Our Navy Girls Rock

Do they not?

I am proud of our peacekeepers

In all ages, internal strife produces the same effect in all nations which is retardation; the abeyance of life - social, economic, and spiritual. External strife likewise retards the life of regions, continents, and entire worlds. How do we shelter ourselves against such an evil?

I am proud of our peacekeepers.

If one is to look at our world today and see the extent of brokenness among nations, it is not difficult to see the need for peace keeping. In fact, we might as a world be better served to recognize why it is that we find ourselves in such a need - that we may as one family of nations better receive the advantages of maintaining missions like UNDOF.

Peacekeeping is not warfighting.

The full spectrum of warfare from total war to low-intensity warfare doctrinally define opponent force/s distinctly from that of peace keeping missions. Peace keeping mission commanders, in my view, should therefore be expected to possess a different sort of mindset.

Wars are fought and withstood. Peace is gained and maintained. Whenever a peace keeping force is deployed, we have to remember, not anymore - what to fight against - because that battle has already been fought and bled (by those nations mutually resolved to work out their remaining tensions through channels other than the military), we have to remember what we fight for. (I have spent time in thought about this matter. And to be honest, I am still developing some of it in my mind.)

We fight to deliver a space for a necessary peace to take its hold and plant firm root.

In an ideal sense, there is no external enemy to defeat in peace keeping. If the reality of each mandated deployment were such that they were always consonant to the ideals of peace keeping, it is always a win-win scenario to deploy a peace keeping force - anywhere, anytime.

Such must be its good reputation that in itself spells safety for the troops.

What may really defeat us - as a family of nations - where peace keeping is concerned is a failure to clearly appreciate how the actual mission must consistently apply itself to prevailing realities on the ground.

What happened at the Golan of late is an example of a failure in (not of) the peace keeping force.

The operational dimension of the UNDOF mission changed since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, and has steadily deteriorated right under our watch.

I am including myself in my own critique because I support the UN mission on the Golan. I still do.

I am a firm believer in the potential of that besieged Region as a whole to soon enough break itself out of its most ancient rut. In particular, I am quite proud of my Country's deployment on those heights.

A peace keeping force exists on a plane that is above the ordinary field of battle. Because it must. A different landscape of mission prevails in peace keeping, quite distinct in itself. The mission must at all times defend its own internal sense of clarity - as if from a height. I am speaking figuratively here of course, but as regards the particular mission on the Golan, those words might also be taken literally.

What we seek to preserve and represent there in my eyes is a hope for a future Middle East region that is much more than the shadow of itself that we everyday witness at this present time. A future that is as near as each tomorrow - everyday we maintain clarity and focus on the missions the UN as a whole has decided and mandated as essential to keep the specters of greater conflicts in that area at a minimum.

In view of what our contingent did in their storied bid to deflect the armed threat that was forced upon them - by an adversarial force that before this time, existed outside the basis of all our planning and training - I am fully in agreement with their tactical decisions - every one of them that led to an outcome that gave my nation a deep sigh of relief and our AFP - along with all our uniformed services, a boost in confidence and belief in the excellence of the Filipino profession of arms.

I thank the Irish contingent and all who had helped make it possible for our troops to extricate themselves from their primary positions. It will indeed be remembered.

It is my opinion that the UN force commander, Gen. Iqbal Singh Singha, miscommunicated his instructions which in the heat of the moment, land force commanders wont to have made sure was clear, concise, and never-wise contradictory to any and all standing TSOPs general to the force or particular to any contingents that comprise its composite whole.

I regret to disagree with Gen. Singha but those orders "to leave your weapons quiet" should have been given less succinctly and more clearly - in the mode of the receiver.

It is not an act of cowardice to stand up in one's defense - any time, any place. Overall, I believe there was a failure of strategy to evolve with the prevailing reality on the ground in Syria. This failure can not be laid upon the shoulders of down echelon rank and file but is a command responsibility that should be accounted to by the force commander himself.

This is by no means an indictment of the honor of the entire Indian military, the UNDOF mission, or the UN institution as a whole.

(I am a firm believer in human institution and the transformative power of national cultures; that good is by nature a communal undertaking in Man, that virtue is vested in human societies because virtue is original to their native character.

