Thoughts in the Raw

I believe in the unjust judges, unjust laws principle. 

That naturally, a just society crafts just laws. But how just a society is depends not on its laws but on the measure it gives to its laws. Law magnifies justice and justice magnifies law. But everything in the system depends on what we put in.

This principle is quite similar to the thought behind the "broken windows" principle. That the tipping point between order and lawlessness are found in the little things... 
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The BBL is a means to achieve a dedicated end. It is a means, not an end; meant to produce the conditions that favor the establishment of a meaningful, durable, equitable peace in the ARMM region.

The BBL is not a guarantee of peace in Mindanao. Any mutually agreed upon version of this Basic Law still has to produce what the Basic Law promises to produce.

If a final version of the BBL passes Congressional muster, the responsibility of proving the worth of the BBL will pass from Congress to the constituent peoples of the BPE - their leadership especially. The proof of the Law shall be what the Law produces - as a means to a dedicated end.

Take our 1987 Constitution for example. Consider how our own Constitution remains dependent still on the political will residing within the Republic to materialize its ambitions. The BBL through the BPE will more or less encounter the same kind of proving.

The proving of the BBL will not be whether it passes Congressional muster or not. It will depend on how the Basic Law is allowed to take root among its constituent peoples in the ARMM region.

This is why my stand on the issue is resonant with the Catholic Church's stand - Give the BBL a chance. For it is but one question upon a path of many others. Give the journey a chance to begin. From there, many other answers need to be found. From there, the issue of the BBL will meet up with the Mamasapano issue.

Thus, give Congress enough time to address valid concerns about the quality of the Basic Law as well as surmount all legal and constitutional challenges about it

Because this much is true - Peace in the ARMM can be a cornerstone of a broader peace in Mindanao and therefore, a more perfect peace right across our Republic.

The vision we are working towards is worth the risk - so let us be careful.
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The fire in Valenzuela is horrible. I have been a fire victim myself but my experience is dwarfed and humbled by the experience of those who have lost friends and loved ones in Valenzuela. May God lead the souls of all those who perished into His safety and the hearts of all those who grieve for them into His solace.

This fire is the 3rd worst in our national memory. Adequate measures should be enacted so that both the City and the BFP may proactively ensure that fire safety is one of the foremost capability concern among business establishments. How can we lose 72 citizens in the way we lost them in Valenzuela just like that?
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Mamasapano and the BBL

Mamasapano and the BBL are issues distinct.

Justice and Politics are matters separate. They are related only in significance, one proceeds from the other.

Justice is indispensable and the truths Justice serves are changeless. For the ideals of Justice are older than time, original to being, and inherent in all living purpose.

(There is a kind of justice that harms. Sadly, we know of this kind of justice in the aberrations we feel our own justice system is capable of. Know it enough to harbor mistrust in the Justice of the State and even fear it. This we will reflect upon in a separate post.)

Politics is necessary but its effectiveness must rely upon how well our Justice is able to deliver - not to change what has already happened last Jan. 25, but to make amends and ultimately reconcile ourselves to what we had lost by the gain of their memory.

It would be disadvantageous to the Republic to confuse the pledge of Justice which is eternal with the mission of Politics which is temporal.

Anger will not serve us in the pursuit of Justice.

Anger if it can be transformed into a passion for what is necessarily a good, may fuel the Political but may also cause it to exceed itself. Politics are always bound by the real and what can be real is always limited by many things. Anger turned to hatred can be boundless.

We may recall to mind examples of this... politics of last resort. Politics must be joined to a vision that is a good that embraces the nation to safeguard it from excessive passion. Reason shepherding emotion.

Lives lost is never a political issue. These things do not go away. There is a saying, "the angry can be made happy but the dead can not come back to life."

This to me is a principal lesson that we ought to understand from Mamasapano:

Let us be careful when it comes to human life.

It pays to appreciate how fundamental human life is to our nationhood; how central human dignity and human promise are to the obtaining vision of the Republic and the success of the national peace.

Even if we were as a nation blessed by Providence enough to obtain from the memory of our painful experience in Mamasapano, the most good it may offer to our communities there will always remain among us the silence of those names... (if only we can hear what from behind the silence cries out...)

All of them, every one of us who perished during that day, everybody we lost who are each of them Filipino by grace of God - especially those civilians no matter how few who had nothing to do with battle and only wished for something better than a constant state of war.

We are, by our names, always more than just numbers. The visible universe is made up of numbers. We who behold the universe and ascribe it beauty are much more than the universe.

I want us to remember this...

For however political one may wax and for any reason one may think, they were all of them Filipino and this nation shall be made to account in the truth. The absence of this "we" presence in our hearts and therefore, in our times is a primary source of all our internal troubles.

I am not defending any evil done. I wish to consolidate in our thoughts and in our love on what in us is good that it may be easier for our communities to let those evil days flee in and of itself - because we are as we are.

Think about it.

Some say the Moro people do not or have never considered themselves to be Filipino. 

What matters to me however, is that I recognize the fact that they are. Because I am. And I will never do them justice as least spiritually if I allow myself to be swayed by the misguided political opinion of others.

In another place and time, all those whom we lost that day could have been fighting shoulder to shoulder for a cause that is common to all... building, building, building toward better days.

Some disagree with the usage of the word Filipino because of historical or other reasons. 

Words are both meaning and sound/script - essentially the meaning of words can neither be voiced or written. Words say something they can not really express by calling our attention to it - by sound or by other mediums physical.

Think about it.

What you hear or read and what you understand are two different things.

What matters is that one understands.

It is better to wear your truth inside your heart than to speak it loudly just to be heard.

Past generations of Filipinos including Rizal and Bonifacio and their illustrious generations did not have any qualms in the usage of the word Filipino. To challenge this now would only dislocate us further from the line of our history.

There is an expectation and a responsibility in citizenship. 

