Salamat po

Remember me in your prayers, 

holy father - I love you.

For I am a sinner, in need of much help.

Continue to inspire us - 

even in the silence be nearer to us -
ever like our Savior longing over Jerusalem,

far away from the maddening crowd.

---<--@

On the Sabah Issue

Before we make certain our convictions as regards to the Sabah issue, let us examine and reflect on some key points -

The Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo - recognition, relevance, restitution.
The Federation of Malaysia - sovereignty, prestige, security.
The Republic of the Philippines - security, good will, credibility.
The ASEAN Neighborhood - unity, commonality of interests, strength of solidarity.

And some constants of the prevailing age - lest we get complacent with the darkness, let us remember where we are in the history of time:

- No peace without adversity - the expectation that with peace comes the challenge and the responsibility to serve, defend, and protect the meaning of its truth as enshrined and remembered in the hearts and halls of our nationhood.

- The 2009 minimum of the times - accept the status quo from 2009 - this includes all present borders, present disputes, present concerns from 2009 and constitutes the end point of the necessary labor of remembrance required by the season from the year of our Lord 0 AD to 2009 AD or the beginning of the new age of peace.

- The hope of the present season - peace, the real one - the one that ascends against all division unto true and everlasting belonging - and not the false one that is emptied out of its meaning by the darkness of the world or the spirit of war.
---<--@

Reflection:

At the level of the Republic government, the Sabah claim is not a claim of sovereignty. It is not like our existing stakes about the Western Philippine Sea.

At the level of the Republic government, the Sabah claim is a claim on the legitimacy of an historic line of royalty that resides within our sphere of responsible government and united among us by Providence in nationhood.

It is therefore, to us - a local issue - not an international issue - the Sabah issue - which we must moderate with Malaysia at the level of her Federation. Malaysia as a nation is not lacking in her own houses of royal lineages and will understand what this recognition means and how important it is.

Just because we are a Republic does not mean that there are no more of these lines that have survived the ravages of the last great age of war; where they survive they have survived to serve.

For Malaysia, this is an international issue. It is a claim only from Malaysia's point of view.

The Sabah claim ceases to be a claim from our Republic point of view but an historic grievance which has now been brought to the fore. It is something we can neither overlook, nor belittle nor abandon all together.

There is a win-win situation here. 

We feel ourselves under attack without attacking each other because we are in the dark about it. So let us together make the conscious choice not remain there but to emerge.

To do justice to every man, is this not part of the code and culture of our executive leadership? Laws bite hard against evil but it is justice to repair the damage done by evil deeds.

Is it evil to air a grievance? Is it not freedom to have and to hear a petition which is authentically human and therefore, visible and legitimate in the eyes of the nations of our world?

None has done this. If we have truly completed our remembrances, we will find that none has done this - no one. No one is to blame who presently exists in any form or way: none but a shadow of things gone by; a deadly illusion of war - for the truth is that it is up to us now to fix it - ever as those nations dreaming together this time.

We have to be willing to be the children of our Father Abraham once more that we may by the grace of God bless the communities of Mankind which are the nations of the children of Mankind.

It is not just a kindness to promote the good, in all truth it is to do justice to goodness and this, especially in the society of man is an act of civic virtue the nature of which can never be legislated for no law can ever be truly written in heaven and on earth to either bind it or prevent what God has placed in the heart of man - love perfecting justice - love in the truth.

This issue will only cease to be an issue - for all of us - for the Royal House of the Sultanate of Sulu, for their brothers spread among the other houses upon the earth, to the Republic of the Philippines, and to the Federation of Malaysia, only when justice is served - not again in partial or unclear terms, not through force of arms, not by anger nor the spirit of revenge - but by justice - one that recognizes and upholds the good - of all and for all - of nations and individuals together.

It might feel like this came at an inopportune time, I felt it too. I felt the suspicion. For my first instinct is to protect our internal peace process.

But at least now we have the initiative to actually do something with the Sabah issue - a boon in the midst of all this difficulty - let us then also recognize that if we overlook this or if we wax undecisive about it - we lose the opportunity.

We must state our position clearly first, and do this singularly from a national interest standpoint - in a way that is conducive to a meaningful and peaceful solution to the matter - privately if necessary - for the benefit of all - but especially on behalf of the Sultanate of Sulu, and in a manner that preserves the gains of our own internal peace process, and then ask them all to come home so it can be further worked out to a conclusion in concert with all concerned parties - officially and without Malaysia feeling untowardly threatened by any perceived intrusion and inadvertently even waxing hostile to our OFW's presently in their territory who only want to earn an honest living and nothing more.

Malaysia as a whole after all has invested time, prestige and treasure in the development of that region even enough perhaps to claim sovereignty rights but we should not abandon the claim of the Sultanate of Sulu and their grievance as regards to it neither must we compromise our friendship with Malaysia - we, the people, as represented by our government in the Republic state, should pray look for a more permanent solution to this pressing old problem to further make complete our present peace - together this time.