Evil therefore, whatever the extent of its mystery is to be better overcome in greater society by actively and consistently building on what is good. Law and its judges is in the courts system. Justice and its watches is in the people. Both of them, by their separate institutions and departments, seek together to love and serve the life of our communities - with hope and vigilance - because of what is good in each human life, its intrinsic value.

Mankind is innocent by first principle, so that - unlike all things good and excellent in every act we shall together sow in the human spirit and reap through those many harvests of the blessings and gifts that Divine Providence multiplies according to His pleasure in and through our national communities - evil acts are individual and singular, being inherently a corruption which is always isolated in nature.

The key to the 1 is in the 99 is my chosen approach. You seek for the lost by knowing those who are not.

Individually, as citizens in a society of citizens, I believe in seeking what is questionable, not what is evil. Evil is not as relentlessly pursued and the spirit of the people are well rested - because in the face of a great and noble culture, within a human nation, evil flees by itself.

I value the uniform. I know what is sacred in it. Above all, I love those who wear their colors within, who live and breathe always clothed by the living memory of their sovereign citizenship.)

Playing the blame game is a political matter which I will not tread upon here. It might be far better in my opinion to internalize what valid internal UN concerns there are and externalize the lessons learned to current deployments without much ado as soon as possible.

What is more important is to move forward and keep on moving forward.

Finally, as a citizen of this world personally grieved by the pointless argumentation being openly made in the media between what should be a united camp, I should like to draw our attention to the more urgent matter of trying to resolve the plight of our brother Fijians peacekeepers who, at this present writing, are still being criminally detained against their will.

May all people of good will within the UN and around the world continue hope, work and pray for their safe release at the soonest possible time.

Mabuhay po tayong lahat.
---<--@

20140912 UPDATE: Fijian troops were released safely. The group that held them against their will were calling themselves the Nusra Front. Peace be unto the region.

Guns and Colonial Mentality

"Ang baril ay mabuting alipin ngunit masamang panginoon. (The gun is a faithful servant but an evil master.)" - Fernando Poe, Jr.



This quote encapsulates a liberating view of arms, one that releases our spirit from the colonial mentality that inclines us to believe - through the common experience of our people - that the prime utility of arms is to gain power over others, especially others weaker than we are.

If during past times the strength of arms were indiscriminately used to subdue the strength of our spirit, then the same truth that lives in the virtue of arms shall be the necessary remedy that shall awaken our nation from the error of past ways - so let us together reflect upon this...

Guns mean goons only if the virtue of arms is forgot dahil ang baril ay masamang panginoon.

But if we remember what FPJ said and make use of arms as our arms were intended - for the defense of our nation and in faithful service of all that we love - we serve ourselves well, my brothers and sisters of the Promise.

We serve ourselves well because we have - together - mastered the gun and by this throw off - more and more - of the lingering yoke of dark spirits past dahil ang baril ay mabuting alipin.

- selah -

People who fear the gun, in truth, fear other people.

But it is a work of Justice to instill good will and solidarity among men and peace and brotherhood among the nations of man that this fear may eventually turn into fellowship.

Arms do not serve individuals, arms always serve a community that looms greater than the self.

(Can we realistically conceive our local defense industry prospering in the absence of this truth in our culture? No, because colonial mentality holds us back in many places and through many diverse ways.)

To do justice to the gun, we must first do justice to ourselves - as ourselves - and re-discover ourselves as a nation - together this time.

In this context, the utility of arms find their original purpose and scope.

Through the reality of nationhood, the virtue of arms find strength and meaning and the ends for which it's knowledge and grace has been by God ordered and intended - in and among - our kindred nations of our one family of nations - the safety and peace of humankind.

This is the virtue of arms.
---<--@



So let us remember what FPJ said - to us - and - for us - about guns and the knowledge and virtue of arms - and say to him in return - "mabuhay ka, FPJ!"

Salutation #162

My beloved, it will be remiss of me not to speak what I feel about this...

Here is a priest blessing weapons - what feels wrong about this picture? 

(Mind you, I have seen priests of other denominations as well as holy stewards of other honorable religions doing the same thing - but I choose to be represented by my own shepherds within my Mother Church - so let he or she who has not sinned cast the first stone.)

