justice by its own virtue
seeks to preserve and to promote
what goodness there is.

We are then left with the reality of evil.

Now,
the intention of law is to bind evil
(and defeat the Evil in all evil things) -
to deter, deflect, deny, and expose it.

Therefore,
the purpose of law is - also -
to preserve and to promote the good
but this law wills to achieve
by the discouragement of evil acts.

Law is what deters evil
from afflicting all who
are covered by law.
---<--@

The Circular Relationship of the Causes

Salutation #129

ALL SALUTATIONS are meant
to invoke into our collective memory
the reality of something good.

Evil
being devoid of that excellence
we tend in spirit to honor and admire
is not something we commonly salute
as human beings - and so -
as human nations together
we do not openly invoke evil
in our salutations.

   (Therefore,
   we may safely exclude
   from this particular reflection
   anything else but the good in things.)



(The National Salutation)

"Mabuhay"
is the salutation
associated with the Philippines.

   (As such,
   it is quite familiar
   to all of us Filipinos
   and even to other nations.)

It is not a salutation of individuals.

- selah -

Therefore,
it can never be
something meant to refer to
(1) any single individual - or -
(2) anything about the life of any single individual - or -
(3) anything about his or her personal virtues
no matter how excellent.

So what does it mean
when we Filipinos say "mabuhay"?

And
when we Filipinos do say "mabuhay"
what for or to whom in particular
do we tend to - consciously -
as well as - unconsciously -
address this to?

Mabuhay
simply means "to bring to life".

It is a salutation
that invokes "life" or the quality of it.

Now,
the life of any nation
is the product of the quality
of the communities that exists
wholly within itself.

It is therefore,
a measure of the sum
of all its relationships,
vertical and then horizontal.

   (This sum
   is always positive
   no matter how deteriorated
   any nation becomes.

   For
   there are no last peoples
   only disappeared cultures.

   Indeed,
   there will always be
   - remnant nations -
   for as long as there are
   nations upon our world.

   Because
   just as there are no such things
   as false hopes, only real ones;
   there are no such things
   as false relationships,
   only real ones.)

Now,
the quality
of these relationships
within the nation
is a product of
the quality
of the national remembrance.

For it is remembrance
that dictates the quality
of the national peace.

- selah -

My brother and sister Filipinos -

Mabuhay - is -
the salutation of our nation
in its entirely - and so -
must refer to the quality of the life
of the nationhood in each ourselves
- as well as -
the completeness of the sacred remembrances
we must together keep through all our generations
as a nation upon this earth.

It intends
to specifically invoke
- in the one Filipino heart -
a memory of itself.

It is a salutation
addressed directly and simultaneously
to all Filipinos from everywhere
and from every time
and is meant to return (again and again)
our every present generation
to the timeless memory
of our people.

It ever reminds
of the reality of our nationhood;
its duties and responsibilities,
its mission, vision, promise, and destiny.

And says to every Filipino heart,
"long may our remembrances serve us".

So when we Filipinos say -

"mabuhay"

it should mean
that we do love the Philippines
as citizens to each other,
and that we do understand this love
as truth in our hearts.

- selah -

When we invoke
our national salutation
- with substance -
this truth empowers us.

It must elicit in our hearts
a love that is not distant or abstract!

It must ever remind us
of everything real to our national hopes
as a nation distinct among nations;
that particular something
we can all meaningfully understand.

It must continuously rekindle
in each ourselves (again and again)
- as citizens to each other -
that sovereign kind of mutual ownership
proper to our national trust
and empower us with a love of Country
that reaches right down to the ground
of our national communities
enabling every Filipino
to freely bring the blessings of our peace
into the lives of the very least
of our brothers and sisters,
our littlest Filipinos.

- selah -

The life of every nation
is derived from its particular sense of unity
and this particular sense of unity
is derived from the strength of its peace.

Upon this peace
(and the abundance or the lack of it)
is established the order and the cohesion
of all its national communities.

A nation's life - therefore,
is measured by the quality
of the sum of all the relationships
dwelling forever within itself.