Most of the ideals that have shaped, informed, and enlightened our civics belong to the memory of the nation. Our identity remain constant to our mind and hearts even in the midst of change. For everything about being a Filipino are truths that are for always. All these things has to do with the national peace.

I wondered at one time what the real name of our nation is. Before the Philippines was. One can reach back into the past only so much until it becomes wishful thinking. Know the truth, and you will know the name of it. It is motion.

In the temporal realm, we go by name first introductions. The name itself is not as important as the acts that proceed from friendship or lack of it.

In the timeless, one recognizes the truth first, the motions of it, then the name. The name is the most intimate expression of unity, and makes it whole.

Our nation goes by the same principle... What matters is not things before, though we have an obligation to memory; not things a day past today, though we have a responsibility to duty and vision, what matters is the here and now.

Citizenship is what comes out of your heart.

And so I do not feel any prejudice nor am I imposing any upon anybody by saying I am Filipino.

A street kid once asked me for alms. I was by a fishball cart at the time and offered him fishball instead of money. He was happy to have it. I was happy to give it. And the fishball seller had a smile on his face... That smile gave me a thought. 

Who were we to each other to relate like that? We were not related by blood. We were in that timeless moments, Filipinos, that is why.

In a way, all nations are like that...
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In summary, 

The value of human life in this nation is to be realized. Human respect and the recognition of the human potential in every single Filipino is an aspect of our equality as citizens.

Integral to our sovereignty as a nation is the inestimable value of the life of each Filipino.

Mamasapano is a Justice issue. Central to this issue is the question of overkill or proportionality of response. If we lost too many because of administrative lapses (the sanctions of which I understand will vary accordingly), this is no excuse for us to have lost too much because of the bloodlust of a criminal few. These individuals being as they are - unchanged and unrepentant - have no place in Mamasapano, in the future Bangsamoro or in the whole of this Republic - ever.

The BBL is a Political issue. The citizenry ought to return to our ideals of what good governance is. How we, the people, commonly enjoy the simplest of everyday things within a state of domestic tranquility that may be characterized as dependable, durable, meaningful, equitable and quite cognizant of our human needs. And how this state of domestic tranquility may be shared.

Instead of tearing the basic law apart let us please ask, "how may the blessings of our democracy (meager though it may be at present) be shared more equally across the Republic, and in particular in the ARMM region?"

I believe the question of constitutionality is a question of accommodation first. 

What is truly unconstitutional is what is missing and what is lacking in our peace to make it more perfect. Why is the ARMM a failing experiment? What can the BBL contribute to make it work?

How may the promises of the 1987 Constitution be more effectively brought to the lives of the people on the ground in that beleaguered region?

Constitutionality becomes a question of exclusion only when we derive from it laws and political behaviors that are unclear, being furthest from the guidance and intent of its policies, principles, and provisions.

The BBL in the first instance is an approach at accommodation.

The legislature ought find the balance between the both Justice and Politics to arrive at a final form of the draft law; one that is effective, equitable, and compatible to the end by which the peace process is dedicated to - which is a more perfect peace in Mindanao and by extension, across our one Republic whole.

I, having determined my own limitations, will devote another post on my own personal observations on the draft law and go into detail about it. That I may keep my civic peace. And my thoughts be brought forth into the councils of the national conversation.
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What can I trust?

When I think about how much suspicions swirl about our thoughts these days, one thing becomes clear to me: These suspicions are up to no good.

Left unchecked, I can see these suspicions contribute only to the growth of more ill will. And lack of good will is not conducive to the prospering of the peace.

Then I ask myself, what can I trust?

I think there is a genuine desire for a meaningful, equitable, and durable peace in Mindanao and that this desire has taken hold in the soul of the Filipino nation. What I mean by this is that all who speak in behalf of peace in Mindanao are these days not just voices from Mindanao, not just voices from our Muslim brothers and sisters in the nation, but are from Filipinos across the entire width and breadth of our sheltering Republic.

Certainly the RPH itself not just the GPH wills to establish a meaningful, equitable, and durable peace in Miindanao and that the desire for peace in the Filipino nation remain sincere.

This is a truth I can trust.

Our President in being responsive to the clamor of the people for peace in Mindanao in his own heart I believe desire peace as sincerely as the rest of the nation.

The OPAPP too I believe is sincere and have done (and is still doing) their level human best to carry out the sovereign will of the Filipino people for peace through the authority of the Office of the President. I trust Sec. Deles, Atty Ferrer and Justice Leonen before her to be good, hard-working public servants and that all of them remain so notwithstanding everything.

OPAPP to include not just its visible public heads but all civil servants who comprise this Office were before and remain until now, committed to the Philippine Peace Process as a whole. The sincerity that pushes things forward in behalf of the RPH in them above all, I think has never wavered.

Having followed the GPH-MILF track for a time now, I have been witness to its highs and lows. There were two low points in the process; the first one was al-Barka and the second, Mamasapano. The latter one being indeed the most difficult one so far.

There will be more low times, I expect, but in the midst of these I equally also expect little victories along the way... If there were mistakes done, it surely must be corrected and I think all concerned are open to better means to achieve the singular end for which OPAPP was commissioned.

Let us be reminded that the peace process is being carried out on a broad front and is wider in scope than just the MILF track. Peace reform is a difficult thing but commensurate with its challenges are its hopes and the hope I myself believe a successful conclusion to the Philippine Peace Process as whole shall bring to full fruition in our Country is immense.

The MILF I believe likewise retains, a workable measure of sincerity.

All this sincerity I observe still endure even in the midst of the controversies at the wake of Mamasapano.
And these are practically seeds of good will; not yet fully maturated as measures of trust but exists in the form of a desire to be able to trust.

Indeed, trust within the nation has suffered and this wounding have made for unsettled days. However, even as suspicions swirl about dissipating like so much acrid smoke into the atmosphere of the nation, let this observer point to the fact that the desire to heal and to recoup what immaterial gains were lost to us still remains in almost all of us.

This makes me hopeful.