(On the Blessing of Victory)

Since we tend to bless only those things that have an everlasting value -
the blessing of weapons seems to imply to the human heart that War
(and the suffering that war and its abominations - murder, hatred, genocide -
has continually wrought in and among the nations of the children of Mankind)
is a thing that may reach out and across into Our Eternity
to do us more ill - which is not the truth.

For in heaven, there is no War.

We may bless the individual soldier along with their kit - weapons included -
since the weapon (or weapons platform) is only an extension of the soldier
who hopes (as all soldiers across all the major arms come to hope -
through his or her submission to freely serve in the defense forces
raised by his or her particular undertaking of Country, Republic or otherwise,
to preserve his or her own nation - family, friends and communities -
from the ancient curse of War) not for the continuation of war but
for the consummation of peace).

Or we may bless the soldiers in his or her own position and place
within a particular weapons platform - terrestrial, marine, aerial, or space.

Or soldiers arrayed as a unit whole - being within their organized teams -
from the very basic maneuver element to the one whole army itself -
complete with individual kit and organic combat, combat support,
and service support attachments.

We may do this (and bless their victory) - but know and understand -
that the weapons - in and by - themselves are ultimately destined for destruction
and should never receive our blessing outside the context of the noble military
and apart from the person of the soldier.

Let us then reflect upon this and pray about it.
---<--@

Farewell to Arms

Salutation #148

It is human to fight for love.
It is not human to fight for hate.

For when we fight for love, we defend.
When we fight for hate, we only fight.



(Nemesis)

Listen!

There are
two sources of nemesis
for any Country, republic or otherwise -
one is man-made, and the other one,
natural.

Of these two sources,
the military has a distinct role
in mitigating the damages wrought
by each their particular evils.

   (All our civilian first response teams
   integrated into police and public safety institutions
   also have a purpose and responsibility
   to carry out and fulfill
   in times of national duress
   but these purposes and responsibilities
   remain and have remained
   both clear and un-obscured hitherto.)

Now,

man-made sources
give rise to armed conflicts
but natural sources also does
give rise to armed conflicts.

Both
are of a paramount concern
to the Responsible State.

What is important
- is to remember -
which one is which.

For "peace-time roles", as such,
which are actions meant to intervene for the nation
in response to the Country's enemies of a natural source
   (i.e. floods, typhoons, earthquakes, volcanoes, etc.)
through seemingly diminished
in contrast to the war-time responsibilities of any military,
   (necessarily utilized and evolved through the last great age of war)
shall have a great emphasis
in this new age.

Mabuhay!
---<--@

Prayer to the King

Salutation #119

In the Ages of Country,
that necessary and vital transition
from emerging to developing
(as well as from developed to mature)
- is a purely internal shift -
'tis a definitive change of spirit;
a repentance of the heart.

---<--@

(Growing Great)

IT IS EASY
to flaunt strength
when a nation is blessed
and outwardly strong
but this outward strength,
my brothers and sisters of the Promise,
however awesome it may seem,
must soon be surrendered
to an inward awareness
of what is truly forever abiding
in the life of our nations.

It must gain the profit of its grace.

Else it is all vanity.

- selah -

It is said,
precious Starshine -

"Half the victory is knowledge of self."

For one who desires
to obtain the victory (of God)
must first understand the self, 

master the self, overcome the self -
before one truly learns
- how it is -
to live and fight
and die for others.

The other half then,
is just enduring.

(This is true 

for individual human beings

and for individual human nations.)
---<--@


The Ages of Country

Standoff at Scarborough Shoal

Everybody seems to be concentrated on how weak we are, on how under-equipped our Navy and Coast Guard is, but what we don't immediately realize here is that it takes greater courage to confront a stronger nemesis, which in this instance, in Scarborough Shoal, are those Chinese marine surveillance ships. 

Let me reiterate here that we are not at war with China (PRC), however, in this particular instance only, our Armed Forces, in particular that arm to which is entrusted by our nation, the security and wholeness of our seas, finds itself on an opposite disposition, out of sheer necessity, with that Country.