- selah -

Mabuhay 
is meant to recall us
to a memory of all of these relationships
in particular with the poor and needy in our midst
not to remind us of what we lack
but to return us to what we all must be - together this time -
to the one labor that our nation is purposed for by God,
the one trust that binds together all our generations,
and that constant remembrance of the peace
that must forever and ever live
- in each of us -
as citizens, one to another,
- equally engaged -
in our one Republic undertaking of Country -


---<--@

(original produced 20110821)

Salutation #128

The Common Market
serves the national wealth.

And this wealth is not wholly material. 

For the building up of the (inhabited) earth
is a labor that is an economy of both matter and grace.



(Prosperity Measures)

My fellow Filipinos, 
brothers and sisters of the Promise,
let us together take note -

If any undertaking of Country
should like to re-introduce or re-invigorate
its own nascent market efficiencies,
a Nation and its own Responsible State
must work together - to promptly ensure -
that the Common Market exists for the Nation
and not the other way around.

This is why
austerity measures
- in and of itself -
will not work.

For the vigor
of the national prosperity
must ultimately depend upon
the trust of the people - abiding freely -
at the heart of the Common Market.

Therefore -

Discipline the market,
not the people.

Then reassure the people,
not the market.

- selah -

Prosperity measures
are all about restoring faith
and allaying the fear at the heart of the Nation
about its own local industries, market institutions,
economic prowess, and material sufficiency.

And this is only because 
the Common Market exists for the Nation
and not the other way around.

The process of recovery,
in this particular sense,
can be summed up in one word -

"TRUST".

Engender trust 
and reap a reciprocity of trust.

Virtue is currency.
---<--@

The Three Elements of Country

Service, Synergy and Sovereignty

It will be well with us

My fellow Filipinos,

I just want to say we're going to be all right.

We're going to be all right somehow

but we're going to be all right.

This is for certain,

we're going to be all right.

---<--@

Go Jessica!

It would be shameful of me if I do not openly support - with all of you, my fellow compatriots, our own Jessica Sanchez in the upcoming finals of American Idol.

(You are already and will always be a winner in my eyes.)

Go for the win, Jessica! 

You can do it.

---<--@

Conflicted

We hate America

and we love America 

all at the same time - it seems.

Not because of America as herself 

but because we may at times be conflicted.

- selah -

We define our relationships
and we may only define those realities 

that exist within our focus.

When we know ourselves, 

we will also know our friends. 

And the sooner this awakening 

completes itself in our soul as a nation, 

the better.

- selah -

Is it America's fault then,
my fellow Filipino compatriots,
that we're so conflicted about America?

Here is where I personally stand -

I am neither pro-America nor anti-America.

I subscribe to neither schools of thought
for both of these teaches a form of exclusion
that estranges us from the reality of our nationhood.

The truth is
we can not live to be other people
- just the same as -
we can not live without other people.

We may only believe in the best of America,
trust in the best of America, build upon the best of America
- all the while remaining true to ourselves as ourselves -
with each our hearts abiding - as one -
steadfastly here in the land and in the Republic
where we all as one nation
rightly belong.

This is not hard to do
if we know who we are, my people,
and we may only come to know who we are
if we refuse to let our national identity be defined
by hatreds, divisions, and all manner of evil inspirations.
---<--@

Embracing the Times

Gaga Over Gaga

To ban or not to ban -

Freedom is all about
strengthening the right choices.

- selah -

An irresponsible kind of freedom
is an anathema to itself.

Indeed,
a person or a nation
who does not know freedom
shall certainly lose it.

Truly,
that constant striving 
for an authentic form of human freedom
is a common human need.

For the rough material
of our common freedoms
is like iron ore - that -
we must first allow into the fire
that we may as one nation
forge it into the steel of our liberty.

This is why
I've always been supportive about
a robust form of free expression
- for our nation -
because it exposes our freedom
to the task at hand.

It is not Lady Gaga's responsibility
to strengthen, temper and refine
free, open and honest thought
here in our own nation,
it is ours.

No matter
how vulgar or offensive
her own lyric and art may be,
(short of openly sowing evil
and willful divisions in our midst)
if we do not stand and face it
and learn to deal with it
as a free and human society
at any one time - under heaven,
freedom loses out.

This is why I am not for the ban.

- selah -

BUT if our prevailing freedom
- realistically and understandably -
is not yet ready for something
as radical as this one event,
then I am for the ban.

But only with the understanding
that in this age, we shall - as one nation -
be faced with other
serious challenges to our liberty
that may be even greater than this concert.