What can I trust? If not who at this time, what can I trust? 

There is a new definition of politics I have been chewing on... politics it stated - is a means to harmonize human relationships to advance the goals of the State.

Politics when it comes to pressing forward an agenda or a policy in a democratic forum can be a fight. That much is true especially when old molds need to be proven old to make way for the new, but politics too as stated above can be a decent, constructive conversation.

I can better appreciate the above way of thinking about politics... 

As a concerned citizen, I am for a politics that maximizes on the truths about our national conversation, avoids complexities, presents itself simply, humanly and faithfully, defines it advantages truthfully, and exploits nothing untruthfully.

To know the "goals of the State", we should refer to our Constitution. In all things, one thing I am sure of about politics is that it is a duty. It is not a lifestyle. And that there is an on/off switch to our being political creatures. Hence, public service is a calling not an ambition.

Anyway, back again to sincerity...

Firstly, we can trust our sincerity.

Let us give to each other at least, the benefit of the doubt - that we all still want in this Republic to serve and experience the common good. In this particular case, a broader, deeper peace in Mindanao.

Secondly, we can trust the truth.

Truth is what the beholder beholds in his or her heart to be. It just is. Capable of standing on its own. Truth is capable of defending itself. It fights. It sometimes bites. 

Because -

"Scripture is like a lion. Who ever heard of defending a lion? Just turn it loose; it will defend itself."
- Charles Spurgeon.

Truth is also as such.

So don't just believe in me because I say it, believe it because you know to believe it. Accept it because its true. Because as a human being, truth is I too can be wrong.

In the realm of things spiritual, where each of us live the interior life in our souls, often the hardest thing to do is to admit that, "I don't know". This in itself is a profound truth and opens for all seeking hearts, the way that lead into every good journey.

(Back again to topic...)

Public opinion is conflicted. But public sentiment is unified. Why?

We all thirst for peace. This thirst is but one thirst. And because we do, most everybody is asking in essence, the same question, "what is the truth"?. And truth can be many things to everybody.

The questions about the BBL ask the truth about the BBL - that we may together trust it.

For there are things we would like to know about the BBL - that we may together understand it.

It is only right to ask and to seek.

But if peace to us is important, in our doing so let us not so readily take to heart second and third hand information if we can help it. Let us care enough about what we commonly thirst for to seek to drink in the truth about everything from its primary sources.

I'll be honest, I have my limitations on what I can understand about the BBL. Thus, I am limited as to what questions I may ask that are truly relevant and constructive about it. Hence, I rely upon our Congress to do what they must... and seek to learn from what they find and accomplish in our behalf.

All this seeking in my own mind is indicative of the depth of our national sincerity; that our desire for a more perfect peace across our Philippines is not only just but also true.

Finally, I believe this seeking for truth as regards the BBL is a seeking that must be sought separately and apart from the political fallout of Mamasapano. It is my opinion that we should be able to make that distinction. It may serve us well to do so...

If our Congress can deliver the BBL on target, by or before June 4, so much the better.

We are dealing with a draft law. It must be scrutinized with legislative objectivity (as opposed to political subjectivity) else our representations in Congress lose sight of their own sincerity...

Truth is if this is done properly, everybody wins.

Everybody wins.

Perfect.
---<--@ 

Reflections: 20150312, Thursday

Sea as a reflection of Sky. Sky as a meditation of Sea

Nakakalito ang panahon, mga kapatid. Muddy water... How long is it going to last? We have to wait till things settle down... ganun talaga ang tubig.

What is driving the confusion? I think it's politics. Saludo ako kay Walden Bello. I lean toward the right pero when it comes to principle - everybody should be drawn toward the center. It is politically gutsy what he did. He stood on principle, acted his convictions and resigned from his party. Bakit? Kasi nakakainis na talaga yung nangyayari sa taas.

All this blaming is weak. President Ramos was right when he said that the President is not being very Presidential right now. If insiders, our own citizens, can recognize it, what of outsiders. Both our friends and those who we have not yet won over to be our friends must be of their own opinions on the matter of Mamasapano, the Peace process, and the BBL. But as for me, what is of central importance right now is for this Republic to sort itself out. Muddy water must be made clear again. Ganun talaga ang buhay na tubig. Clarity. Truth (with love as the highest truth). Everything else will follow.

Think about PNoy's advisers and appointees. What the hell have they been up to. My attitude is they should at least consider the dignity of the Office of the President. Even when they should disagree with the prevailing politics of the person of the President, I think they must always be mindful of the prevailing reality of that intangible truth upon which he, the person of the President, as well as they, his political appointees, stand upon - in the seals, symbols and titles of our Republic.

Because these are the things that will outlast them. The Office will outlast the person of the President and the Office of the President shall outlast his or her appointees too. These seals, symbols and titles will outlast because they were meant to outlast. For the truths that live within them are as vessels that contain and serve to bear forward in spirit that sense of continuity (1) for our Country in ourselves, and (2) of our Country in time. Certainly, these truths will outlast the politics of any present time and deserve to retain their own honors distinct from their successors through a lineage that is intact.

I think about PNoy himself. I do not think it wise for him to resign. I do not think it wise for him to persist in absolving himself either. Sabi nga nila e. The buck stops there. If not accountability, take responsibility to ensure accountability, Mr President. The guilt you will bear if you were not to blame in any of this is not because something was done but because nothing was done. Or because something was done after the fact that falls short of what must be done. Do I still believe in our President? Yes I think so. Pero please sir, assure your people.

Also, why does it feel like there are too many secrets here. Cover up nga daw. Pero secrecy daw is not deceptive. It should not be. Because secrets serve the truth and the truth serves the people. The State is never served by believing in a lie: Kaya umamin siguro si Washington dun sa Cherry Tree. Sino ang pinagtatakluban kung meron. At nino? At bakit? Our striving for truth must always be mindful to preserve honor but not hide incompetence. US involvement? Side issue lang yan. Intelligence cooperation is essential in operations in the nature of Oplan Exodus. Lalo na at ang NICA natin ay hindi pa up to par. Hindi pa front-line agency.