Above all, and highest of all - the Sabah issue can not be resolved by force of arms. It would indeed be an incredibly wrong turn of events to allow this to develop into open conflict; even a form of forgetfulness on an unpardonable scale, one that undoes the grace of nationhood.

Let us be patient. Let Malaysia be patient.

For I trust and believe we are better than the challenges that we presently must confront; that our peace together now is stronger and brighter here in the darkness than the darkness itself; that we, ever as our nations, are stronger than the night, this longest night, and therefore, truly belong to the morning and the coming day.

Peace is the test and to pass this test brings succees.

What ennobles is not might but right.
---<--@

Because it is also my personal hope that this issue is soon resolved - peacefully, for all:

Salaam. Shalom. Peace. Mabuhay po tayong lahat!

Salutation #13

The difference between a monarch and a president is one of election.

The similarity is that both of them still have to make the surrender of kings - an acceptance of a life of service to the nation as a rule above all rules.

(Completing our EDSA)

To all our national communities, Peace -

A significant part of the peace of the times, my people,

as it concerns our nation, the Philippines,

involves bridging the gap between generations

and between administrations.

There are specific moments in our history

that we need to re-examine in light of these times.

And we shall do this not to scatter

either our belongings to each other

or our remembrances together

but to more fully gather them together

in and amidst ourselves.

For if we know ourselves as ourselves,

we can no longer be a nation

swayed hither tither by a dark night.

If we find confusion in our hearts about the past -

especially from 1986,

now is the time to re-examine these pivotal events.

And we shall do this with a view to establish the facts

upon more familiar grounds of fundamental truths

we have now re-discovered about ourselves as a nation

as well as about our nation in the context of its God-given right

to prosper and advance

under the peace of a Republic undertaking of Country.

Look upon these present times yourselves, my honorable compatriots,

and see the coincidences for what they are - signal graces.

My intention here is to guide you -

but you have to let yourself be led.

And not by me.

- selah -

All our Presidents have had something to give to our Country.

It is up to us to discern what good there is

that we have inherited from past Presidencies.

For if we remember only the problems,

we shall fail to build on the strength

of previous administrations.

It is only natural for every generation

to inherit a degree of evil

(to test their strength and commitment to the truth)

but sufficient for this evil - always -

is the good of the prevailing day.

We have come to remember

the faults of our Presidents

and may God allow it to serve our vigilance well.

But to the point that we tend to almost always forget their virtues,

we are consigning ourselves to a labor of unending beginnings.

For it is these virtues that connect our lineages together

and it is by the strength of these connections that we prosper.

If we are wise, my people,

and if the LORD, our God, blesses us,

even what darkness there is may lead us to the light.

Only those who are without remembrance remain in the dark.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

(produced 20110613)

What is your world view?

Our Philippines,
when we emerge to become a developing Country
(and we will because we must)
will emerge into a nascent family of nations -

each of these nations endowed by God with both
- a hope that is in common with ours
as well as an experience particular to each their peoples,
shaping for that nation also
- a hope which is particular to them.

Our emerging in these present days,
as we are now just learning,
depend just as much upon our own strength and self-reliance
as upon our national view of the world -
how we belong to it, and how we plan to integrate with it -
therefore, one of the first things I should like to ask our candidates,
both executive and legislative,
is this -

What is your world view?

For if, God-helping,
we become the mature Republic
the LORD is calling us to be,
this sense of a world view shall guide us
in our treatment of other nations -
so may the LORD preserve us from vanity
that we may as a nation hope to prevail
against the errors of the past age.
---<--@

Valentine's Day 2013

Today we observe the power of overcoming love;
the love of God in Jesus Christ that leads every heart to love all in All.

It might not always mean - in the temporal sense -
the triumph of two lovers, but always the eternal victory of Love.

May we therefore, be blessed this day!

May God cause all our hearts to always, always be in love.

May our hearts and our spirits be glad
as we bear into mind today - the great wonder of triumphant love;
that love with the power to bear for all, to endure for all, and to hope in all.

And may the God Who is Love prevail in our souls forever!
---<--@



Proclaim the message of the Gospel in the Peace of Jesus Christ!

Salutation #172

There is no weaker sex, only the perception of weakness wrought by the division that the sin of the Devil had also placed between the man and his most faithful helper.

There is only man and there is only woman. And there is only man and woman joined together by God in their particular strengths to form the nucleus of every human family.

(Parity of the Sexes)

Listen,
dear Starshine -

Gender equality
does not mean parity of the sexes
in terms of physical distinction,
which is complementary by nature,
the one and the other making a whole
- the nucleus of the family -
but in terms of spiritual endowment.

For man is indeed equal to woman
in terms of human dignity
and human promise.

Man
will always have
a preferential view of woman,
this is so that man can make the world safe
for woman.

Woman
will always have
a preferential need of man,
this is so that woman can make the world less unfamiliar
for man.

These two natures work
to complement each other
- and when taken together -
bonds the human family
in bonds of freedom
and strength.