- selah -

All forms of truly human expression
has a rightful place and time in our Republic.

Therefore,
it is our responsibility
as a nation - together this time -
to make sure that both the right as well as the duty
to maintain and protect the existence of free expression
ever prevail within the climate of our democracy.

And thank you, Lady Gaga,
for giving us this teaching moment.
---<--@


Common Human Needs

Salutation #127

That we lead many nations
in terms of faith - only means one thing,
we are a people prepared.

- selah -

For the burden of the times
is a burden of expectation.

If it were a burden of justice,
would any nation survive?

Therefore,
do not despair,
my people.

Believe.

---<--@


(Burden of Expectation)

What does a nation do with a burden?
It bears it together!
---<--@

THERE IS
an expectation - under heaven -
about this one nation of ours;
a requirement to succeed.

What is it about expectations
that make us cringe, my compatriots?

To whom much is given,
much must also be expected!

Is the Filipino truly free?

Have we become a nation mired
in a state of permanent revolution?

The mindset of War requires division - even in the midst -
but against whom must we fight against these days?

Increasingly,
we are becoming a people exhausted,
a nation dark and despairing,
trampled upon by unnamed tyrannies
and nameless tyrants.

Is the Filipino truly free?

- selah -

What is this freedom, this vaunted liberty?

We are a nation distinct, a nation among nations;
we are a nation led by a vision enshrined in our Constitution,
bounded by laws, and governed by an entire lineage of sacred trust
that goes from strength to strength and hope to hope
embodied - in time - through the Offices of this Republic
and duly represented by the mandates carried
by each their presiding Seats of public service
in persons elected or appointed.

We are a human society,
endowed by Almighty God with a culture,
a history, customs, traditions, aspirations, civic values,
and a freedom to pursue the happy ends
for which our generations (as a whole)
have dedicated and gained for this nation
self reliance and self determination
at such a cost!

What is it about the national success
that is becoming so fearful to us, O my nation,
that we have come to shun it?

Have we forgotten who we are?

No other nation upon the earth
can build upon this one, faithful Republic
the foundation of all her better days
than this particular nation -
this one Filipino nation!

Truly, there is a requirement for us to succeed!

But this requirement - under heaven -
(being that rightful expectation we all, as fellow citizens, share)
is only a requirement - and shall remain so -
as a thing remembered for us by God
and reminded in our hearts - these days -
by the most beneficent will of His Providential grace.

We have yet to claim it and make it ours!

And so let us together say, "yes, indeed."

There is a requirement for us to succeed!

- selah -

We are no different
from our other kindred nations
yet we are also distinct from each of them
because of the things that gather us together
into one common, human belonging; one nation.

We can not allow ourselves
to be defined by the those things
that strive against our peace,
that seek to tear us apart,
but by our free and human belongings
to each other as a whole,
one and distinct.

A nation - is - the people
- and - our connections - with and to each other;
our relationships - as citizens to each other -
and what (Who) animates and informs it.

Our freedom proceeds from this realization.

For we can not truly become free
to fulfill our national aspirations
until we have learned to serve
- as citizens to each other -
and we can not become
- as citizens to each other -
unless we participate in the work
to achieve a better Philippines.

And that this Republic is but one work.

- selah -

I have a belief 
in our beloved Philippines 
that transcends mere optimism.

And I often feel,
if I think about it long enough,
that I have come to a conviction of this
long before our time.

It is as though
it has always been there,
and never at all was it lost.

It sought as I sought
and now - we are together -
in our seeking.

And
in this togetherness,
we are together sheltered.

- selah -

The work we must do
to restore to ourselves our Republic endeavor
is not just the work of our government
in the Responsible State (not just the President's)
- it is ours as well, my people beloved of God.

It may only be accomplished
by nations and indeed, it may only be accomplished
by this particular nation, our one Filipino nation!

This is why I am addressing
much of this communication to each of you:

Only as
- we, the people -
can we effectively stand
against the evils of our present times.

Truly,
my fellow Filipino compatriots,
we should only expect for ourselves,
united across differences and one in our generations,
to succeed because victory is the only lineage
that belongs to the national peace
we must soon come to profess -
together this time.

Now is the time for peace:

This is our time.

Peace, I salute you.