Isa pa. Gripes go up not down. Kaya siguro nasasaktan si Napenas kasi sabihin na natin na may lapses siya. Perhaps, he expected some amount of amor propio to survive in the bearing of the burden of the Fallen 44. And I do not think it was unrealistic of him to expect it.

I have a term: Conservation of Citizenship. I think we all know this concept by heart but have not given it a name. We all want second and third and fourth chances at happiness. In fact, I believe in a Country where these chances are unlimited for those of us who honestly and humanly work at being happy.

Public servants who serve at the Nation's behest up and down our Republic do the vital job of facilitating the awakening of these dreams of personal happiness within our larger awakening Dream of Country (or what I call "Republic Vision"). When these individual dreams awaken, they become real ha... Hindi po tayo parang tulog na nananaginip lang ha. The Republic Vision is a waking dream... it is like something in the horizon we have to return to, something real. Something awesome. We do not fall asleep into this Dream, we live in it. And because we do, most of us implicitly understand we can not fully "be" all of this while war is in our midst. That a house divided will not long endure.

Our dreams are reflections of each other. They only become real because they are reflections of each other. The larger Dream of Country is a fabric of a forever woven from all of these awakened dreams. In a real sense, we owe each other something because of each other's dreaming. Consider along the line of this thought, the water we drink, how we should be thankful. We should recognize in this, our "intrinsic value". Nationhood teaches us to accept, appreciate and to ultimately love the human being because he or she is a human being. Hindi dahil ang taong ito ay may silbi (dahil nga tayong lahat dito sa ating bansa ay may kanya-kanyang silbi) kundi dahil ang tao ay tao. Love the player. Change with the game. 

Not one of us expects their virtue and their worth in this Republic of ours to be wiped out by a single mistake. For as long as these mistake are human, they should stand the scrutiny of our civics. Ewan ko lang kung pinulitika na ha. Politics nga exist at the level of the State and is wholly subsumed by it. It is however, always underpinned by the spirit and strength of our civics.

Human morality, our right remembrances, and the fruits of a good religion in turn inform, empower, and enlighten our civics. Kaya nga I believe a good religion should speak to us as a human nation not so much through our politics but through the art of our citizenship and help us - teach us - to build a culture of light and a dominion of life.

Since a lot of us talk at the same time in the National Conversation and policy being an expression of the present will and vision of the Chief Executive of the Filipino State. Magulo talaga ang pulitika, pero lagi dapat maka-bansa't - makatotohanan at makatao. Politics exist to make things clear. Pero nga bad politicians use politics to muddy up the water. Wala namang bad politics. Bad policy oo kasi nga there are bad politicians - by calling talaga or by accident lamang. Pero ang pang balance po natin dito ay ang ating free expression. Kaya importante ang Free Press. Kaya madalas ako kay Ted Failon sa umaga. At hindi lamang dahil nandun si Tina Marasigan sa medyo huli... yung cat.

Kaya nga bilib din ako sa speech ni Senator Alan Cayetano, I disagree with the good Senator from Taguig at times. Katulad nung pagkukuwestyon niya kina Iqbal at sa pagdidiin niya kay Sec Deles at Ferrer. Masyadong PG kung baga. Alam mo yun? I think Sec Deles and Ferrer must work with the tools they are given. If they were negotiating from a position of weakness - which was my significant take away from the Senator's well-prepared privilege speech - we should be more diligent in going over the BBL. Because the BBL is the present sum of the whole peace process as far as the GPH-MILF track is concerned. Thank you, Senator Cayetano, for your inspired efforts.

Let me say that I make my peace right now with the common people. Walang kwestyon that there is civic peace in the Philippines. Citizenship is not so well defined in the Constitution. Only its legal parameters are mentioned there. Pero we have a deep tradition of citizenship. Malalim ang balon at marami ito laging imbak na tubig na malinaw at presko. I have attempted in this blog to define and to clarify some of its principles and characteristics. Dahil sa tingin ko importante.

Many of us are asking "who or what is a Filipino?" And many of us do not find readily available answers. Tama ang tanong. Pero dati rati kasi walang masyadong nagtatanong kaya ang diwa na nangdadala nang liwanag sa mga katotohanang pinagsasalukan natin nang mga sagot tungkol sa sino tayo ay hindi ganung kalakasan pa para maramdaman nang marami. Para itong hangin, pag pakonti-konti lang ay konti lang din ang makakapanisin nito pero pag dumami na at lumakas, may makakadedma pa ba dito? E ang dami na ngayong nagtatanong... e signal number 3 na.

Let me just say, to find out who a Filipino is, one has to make peace with the Nationhood that is ours. The answer to this question of who we are is not something we should just hear from other people. Citizenship is never an opinion. It is a conviction. It is something we must live by. Something we must realize by the power of its own truth. Hindi sa salita lamang ang sagot kundi sa katotohanan. And so I have found that my peace is fullest when it resides with the Nation, with the common people. Our Nation - Under God. And our people - With Him. We, as an integral part of one Family of Nations. For as long as you and me remain human beings with common human needs, we belong. So peace be unto us, in the service of our common humanity.

Iba itong kapayapaan na ito sa BBL. Let me just make that clear. But the BBL if it serves to facilitate the national peace, is essential. Pero kung power play lang ito and it fosters a sense of exceptionalism in just a single community among our national communities, it is not democractic. And will remain so until the means are made equal: Uncommon Exceptions. We owe it to our fellow Muslim Filipino brothers and sisters to help them craft a peace that is meaningful and lasts and this peace is only this when it is a peace that is compatible with the Peace which is for all Filipinos for all time. Hindi lang Constitution natin ang basihan. Dahil ang Constitution natin ay may basihan din. Kapag umuwi tayo lahat dun sa basihan na iyon. Ito yon.