Yet both man and woman
are the image of God - in that -
their very soul contains the breath of life.
This very life gives shape to their corporeal body
to give a definite form unto a unique person - that -
being made alive in the Spirit of God as living souls
formed in our Creator's very own likeness
radiates it even as the LORD radiates it
- ever like the everlasting Light -
sustaining the living life
of all His creation.

To recognize this image
in the being of each man and woman
is to recognize the dignity of God in all Mankind
and to uphold this dignity of man and woman
is to honor the divine dignity of the LORD
(Who is Being, Whose Image IS Existence)
the one Creator of all Mankind -
and of all worlds, seen and unseen:
This is the basis of all human respect
and is the universal medium of peace.

To recognize this likeness
in the soul of each man and woman
is to recognize the presence of God on earth
(Who is THE Truth, Whose Likeness IS Life Everlasting)
and to nurture this presence in man and woman
is to love the Divine Presence of the LORD
our Holy Sustainer and one Provider - in all Creation -
this is the basis of respect for all human life
and is the universal foundation of earthly justice.

Man and woman
in their spiritual endowments
are the same - yet they are also -
created by God to be different.

To seek to understand the parity of the sexes
is to seek to know it - without opposition -
to the justice of the wisdom of God
in both the image and the likeness
of God in man and woman.

In this way
- the symmetry of its truth -
is made meaningful
to thee.
---<--@

Salutation #171

The First Day,
God spoke Light
and everything in everything
and all that is in all
became for Him.



(The First Day)

Truth
imparts form to the formless.
Knowledge is made meaningful because of it.
Formlessness creates form.
Form allows knowledge to be studied.
The understanding of knowledge is the labor of science.
But the labor of Man is to know the Truth.

Man through his labor learns knowledge.
For knowledge is the reward of study.
He receives it only through his learning
and is taught to his mind only because
it has preceded his being.

For all knowledge have existed before Man
and is possessed by him according to his labors,
it is given him only for a time - and passes away forever.

It is vanity to love knowledge for knowledge alone is vanity.

The learned profit not without a love of learning
and keep it not if they were wise.
For the profit of learning
lies not in an understanding of knowledge
but in an understanding of the truth.

He is one who sees the field
and knows the treasure that is hidden within
and so he sells everything he owned to buy the field
that he may cherish it forever.

Knowledge is received but truth is sought -
one is the reward of virtue, and the other a grace of faith.
All knowledge passes away, it is like time - a thing borrowed,
but the truth once possessed is possessed forever.

Happy those who possess the truth!
They are those whose spirits are poor
who in their poverty shall inherit the earth.

Knowledge is burdensome yet
when placed in the service of the truth
become easy and light.

Knowledge profits not the soul yet
when understood in the truth
is the gain of wisdom.

Science profits not the man yet
when understood in the truth
is the gain of all men.

For all knowledge
that is kept like a treasure rots -
its everlasting value lies in the giving away,
ever like tears shed for love of others
ever like a light shone in the darkness of the night -
but the wisdom of this freedom
shall ever return to thee, darling Starshine,
for ever by the grace of God,
truth shall set men free.
---<--@

Salamat po

I should like to sincerely thank HRH Abdullah ibn-Saud for his magnanimity. In providing the remainder of the blood money on behalf of my brother Filipino, Dondon Lanuza, you have saved his life. For this I, and my nation with me, am deeply grateful. May you and your house be blessed forever for this kindness.

I learned about the plight of Dondon on the Internet and felt his sadness. There was a great longing in him, a desire to be free and to live out his life in freedom, but there was great pain and a loneliness also.

He and his family and friends made a great effort to solicit the generosity of others to aid Dondon in his hope. For he and his family, the same with many of my compatriots at this time, were not capable by themselves to raise the necessary sum (Php35 million) to fully compensate the family of Mr. Mohamad Al-Qahtani for their pain and loss.

The struggle to raise this money has already been long and hard the day I learned about Dondon. And as he directed most of his petitions to his fellow Filipinos at home and abroad, to see the slow progress of his cause seemed to me to be the most painful to bear - for it is a most human cause - so I resolved, by what available means I can, to help him gain back his faith in our people. It was an uphill battle, your excellency.

Through it all I know Dondon never lost his hope, he never wavered in his faith, never gave up trusting in the Providence of God and he never stopped believing in the strength of the humanity we all share. He persisted where many would have fallen into despair.

So it was with great relief that I came upon the happy news! Before this, your majesty, it seemed almost impossible to complete the necessary sum in time. You truly did save his life and I will always be amazed at this most admirable act of virtue. Magnanimity is the humility of greatness and it raises up the lowly.

It is an uncommon truth in a world where truth seems no longer common; that to save a life is to renew the world for it is but one and the same act. It is an act man by himself alone can never make.

Peace, I salute you. Salaam Aleikum. Mabuhay po kayo.

May God bless you and may God bless the Kingdom of  Saudi Arabia.
---<--@


You did it, Dondon! Wala nang kala kalahating ngiti.
Bless the LORD, our God and Deliverer, you can smile again.