Just this morning, it was asked in a current affairs program if those Chinese vessels were armed. Of course they are, at the very least, one has to assume that these vessels are defended by weapons, these are after all, reconnaissance ships.

Therefore, our sailors were and still are in real danger. This to me is not weakness - it deserves recognition in the highest order. 

Indeed, it could have turned out badly. It still could. However, chances are if an incident like this one does not immediately escalate, it will de-escalate.

We must remember things aren't always as fortuitous in the South China Seas or West Philippine Sea (depending on which parallax of war we subscribe with - fact is, everybody knows there is but one sea in question).

My brother and sister Filipinos, we can not rely on the workings of Providential grace exclusively for our national defense. 

We have to forge a plan for the credible defense of this Republic. And we must stick to it.

China, it seems to me, is becoming what she hated in the past; that thing of War that she knew and hated and suffered under... it makes me sad to think about it.

Now, a diplomatic solution that would preserve the dignity of both our sovereign Republics must be worked out. 

Compromises have to be made and given in order to secure a longer term solution to the much larger, more powerful Spratly divide that threatens to suck the whole of our region into conflict (and mire the whole of our continent of Asia in War for an indeterminable amount of time, further depleting what stores of human spirit and human potential our nations have managed to preserve thus far). 

This is by far not the only way out of this standoff at Scarborough Shoal but this is the only one - the only one - which will cost  less in terms of the ultimate price it shall exact upon the lives and fortunes of both our nations (and consequently, of all our nations). 

Mabuhay. May God be with us all.

---<--@

Salutation #115

Today is Araw ng Kagitingan.



(Araw ng Kagitingan 2012)

Today
we remember
(1) the universal ideals of the noble military,
(2) the virtues of the person of the soldier,
and (3) the common peace that informs the spirit
of all national military remembrances.

Today
we remember these
specifically as it pertains
to the one Filipino profession of arms
that we may each - as citizens to each other -
recall to mind and heart
the timeless values
that make the institution of our AFP
truly worthy of its own distinction
as a defender of our nation 
and of all nations.

Today 
we remember
the sacred friendships of nations;
those eternal bonds of brotherhood
forged through a common experience
of the sufferings and the horrors of war.

Today 
we remember
the friendship between our nation
and the one American nation -
faithful in and of itself,
able to comfort and preserve,
in times of peace and in times of war
if we remain faithful to its keeping.

Today
we remember
friendships that we as one nation
- ever must carefully and diligently seek -
in every age and in every generation
being those belongings that serve
to call all nations ever nearer together;

those friendships that must exist
between our nation
and all other kindred nations
of our one, great family of nations -

that we may, as one people, soon learn
to truly know and understand
what every nation does ultimately seek
through the bearing of these arms -

Eternity. Virtue. Humanity. Universality.

Peace.
---<--@

The Alibata for "Ka" in AFP symbology means "Kagitingan" or "Valor".

VALOR is a kind of mastery, not of fear, but of the self. 

It is an uncertain virtue. For none is sure to possess it save for when one becomes possessed by it in the face of great suffering and terrible danger.  

---<--@

Courage goes from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.

- Sir Winston Churchill

---<--@

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear: not absence of fear. 

Except a creature be part coward it is not a compliment to say it is brave. 

- Mark Twain 

---<--@

Perfect valour consists in doing without witnesses that which we would be capable of doing before everyone. 

- François Duc de La Rochefoucauld 

---<--@

Conquest is the missionary of valor, and the hard impact of military virtues beats meanness out of the world. 

- Walter Bagehot

---<--@

Salutation #110

(To the Cavalier Class of 2012)

Be peacemakers.

Your future greatness

shall be measured not by thy prowess

in the field of combat alone.

Though battle shall always be

an inescapable part

of your selfless service

as soldiers of our Republic,

I would that you frame

the diligent strides you take

in every field of battle

(within as well as without)

always in the larger context

of the arena of peace,

wherein we are all engaged

as a nation among one family of nations

that you may always maintain

a clearer perspective,

being well above the storm;

that you may never lose sight

of yourselves as you truly are,

being over War.

In this way

may each of thee gather renown -

as vanguards of the new age

that is now before us;

faithful sentinels of that promised morning

and watchful guardians

to all the generations of life

to come.

Go now and lead the way across!