(original produced 20100914)
---<--@

Battlestrong

Remembrance as Virtue

Yet in Your great mercy You did not forsake them in the desert.

The column of cloud did not cease to lead them by day on their journey, nor did the column of fire by night cease to light for them the way by which they were to travel.

Your good Spirit You bestowed on them, to give them understanding; Your manna You did not withhold from their mouths, and You gave them water in their thirst.

Nehemiah 9: 19-20



REMEMBER NOW,
my brothers and sisters of the Promise -

Our remembrance is virtue.

It is born of the cardinal virtue, Justice.

One who is thus
guided by remembrance
can not be by evil inspired.

For no virtue may be possessed
for purposes that are unbecoming and evil.

Our remembrance does not serve
to throw thy present into the confusion of the past.

But serves to add to the momentum of thy present
the present hopes of every generation past.

- selah -

If the present seem dim, O my nation,
it is because the future seem distant.

And the future only seem distant
because the glories of the past
is somewhere forgot.

Therefore -

Remember the good things
and build upon it.

Remember the evil things
and let this lead you to a remembrance
of the good things.

Never build upon evil inspiration.

- selah -

It is not remembrance
to hold on to a hatred of past things
and remain in thrall of the gravity of War.

For what redeems is only virtue;
goodness sufficient for every generation.

By virtue this long night is overcome!
---<--@

(original produced 20110610)

Salutation #126

One does not need
to look at the sun - to see -
the day that is all around us.

Likewise -

One does not need
to see the LORD - to know -
that God is and He is God!
---<--@



(The Miracle of the Sun)

The manifestation of the sun
at the closing of the Fatima visitations
- was a visible herald -
of the manifestation of the Light
here, in our own times.

- selah -

We are in a spiritual darkness.

Our world is caught fast
in the depths of an invisible night.

And
just as the sun
was the chosen instrument
that sealed the miracle at Fatima,
this Light is
Who shall seal for all the miracle
that shall mark for each of us the closing
of the last great age of War.

For this Light is
as the sun in those days.

For just as the sun shines
to give sight to the eyes of our body,
this Light shines
(being the true seeing in our seeing)

to restore sight to the the eye
in the heart of Man.

For this Light is the Holy Spirit. 

The Spirit of the LORD consuming with fire
come to transform our world and bring our nations
out of the darkness and into the Light!
---<--@



My brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ -

The message of Fatima

does not have to be read again to us.

Nor its miracles again be sent
to spur our memory of things above
and beyond our earthly plane;
of things true and Divine.

Suffice it for us to know today 

we have a choice again.

We have a choice again to make
- here in this, our century -
to determine the nature and reach
of the next hundred years.

- selah -

We have a choice again to make
- as nations dreaming together this time -
even at the crossroads, here and now,
at the threshold of another thousand years.

And the things of the last century,
if not the burden of the last 2000 years,
should have prepared us to make this choice.

So let this choice be one for Mother
and let this choice be one for peace.

Let this choice be one for us,
and the common generations of life.

(This is the best mother's day gift
we can offer to our Lady, our Queen Mother Mary,
who is so solicitous for the common welfare of our humanity
this close to the closing of another age.



May peace be to all our mothers, across all our nations in time,
as we remember the universal heritage of motherhood
this Mother's Day 2012.)
---<--@

View in Review 20120511

While there are other note-worthy articles I should like to include in this Review, for today, I am going to delve exclusively on the one issue that seems to loom in the horizons of my mind - Scarborough Shoal.

(I initially did not expect this incident to become so protracted...)



Scarborough Shoal is NOT a population center.

It is an economic resource.

For what else is it?

There is a difference here, a subtle but significant one.

- selah -

Sovereignty lies chiefly in the nation - in the reality of we, the people who under God and before our laws and constitutional ideals are ordered and arrayed (in time and dimensional space) as one nation.

And from the nation extends to those spheres proper to our Republic undertaking of Country.

Why is it then that in the issue of Scarborough Shoal we are becoming so willing to undertake with China (PRC) burdens proper only for the defense of a population center?

Sovereignty has degrees just as equally as defense has depths yet sovereignty in all its places must be equally well-defended.

How we undertake this defense - against War, against each other - lies chiefly in how we must succeed in its conduct.