The National Peace is like the Dream, made up of the peace of many living communities within our Nationhood. I've written before that to salute the life of any individual with peace, one has to implicitly salute also the life of that individual's community with the same peace. Because the dignity of a human person and the dignity of a human community are goods reciprocal. One arrives in peace, one leaves in the spirit of that same peace. Damage one and you damage the other. Deny one and you deny the other. To love one, therefore, you must also know to love the other. Dahil tayo'y Bansa. Lupang Hinirang. Land of Promise. Brothers and Sisters of the Promise.

Citizens must recognize: Salok sa tubig ng langit ang diwa at buhay ng ating pagka-bansa dito sa lupa. Tubig na dati'y dito sa lupa ay delubyong pumatay at sumira, sa ati'y nitong naging sanhi ng isang samahang bayang payapa. We can not build up the living earth without these water ties. For these are the ties that bind us into the freedom of one human nation, one among a family of nations. Blood ties strengthen our families and form the foundation of our communities but only our water ties (spiritual) make us into citizens. Water is ancient.

Ako po ay para sa kapayapaan kaya po ang tingin ko importanteng busisiin ang BBL at ipasa ito dahil sa kapayapaang naririto na... na layunin nitong palawigin. Ito po ay akin lamang: Peace for me does not depend on the BBL, rather it is the opposite. The BBL for me depends on our peace. On how well it has considered it and on how well its vision (as the BPE) aligns with it. Kaya nga when Senator Cayetano brought up his points during his speech and then he asked the question whether we were negotiating from a position of weakness, it made me think. Peace is always through strength. Not of arms, but of truth. Strength of spirit. Filipino spirit. Ito ang pinanggagalingan nang ating kasarinlan. And so, we can never lose our sovereignty by accident, only by ignorance.

So the talk as regards the BBL is not the humanity of our fellow Filipino Muslims brother and sisters, they are like us, human beings with human needs. And it is certainly not their religion we are talking about, they are like us human beings with human needs i.e. Meaningful Existence. In these, both our peace and our freedoms as a nation are already established truths. It is the politics of it. Important but distinct. And I think it is important that we make the distinction. Para medyo luminaw ang tubig. Kasi marami ang nagsasabi na ituloy ang usapang pang-kapayapaan pero pag dating sa BBL, ayan na po... dito tayo uli sa pulitika nito nagkakasanga-sanga. Ganun talaga dapat. Kaya nga ito pinag-uusapan - sa Bansa at nang Estado.

Kaya hindi nakakatulong ang malito. Iisa lamang po ang Republika nating Katigan. Kaya kahit na sadya nga pong nakakalito ang panahon ngayon. This too will pass. Because if we should stay true, it will. My hope is this: After the storm, we will have a deeper appreciation of the calm. Meaning a deeper sense of who we are. And when I say we, I mean lahat po tayo. Lahat.

Kasi kung ibabato pa po natin ang tuon natin sa mas malayo pa sa Bayan nating sinilangan... e di ba parang mas magulo? Kasi nga po magulo talaga. Kaya huwag na muna. Magulo po kasi ang mundo ngayon. Bakit kaya? Diyos lamang po ang nakakaalam nang Kanyang layunin para sa sansinukob.

Just the same, it is really up to us to take away from all these troubles what is ours to take away. And we will never know what ours is until we have a deeper appreciation of the community - the common human unity - we call the nation in ourselves. 'Yang Inang Kanlungang na ang tawag po nating nakasanayan ay Pilipinas na ang tunay pong pangalan ay sarili - na ang bigkas po sa ating langit ay katotohanan - na ang katotohanan po sa lupa nati'y kapayapaan.

Pasensya na po kung medyo napakahaba at medyo nakakalito ang mga saloobin ko na ito. Pero para po sa akin - iyan po tayo. At nandito pa rin po tayo kaya mabuhay po tayong lahat!

Salaam. Shalom. Peace.

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The BBL at the wake of Mamasapano

The peace process as far as the MILF-GPH track goes have led us to the national debate about the Bangsamoro Basic Law. Mamasapano for all it's pain, was the catalyst.

It used to baffle me, and I once felt it to be slightly injurious, that all this attention to the peace process with the MILF has bubbled up into the national consciousness because of the pain that Mamasapano inflicted on the psyche of our peoplehood. It was a pain which was complicated and made even painful by the controversies surrounding that badly done operation.

Why do I say it was badly done? In memory of our fallen SAF, their wounded comrades, and their families - the performance at the tactical level on the field by those 44 that we lost along with those who survived Oplan Exodus was extraordinary, their legacy will always be glorious.

But we bled too much in Mamasapano. The entire Country knows it, understands it in our heart of hearts that we lost too many. Even for one such as Marwan, 44 was too much. I personally would that we had lost none, not a single one of them. Nada.

How do we bring justice to the fallen 44?

Continue with the peace process. Proceed smarter. Give the BBL a fighting chance. Recognize the hope invested in it. Find the lapses that were internal to the operation. Dispense with command authority. Quit assuming blame on the President. Wait. Command authority only applies when there is a clear and established chain of command which in this particular mission was deemed lacking. Why? Determine accountability and extent of administrative liability. The fault is structural first. It is personal last. Loop the families into what is being done. Determine criminal liability. Exhaust all means to enforce the law of the land, in coordination with the MILF through the AHJAG, where criminal liability is found and the persons culpable reasonably identified. See to it we never have to endure another "Mamasapano".

In time, when we have peace, we shall return to these terrible days of loss and make compensation for all lives lost to us - this time in spirit - and through a right remembrance of those days help to fully heal the nation. We shall build monuments to our unity. We shall honor war no longer but the virtues of our common peoplehood that led us all to peace. We will have renounced war within as well as without. And the defense of the Republic shall be stronger and surer for all of us.