Peace, I salute thee.

Mabuhay po kayong lahat

at mabuhay po ang Pilipinas nating lahat!

---<--@

Threshold

Salutation #103

(Maritime Nation)

If you want to strengthen the land
then strengthen everything
connected to the land.

If you want to strengthen
everything connected to the land
then strengthen the land.

- selah -

If you want to strengthen the sea,
if you want to strengthen the air,
if you want to strengthen space and time,
- you may only do so -
from the strength of the land.

If you want to strengthen spirit,
- you may only do so -
out of thy love for thy land.

Therefore,
if you want to build
both spirit and strength
and need to know
where to begin
- then understand this -
you must build from the land
and must grow only from out of it.

So let thy connections to the land,
give thee strength of will and purpose!

For without the land,
everything loses meaning...

And land that can not be held
- in the heart -
can not be held at all.
---<--@


Out from unity, all things we may build.

Go Team AFP. Go Navy!

Naval Jack of the Philippines

Real Weakness

Salutation #78

Typhoon Sendong is portentous.

It was not only out of season -

it is an indication of a much larger change.

No words can convey my distress at the loss we have sustained

at the passing of this most recent typhoon...

These are ours, O my Philippines, these are ours...

Arise therefore, O my nation - serve -

and pray for the victims of Typhoon Sendong!

(Hidden in Plain Sight)

Each year,

my fellow Filipinos,

our Country is tested

and the endurance of our nation

stectched to a point...

We are -

by the natural cycles of the seasons

and the excesses that the forces of nature

- earth, wind, fire, and water -

a nation yearly inflicted

with much violence

upon our communities

by the evils that arise from

these natural calamities.

But never have we thought,

O my beloved people,

never have we even begun to consider,

the slightest hint of surrender

to the limiting and random nature

of these evils!

Rather,

these typhoons

only serve to strengthen

our resolve

- no matter the pain -

to stand together

as one people.

For in the midst of these trials

we always choose to be the victors

and we always have.

Do you understand this?

We are -

a people whose virtues

have always been - as such -

hidden in plain sight.

So let us bear

- into mind and heart -

the strength and reality of

our own native resilience

as well as bring into the fore

of our social consciousness

- these present days -

the excellence of the virtues

embodied by our national identity

which are all the things that make living

the Filipino Dream worthwhile

as well as possible.

For the greater cycle of the seasons

is shifting -

These shall be times

- unprecedented -

in the history of all the nations

of the children of Mankind.

Winter indeed in coming

(after the autumnal dusk of our faded Eden)

- here in this season of shadows -

and there is a testing ahead

that shall require all our virtue

(as individuals giving freely

and as nations dreaming together

as one family).

Therefore,

let us always have meaningful recourse

to the sacred remembrances

of God and of Country.

- selah -

Our unity as a people

shall be our greatest guarantee against calamity.

Our peace as a nation

shall be our safest shelter against the darkness.

Our vision as a Country

shall be our surest way ahead

out of this long night - this longest night -

and into that new morning of Promise

for our Land of Promise.

2011 have revealed to us our weaknesses.

2012 shall temper for us our strengths.

---<--@

Let us help our brothers and sisters in Northern Mindanao -

Contact -

Tel. (632) 931 - 8101 to 07

Click -

http://www.redcross.org.ph/donate

20111111

(NOTE: I often use this double reminder below to remind each of us of the deeper underpinnings of our sacred remembrances - external as well as internal in their manifestation - being both temporal and eternal, corporal and spiritual.)

Lest We Forget. Lest We Forget.

Peace, I salute you.

Today is commemorated Veteran's Day in the USA and Armistice Day in Europe, including Australia, New Zealand and others.

It is a day of remembrance; a solemn day, a blessed day, a day of days. It is a day of common military remembrances and is therefore, a day of peace.

My fellow Filipino brothers and sisters of the Promise, I know for a fact we do not commemorate November 11 here in the Philippines but we should at least try to learn to understand what makes this day valuable to the sacred remembrances of many nations - for we are part of just one family.

In doing this, we are not only being generous - to ourselves and to our other kinder nations - we are being responsible - for ourselves and for our other kindred nations.