If we do not succeed in a diplomatic course of action as history has always been so eager to point out, we shall have no other recourse but an armed confrontation - a low-intensity conflict, as it were.

In this particular outcome, if we allow it to be, we shall be in control with China (PRC) only of how much damage we shall each be willing to sustain, for in this particular outcome, all parties would have already lost even before formal hostilities will have already begun.

We can not subdue China (PRC) neither can China (PRC) subdue us.

In this particular outcome, the longer view of things both obscures itself from our vision and denies itself from our foresight.

For we certainly could pursue the Scarborough Shoal issue through to its military means but to what ends, my fellow Filipinos, to what uncertain ends?

So instead of going into that exercise in sheer futility that in this particular case is armed conflict, it is to our common benefit with China (PRC) to find a way to share the advantages as well as inherent responsibilities of maintaining a common marine area as a mutual resource meant for the peace of both our peoples.

There is a middle ground to be found here. War shall not avail us anything.

And this middle ground has got to be found, recognized and commonly agreed upon through the use of an innovative approach that seeks to let go of old and antiquated ways of thinking... for the times are truly changed.

My personal position here (in support of President Noy) is to clarify, communicate, compromise, recognize, coordinate, legislate, and conform - exhaust every means, take every opportunity to transform this unwanted incident into an achievement of good worth to our nation (with armed confrontation only as a means of last resort in the conduct of the defense) - all for the greater good of our common regions in Asia, for the good of our Asia, and from our Asia to our needful world so much in need of respite and repair.

Moreover -



Scarborough Shoal is well within our 200 nautical mile EEZ or Exclusive Economic Zone (a compensatory advantage of our Archipelagic nature) and its continuing and responsible maintenance as an integral part of our territorial seas is sanctioned by UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).

Of the substance of this truth, lettered in international law, and witnessed by many of our kindred nations, we may indeed constantly rely.

It is more costly, in terms of the national wealth, for the PRC to do what our naval forces and maritime law enforcement agencies must be able and indeed are able to accomplish in these waters. This is to maintain the law of our Republic and extend forth the sovereign peace of our one nation into this maritime territory - not to make it ours - but to preserve it as a resource for the good of our nation.



The PRC's over-extension (inherent in its claim to the whole of these waters west of our Republic) is also a cause for concern among other Countries in our world whose vital interest it is to keep those international shipping lanes within and beyond our EEZ free; whose nations need assurance that these sea lanes are kept open and available as a common trust of all nations.

However, the law by itself is troublesome if we ignore the fact that that the PRC is laying a claim to Panatag or Scarborough. This is why it is important to meet the PRC in the middle and preserve not only the dignity of both our Republics but also the viability and value of the shoal for the use of our future generations.

The US commitment to our defense may only be as strong as our own commitment to our own defense.

We must be able to take this in principle: Our primary defense in the context of the common defense and in concert with the mutual defense of our allies is always our responsibility.

We must be a friend to our friends and they shall be a friend to us.

The old mold of our ASEAN, however tenuously, may still understandably prevail.

That our ASEAN of late may still feel itself a random and accidental falling together of unrelated interests within our region instead of that purposed, principled, unified, Providential gathering of kindred nations into one focused and decisive regional force for collective peace and human community within our Asia may be evident in the uncertain stance that our own region is now taking here in our own region.

Therefore, we, as a defense partner with the United States and as part of the one ASEAN Neighborhood, must take both of these vital considerations arising from this unwanted incident as an impetus to spur forward the transformation of our Republic as well as that of our region with ASEAN and recognize its potential as an integral part of our diplomatic initiative.

We must do everything in our power to amicably resolve this standoff with the PRC.

Mabuhay! God be with us all.
---<--@

The Human Cost of War

Indeed,
my fellow Filipino compatriots,

the first ones to suffer the pains of War 

are ever the weak and the vulnerable.

- selah - 

Not our politicians,
not our able soldiery, 

not our middle classes,
not our wealthier classes, 

not even the criminally inclined, 

it is our small fisherfolk 

and their humble, hungry families 

who bear the brunt of this stand-off.

People whose minds (and stomachs) 

dwell furthest off of this brewing crisis!

We must bear in mind and heart 

that the human cost of this deadlock 

begins with them and is now counting...