The Mamasapano incident is illustrative of where our counter-terrorism efforts intersect with our internal peace and security efforts. Two distinct but very closely related things. Distinct because the MILF is not a terrorist organization. Closely related because terrorism at present is motivated by political exploitation of religiously inspired tensions. Let me underscore here that the landscape of terrorism is also evolving.

Terrorism is something I have thought about for some time now. I am careful about my labeling of something or someone as terrorist. I know accordingly when and where to apply the label. For I have seen and now believe it contrary to our efforts to contain the scope and spread of terrorism if such a word is left so broad as to escape a precise definition, at least, in the usage of the State.

Marwan is a terrorist. He was a callous and indiscriminate mass murderer. No matter his labeling of himself or his ideals, he is a political extremist. Left. Right. Center. It doesn't matter. His politics was way off base, serving an ideal/s less than human and therefore, more than real or possible.

One becomes a terrorist for the sake of politics alone. One crosses the line from peace to war through murder. Murder for the sake of justice. Murder in behalf of the nations. A lie for the sake of the truth. An affront to the collective dignity of the living communities of the earth.

What the State serves are human causes. Human causes natural to and evident of its own Nation. The particular Nation of which the State is sovereign expression of an intangible truth. Justice is what it speaks of. Not vengeance. Restoration. At the center of this Justice is Human Dignity and Human Promise. Goodness upon the earth. Humanity upon our humanity.

In Mamasapano, we got Marwan. And we will continue to hunt down, capture or kill terrorists such as he. It is clearly in our national interest to do so. In pursuit of counter-terror operations such as those which this Nation of ours through the Philippine State, as a Republic will very probably continue to mount, we, the people, may very well be asked again and again to make many small sacrifices for and in each the other's behalf. Some of us will render the full measure. Receiving loss for loss - continuing the violent cycle. Perhaps feeding it. To what end?

I think it is important to hear that the defeat of terrorism itself will not fully depend on operations such as that one we now will remember as Mamasapano. Politics at its very core is a hearts and minds game. When the ideals that espouse extremist politics that support terrorist thinking seem again what they really are, unreal and inhuman, terrorism will die. Person by person, terror as we know it will diminish. Not in the field alone shall the threat be fully countered, contained, deterred and finally diminished to the point of irrelevance.

Mortal fear is a negative freedom. To defend against it, we have to know when and where to defend.

Not so much that the people may be completely free from fear but in being inclined to the public good, fear not each other. Civic peace. Consider then, little acts of human kindness - mercy and compassion. For these things defend from terror just as mightily as the mightiest of arms.

Imagine for just a moment, just one hour of little acts of kindness multiplied by 100 million Filipino souls - what amount of good it does to the receiver, and more importantly what amount of good it does in the giver... multiply this further by the grace and the Providence of God.

In saying this, we return to the ideals of our national peace. Why do we forget that we are all Filipinos? That nobody wanted Mamasapano who believes in the promise of our peace as a Nation. I would hate to think Mamasapano is being politicized. There is nothing there that needs our convincing. No policy over it that needs defining. The pain is unanimous. The lessons clear.

We should be mourning all of our losses in this continuing war within ourselves. In saying this, I shall add to the Fallen 44, in the general list of casualties that our internal divisions have exacted from our nation through the years, the fighters from the MILF side that perished as well as the civilians who perished with them.

Why should anyone feel content or even happy to see everyday in the papers the mounting toll of decades worth of indifference and inaction on our part? Do we not know one life alone lived to its fullest can change our national destiny, alter it by degrees, make it a shade brighter, a tad more colorful...?

How much more can we dare to lose? How much more can we afford to overlook before the scale tips from light to dark and how slippery goes the slope from there... How easy it is to see all those lives lost without a care. As if we weren't graced by God to be one nation, as if we ourselves refused to embrace the legacy of our heroes, known and known to God alone.

So we return again to the peace process. It is good that we are talking about it.

Perhaps, the enlivening of the national conversation as regards the peace process in particular with the MILF was serendipitous of Mamasapano. Let us not lose the moment.

Let me just say that the BBL is not the end of all ends as regards the peace process with our brother and sister Muslim Filipinos. But as regards the GPH-MILF track, it well might be. It is important to give the BBL a fighting chance.

But equally important is to not lose our horizons despairing over the political what ifs being brought to play in our minds. The absolutisms of partisan politics. Good when good. But mostly bad. As if the only choices we got to deal with were either the BBL or an all-out war (or the BBL as it is or nothing). Because it isn't.

It isn't good for a democracy to be limited to black and white choices. Because often times, both black and white choices are wrong. Democracy is all about finding the middle course between two extremes. It is about having an honest conversation on issues that matter to all-in-the-nation. Horizontally across our communities as well as vertically up echelon to our leaders in the formal government of the State.

Democracy is the grace-inspired dawn of enlightened human reasoning in a nation. It is not the rule of the mob. It implies give and take. It requires listening and hearing and in between them, compromise. It is the caregiver and nurturer of the peace that our Republic is sworn to defend.

Trust is requisite to freedom. Respect is a requisite of trust. This respect as a shared belief in the necessity for mutual confidence between the central government and the BPE is written into the BBL as the principle of parity of esteem. Respect is also at the root of this principle. A respect which was built on years of dialogue and common action between the GPH, the OPAPP, and the MILF.

I think some of this fundamental sense of trust was tested during the Congressional hearings. I also think the MILF should do some soul searching because what was done to some of our troopers fall terribly short of the mutual respect they themselves require in the BBL. Discipline your forces.

When and where did we lose respect for each other? I think it was long before Mamasapano. A lingering pain from Colonial times. A wounding we long endured to the point where we became comfortable with the pain. A pain that have long eluded our capacity for social adaptation. A pain we adopted instead. It went right back into our national psyche. Not because we remembered but because we lack memory.

We are each fully accountable for each other. For as long as heaven recognizes the citizenship Providence Divine did vouchsafe for us in our hearts, all our generations together are each fully accountable for each other. Did we not implore the aid of God Almighty as a people in our 1987 Constitution?