   (Indeed,
   War will not cease
   until all of us
   - from least to strong -
   are made weak and vulnerable.
 
   For the spirit of War is a devourer of peoples!)

If we who are able
do not consider their plight 

to lend to our sense of urgency 

a deepening sense of justice, 

we might find ourselves taking stands 

on the wrong foundation.

---<--@

Salutation #125

JUSTICE would seem as love
to those who are familiar with her
but to those whose hearts
are far away from her,
Justice is their chief terror.
---<--@


Justice with Virtue and Vice

(The 3rd Cause: The Cause of Justice - Harmony)

TWO THINGS 

the heart of our Mankind needs:

Love and Justice.

- selah -

The original state of Man
is one of unadulterated goodness.

In this original state,
Man knew neither good nor evil
but is wholly submissive
to the nurture and protection
of God, his Creator.

In this original state,
the promise (human potential) of Man
is completely in harmony with his freedom
and his being (human dignity)
both in body and in soul
constantly preserved
by the golden Presence of the LORD,
his Eternal Provider and Holy Sustainer,
in and across all of living creation,
whether seen or unseen.

 (Truly,
 an unimaginable wonder indeed!)

The root 

of all that is evil
(i.e. the source of its mystery
as it is experienced in the visible world)
lies in the apprehension in our understanding
of a wholly spiritual, completely true,
and therefore, symbolic (or veiled) truth - 

as regards Man's abrupt departure (exile)
from this original state
since that most primordial of evil
was a sin that was inflicted
upon Man through woman*
(and from Man and woman*
unto all of our lineages to the last)
by the sin of another.

   (*The vulnerability of woman - here -

   is equally a consequence of the failure of man.

   Neglect of this first principle
   is a constant source of suffering in every age
   for it is the spirit of division that insists on parting the fault
   and therefore, disowning the peace the LORD
   hath intended between man (Adam) and woman (Eve)
   undoing the harmonious and complimentary order
   God hath placed between male and female.

   Furthermore,
   the woman spoken by here
   is not the Woman of later revelation,
   clothed with the Sun, a Lady with 12 stars -

   the Mother of Jesus Christ, the Savior of Mankind.)

For the fall of Man
- was an act initiated -
by the Serpent of Eden;
the Devil, Satan - Lucifer -

who is now and forever
the enemy of All.

- selah -

Unto Man was offered
a knowledge to command All things;
a knowledge over and beyond God Himself
so that Man might become like God
and therefore, apart from Him.

By this lie Man was deceived.

Because none
may offer this knowledge
but the LORD, 

God and God alone!

And no creature
whether in heaven or on earth
may ask this of the LORD 

without sin!

For the Serpent offered Man
- knowledge of God Himself!

It was this lie
that caused Man to break away
from his original lineage
of life and of light.

It was this evil 

that have caused 

the one heart of Man
- to become divided -
necessitating his departure
from this original state.

Man 

(and the children of Mankind) 

came into exile grief
and time itself was torn asunder.

Heaven was grieved
and its open gates was shut
at the autumnal dusk of faded Eden.

So began - the long march -
of the nations (of the children) of Mankind.

- selah -

Now,
that which caused this departure
was disobedience of which Man is guilty.

But that which caused this disobedience
was not of Man: It was of the Serpent.

Justice is a result of this first principle.

And the Creative Ideal
even as it is perceived - in exile time -
(as if looking through a glass, darkly;
obscured and eclipsed, as it were,
by both [1] the veil of time
and [2] the presence of sin
- at the very heart -
of the one habitation of Man)
is an expression
of this original state (of Man).

It is

the timeless expression
of the one, absolute Good
- the ideal Peace -
longed for - in and by - 

every human heart.

The original destiny
of all the nations of Mankind
- long lost -
yet still waiting to be found
and offered by God - continuously -
as a gratuitous outpouring of grace
(wrought by the Atonement of Jesus Christ)
to those who have ears able to listen 
and hearts willing to receive.

It is as an unspoken promise
understood by the children of all Mankind
being written in each our hearts
and so duly expressed
in the Ideals of the States (Constitutions, Laws)
that govern the nations
to whom this Creative Ideal
is entrusted by God (our Father)
and continually revealed - in time -
by His Providence

on earth.

Justice primarily concerns itself
with this Creative Ideal.

For what concerns Justice is 

the restoration of Man.

Therefore,
all meritorious acts of Justice
as a virtue - must be that -
which serves to restore Man
to (a vision of) this original state
(being continually revealed
unto every generation, and unto every nation
- by and through -
the Holy Spirit of the LORD).

- selah -

In this way,
Spiritual Justice
is a constant pursuit.

For Spiritual Justice
- must concern itself -
with the human community
as a growing, dynamic,
synergistic whole.

It is always vigilant.

It is always in motion.

It drives the juridical sciences
according to the needs of every good
in the context of the realities
of every present time.

What seeks to banish
the evils in human society;
what seeks to redress the legitimate grievances
- of the wholes - of all human communities;
what seeks to safeguard
the individual good and the common good
(in the context of each other);
what seeks to continually fulfill
the requirements of the Creative Ideal
as it is - currently expressed - 

in and by the hopes of every nation
and mandated through the ideals 

- vested and entrusted -
in each its Responsible States,
all of these are acts of Spiritual Justice.

It is what imparts force of truth
to the individual will to meaningfully defend and preserve
- through human institutions (the courts system),
the prevailing peace and the living order
of every civil (human) society.

From Spiritual Justice spring Temporal Justice.

Now,

Temporal Justice
is a remedy of law.

Its merits are derived
from the prevailing judgments
of a particular law court
which are always relative to the needs
of the present realities
it has been called to serve and redress.

Its proximity
to the realities of these needs - in time -
and its efficacy according to Spiritual Justice
is always underpinned by its own faithfulness
to the Creative Ideal.

Thus,
it is never anger
nor the spirit of revenge
that drives - forward and onward -
the Cause of Justice
but Justice itself!

- selah -

The relationship 

of the 3rd Cause to the 4th Cause
(Benignity, the Cause of Minorities)
is not incidental.

For what concerns Justice
is the total and absolute defense of the good
(conceived - as it were - 

as one and [at the same time] at-one, 

in and with itself, according to the Ideal Good, 

or the Highest Good, or [of] God
and understood, according to every present understanding, 

in the synergistic context of each other 

as an absolute whole [or as it really is in Eternity]).

Simply put,

Justice - promotes and protects - 

what is good.

It is Law
that seeks to bind
what evil there is
(specifically the Evil
in all evil things).
---<--@

The Circular Relationship of the Four Causes

Salutation #124

In this way
all are made to be strong
and when all are strong,
the nation is ever at peace.

For those who have
and those who doesn't have
give to each other
- according to the freedom of our freedoms -
something that each the other
may not gain
by themselves alone.

Industry thrives,
and all the people thrive
in industry.
---<--@

(Labor Day 2012)

Today is Labor Day 2012.

A Republic is

a particular work of Country

and today is that day of days

we remember the toils of the common man

upon which splendor and virtue - each of us -

must constantly build and rely upon.

The day we remember

the toils of the common man, 

is the moment we shall finally understand 

the endeavors of our own humanity 

to be happy and therefore, free!

For the success of our nation's daily pursuits 

to liberate our generations (as a whole)

from the bondages of this world -

   from illnesses, from pains, from wars,

   from suffering, from corruption, from vices,

   from grief, from decay (both corporal and spiritual)

   and from death, even the final death -

is an unfolding work of a promised reality

we must constantly strive to master and to gain

from the realizations we shall together

profit - from this understanding.

- selah -

Today we reflect

upon the value of our labors -

   (Consider now, if you please,
   my brothers and sisters of the Promise, 
   your present abode - how it became -
   even before you called it a home;
   or the food upon thy table, or the water in thy glass,
   or the road before thy way, or the clothing on thy back -
   trace each their memory forth from thee - and understand -
   how you are made able to reap its blessings
   seemingly without sowing?

   For these are only these
   due to the nationhood in each of us 
   as well as through the nations that are all of us.)

How we cherish it.

How we recognize it.

How we appreciate

its potential, its dignity,

and its lasting contributions

in ourselves, in others like ourselves,

as a nation, and as a Country.

And therefore,

how we, as a nation,

have chosen to reward our laborers
a share of the national wealth -
   (i.e. with and through riches not just monetary
   or merely momentary in their natures.)

from least to great,

especially the least of all.

Mabuhay!

---<--@