We asked for trust yet show less respect. And the cycle begins again. Mamasapano had nothing to do with the peace process. Ideally. Were the Oplan that was its genesis redone without the mistakes we know were made on the fly, the peace track with the MILF would have not at all been - in any way - significantly associated with it. But now, the reality is - that it is.

All this attention is good. We can make great headway in the peace process through it. The BBL may benefit from it. I am not against the BBL. I am against a sloppily crafted version of it. I am against a version of it that lacks respect for the hope and the effort invested in it.

I am against whatever unfairness is therein contained in its draft form. Unfairness meaning any lack of equitable concern for the other communities wherein the BPE shall dwell in actuality amongst, in the context of its promised peace, a peace which we shall all likewise as one Nation make our own, like a wedding. One peace. For life.

Funding is one of my primary focuses. Because we are not yet that so well endowed with loose funds and constrained politicians. Funding and planning are two things intimately related in my mind. They are each a side to one coin. National security is my secondary focus, this includes civil defense, including effective public service commitments and real community policing. Education is my third. Human Fluency. These must be structurally spread equitably across the Republic. Most notably in the CAR which is the ARMM's closest political kin.

Fundamentally, constitutional bodies such as the COA, COMELEC, CSC, CHR and the Ombudsman must remain at the national level being wholly responsible to the one whole Filipino nation. I understand what is being called for as the asymmetry of political powers. But the branch should know where it must connect to the trunk and the trunk to the roots and the roots in the ground. Furthermore, there should only be one AFP and one PNP.

The CAFGU and its equivalent evolution or outright decommissioning after the peace process is another question altogether.

I want a vision from the BPE that goes beyond and above the constraints of the letters of its enabling law. I want to gauge the buoyancy of its spirit. Political commitments. Shared human causes. Subsidiarity.

And above all, moderation. Moderation in politics that preserves common respect. Respect in politics that encourages confidence in the process, and trust in the politicians. Not absolutisms. Truisms.

Not artless partisanship. Clubbing each other over the head like thugs. Patriotism. Helping each other along the way like citizens.

Politics is a fight. But whenever it is a noble fight. Like it is as one expects in watching the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, at least for the Pac-man, it shall be glorious. Glorious and profitable to the nation.
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Our Peace Process at the wake of Mamasapano

Trying times bring out the best and the worst in people and these are trying times indeed...

There seems a lot of opinions out there as regards the peace process. As I too am committed to the peace process, let me express some of my own.

The peace we want to accomplish through the peace process must ultimately be a human peace; the justice of this peace in its ideal form being a restoration of our unity as a human community.

To me, a "human peace" is simply one that restores dignity to the life of a community and since the peace that we are negotiating across the board is a national proposition - this peace must be capable of restoring dignity to the life of all our communities in the nation - across the Republic of the Philippines.

Will the peace in Mindanao affect things in Batanes? Of course, it must! A human peace is one that is able to provide for the human needs of a community. As a Republic, we are this community, this one house!

To do justice to the temporal house of the one Filipino nation is to make it one as our soul is one. To remain in our souls divided in war is to choose as a nation to remain in a state of spiritual injustice.

The essence of our civics is to do unto each other good. 

For in this Country, we all must be free and unafraid to do good to our fellow Filipino.

A human peace allows us the space, across our generations, to preserve both our freedom and our hope, in all things good and worthwhile to and for the Filipino... To desire this peace, to me, is therefore, always a good thing. For it shelters and protects our national communities from war (often in more ways than one).

What happened?

From the Nation to the State, we have to introduce words to articulate something true about ourselves and, my brothers and sisters, words always exclude. Indeed, words both limit and exclude. Therefore, peace as its human expression may be intensely political - most especially if our remembrances about it as a nation are not yet as mature.

Observe however, how a lot of Filipinos think war is not the answer - that is good. It means the spirit of our memory is being restored unto us... we just have to articulate it properly in the State.

The BBL is one such proposed articulation of how we may as one Filipino nation be restored to the unity of our peace. It is certainly not a perfect document. I myself have several things I should like to be able to clarify about it.

The BBL is a result of a long process... One should at least respect the hope that is invested in this document which is a hope for peace; a hope that if expressed correctly in the State may never go wrong.

I am NOT for war. Indeed, I am absolutely against any forms of "all-out war" - in any place, at any time. I am definitely for the peace - in particular here in our Philippines.

However, I must accept the path unto the threshold of this peace is political. Also, that the politics of a peace process will not readily confer justice in the temporal sense but initially serve to deflect the onset of more evil days. In Syria and the Ukraine, this for me is also true.

What justice we may work out shall be the justice of our sincerity in desiring peace and desiring peace absolutely - with a maturity of remembrance.

In general, the goal of our local peace process is to restore spiritual justice to the Philippine State that the State may then proceed to bestow temporal justice in behalf of all its citizens.

Justice in its fullness we can not deny ourselves. 

Our nation has a responsibility to possess in its soul an account to God of all human life. 

This means as citizens, we are responsible both for and to the memory of all Filipinos the Providence of God hath vouchsafed to  be born into our nationhood - through a living and present account of each and every single one of our names. This is our common debt of remembrance to God and Country, a burden of Justice which is part of our responsible Liberty.

We can not remember them all singly but as a nation we must remember them all fully.

And through a memory of their lives and sacrifices - live! Indeed, prosper and live! This "live" is the essence of our "mabuhay" which exhorts us to live the memory - therefore, long live the memory!

Maturity of remembrance understands the "intrinsic value" of each and every human life and detests war for what it is, understanding peace. 

A State that is fully accepting of peace in spirit proceeds from this truth not so much with law but with liberty. However, as we are wounded by so much internal strife, we need a cast to bind our bones to make them whole and strong again... We may liken the provision that establishes the CAR and the ARMM as such a cast. If the cast is not working, maybe it needs remolding.

Such is our quest for peace here in our Country...

We do not seek a perfect peace. It is impossible to attain peace in its perfection in this world at its state. But we may anchor our peace upon principles timeless and absolute and live its lineage unto truth and the victory of the Truth.

Our temporal dominion as a Republic here in this world may never be as perfect as our loves desire but if in our hearts we understand how we are united as one national community and if in our communities we know how we may live this unity and the hope of this unity in freedom... I think we all will be well.

Peace making involves trust. This means accepting risks. These risks are the same risks we normally subject our nation to when we choose to default to war and distrust.

Peace is an enlightened choice not to accept the status quo of this world and one we make as a nation - because we finally understand.

What does this mean? 

When we speak of the peace process, sincerity above all matters most of all.

Even before the politics of everything, I think when we seek peace we must seek peace absolutely. 

Appeasement of war bring more war and doing things in behalf of peace short of a true desire for peace is harmful simply because it is untrue... For the peace we all hope to establish among ourselves shall ultimately be tested by its fruits... a peace for all Filipinos.

Let us review in spirit the peace we are after. Let us have these reference points from each shore before we wade into deeper water... that the bridges we may seek to build - together this time - may be strong and straight and nevermore skewed.

The rest we shall attend to as things unfold... for we are creatures caught up in time after all... change is our right and our responsibility. 

Let us be patient. Let us be understanding. Let us be above all, firm.

Peace is over war. For war is not for always. But unity is eternal.

God love the Philippines. Mabuhay po tayong lahat.
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In the midst of all of these, in this Lenten season, I should like to remind my fellow Filipino Catholics to come back to a meditation on the Year of the Poor which is this year, 2015.

Let us work and pray that the Holy Spirit this year carry our nation forth into waters safer and vistas brighter.

A little personal anecdote:

Smile the Pope Francis smile: When I look at how our Holy Father smiles, I feel the warmth - the gold of the smile! One of the things I can not forget about our Holy Father is his smile. Isn't smiling like this a form of charity?

We love you Holy Father Francis!

Silver Lining

"Every cloud has a silver lining", we've often heard it said.

People who believe in heaven and the goodness of the God of heaven understand through cloud and rain the truth of perennial blue skies and golden sunshine...

Such are situations we at times find ourselves in.

One either sulks in the shadow of bad things and under overcast skies despair the will and the goodness of God and heaven or in seeing the silver lining behind every cloud say,

"yes, so be it... this too shall pass".

Because it will, it always does.
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Here I try in vain...

To those whose lives have been directly altered by the loss we suffered in Mamasapano, the SAF 44 families, the families of civilians and innocents involved...

Words uttered in deepest sympathy of your sorrow and grief will ultimately fall short... I'm so sorry for your loss. We can not bring them back.

What we can do as a Country is to make sure their sacrifices were not in vain.

Tungkol sa Mamasapano

Masakit isipin ang Mamasapano. Isa itong trahedya.

Bagama't naidaos nang mga Tagaligtas nating SAF ang kanilang misyon sa Mamasapano mapait pa rin itong isipin. Masakit pa rin sa damdamin nang nakararami ang alaala nito. Bakit?

Sapat ba talaga na 44 na buhay ang ibuwis nang ating kapulisan at nang Bayang nating Pilipinas para sa isang terorista lamang?

May kakulangan ba ang mga opisyal natin sa gobyerno at maging sa PNP sa 44 na ito? At kung meron, sino ang mga ito at ano pa ang ating dapat linawin at isaayos nang Republika sa ngalan ng kanilang alaala upang maiwasan ang mga ganitong pangyayari?

Ang kabayanihan nang ating SAF 44 (at nang lahat na rin ng ating magigiting na tagapagsilbing sundalo't kapulisan) ay hindi natin dapat malimutan. Iyan po ay totoo.

Subalit 44 na buhay lang ba ang dapat nating pangalanan at alalahanin dito?

Hindi ba ang katotohanan po ay Pilipino lahat nang namatay at namatayan sa Mamasapano? Lahat sila ay responsibilidad nang Estado at sakop nang kapangyarihan ng Republika nating lahat maliban marahil kay Marwan (na isang kilalang banyagang kriminal datapwa't labas at labag sa ating batas ang pinanatili dito).

Ang responsibilidad po at kapangyarihang ito nang Estado at nang Republikang kumupupkop dito ay dapat sana nating pagnilay-nilayan. Dahil sa isip, sa salita, at sa gawa ito ay isinasabuhay natin araw araw sa diwa na rin nang ating sariling kasarinlan.

Paano natin gagamitin ang mga adhikain, prinsipyo't gunitaing nagbubuklod-buklod sa atin bilang isang Republika upang maging makatotohanan tayo sa ating pagka-Pilipino?

Ang prosesong pangkapayapaan ay nakasalalay sa katotohanang tayo pong lahat ay mamamayang Pilipino at may kakayahang mamuhay bilang isang bansang mapayapa. 

Republika po ang ating itinataguyod na katigan nitong kapayapaang ito. Datapwa't sa kadahilanang ang tunay na kanlungan nati'y isa't isa, pakikiramay at pakipag-kapwa tao po nawa'y gamitin ding batayan nang ating pulitika ukol sa mga isyu na umuukol sa Mamasapano habang ito po ay nililinaw.

Hindi po sana natin iatras ang Pilipinas nating lahat sa pagdating nang isang bagong umaga nang kapayapaan dahil sa sakit at kawalan na ating pinagdadaanan dahil sa trahedyang ito. 

Malinaw po sa akin sa kabila nang lahat ang panawagan ni General Espina. Ang itinatanong pa rin po nang puso't isipan ng maraming Pilipino ay kung paano mabibigyang hustisya ang pangyayari para sa lahat...

Para sa lahat.

Huwag po sana tayong mahulog sa kawalan ng pag-asa, manalig at maniwala sa Diyos at sa pangako nang ating Pilipinas na mahal... at nagmamahal.
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