- selah -

Therefore, I write this here today to formally and officially remind us that, however dark the past may have been for all our nations - without exception, we belong to just one family.

Indeed, the past has been terrible and dark: For the spirit of War has deceived us all.

The truth is that all our nations, however great or small and however diverse our distinctions, belong to only one true belonging - so let us remember this today - that we are truly only one global community and let us try to meaningfully commemorate our peace with each other as nations - dreaming together this time.

Let us remember that our Philippines is - and shall forever remain - integral to this one family of nations - represented by our United Nations institution.

Let us say, "I remember you, my brother, I remember you, my sister - mabuhay!"

Let us say, "I remember, I remember."

---<--@

Shifting Paradigms -

When we talk about remembrance we essentially speak about the substance of our inspiration.

This is why we should be wary of evil inspiration because the source of all evil inspiration is false remembrance.

You only have to shift your focus to see that the night sky is so full of stars...

(Photo courtesy of Harmony Lovelife and Haragan Makamandag - Go 1ID 35IB!)

Our brave soldiers - who can bear not to love them...

Despite all the controversy (and these days it seems controversy is everywhere), in the darkness, above the fleeting clouds, they are there -

standing steadfastly,

preserving our best military traditions,

shimmering with virtue and valor,

ever ready, ever faithful,

ever hopeful for better, kinder days,

guarding our better tomorrows -

Therefore, I do not choose to believe in controversy.

However deep the night goes, I choose to believe in you

(for I believe in Justice and the good fight)

I choose to believe in our better selves -

and as sure as I live and breathe today,

the morning will surely come

for our beloved Land of the Morning.

Go team AFP - go PA - mabuhay!

---<--@

You only have to shift your focus to see that the night sky is so full of stars...

Often, when all that we care to remember

is how huge the darkness and how frail and tiny the light,

we weep bitterly unto despair

and completely forget

which one is pure substance

and which one is pure illusion.

Be inspired about the right things and they will produce in you, the right things.

Be inspired about the wrong things and they will produce in you, the wrong things.

So do good and abhor evil by doing good. Do not be by evil inspired.

For even if you fight evil through its own evil inspiration in yourself, it shall eventually consume you.

---<--@

It is not the severity of Justice but the certainty of Justice that deters good people from becoming less virtuous than they should and evil people from becoming more criminal than they deserve.

---<--@

Love your Country.

Your Country is the land where your parents sleep,

where is spoken that language

in which the chosen of your heart, blushing,

whispered the first word of love;

it is the home that God has given you

that by striving to perfect yourselves therein

you may prepare to ascend to Him.

- Giuseppe Mazzini

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! Salaam. Shalom. Peace. God bless us all.

...the brightness of thy Banner undiminished in triumph waves, the glory of thy stars and sun are lights that shall ne'er fade...

P.S.

Today I also commemorate 2 years of recovery. I am so glad to say, this is a battle I now know I can win. I thank each of you for your prayers and your support! (You all know who you are.)

Salutation #67

Therefore,

as a nation - when we forget,

it is worse than when we knew nothing.

For when we knew nothing,

there was nothing to forget.

But when we forget,

we are always divided against something.

Worse, it is always something

we should never have forgotten.

(Preconditions to the Peace Process)

Peace, I salute you.

This is for all our peacekeepers

on the ground of our Land of the Morning

- military as well as civilian -

Muslim, Christian, and Lumad

who are all Filipinos to the very last

and brothers and sisters of the Promise

who continue to hold on to the civic peace

as citizens and human beings, one to the other,

as well as to all our peacemakers

met from across all the sides

of the one common negotiating table -

Peace is prologue to national prosperity!

But there are preconditions to peace.

For peace without clear preconditions

in a conflict involving armed struggle is futile.

For the spirit of War must first be bound by law

and the evil of war formally recognized by all concerned

- in order to strengthen the peace process -

and to effectively break these seemingly endless cycles

of violence and retaliation.

First of all,

there should be no question

about the legitimacy of our one Republic of the Philippines.

To question this is to question the necessity of the entire peace process.

It undoes the ground - upon which -

the parties to the one peace process

are working to build, through all adversity,

an enduring monument to the triumph of our nation.

These are preconditions to the peace process

of which there must never be any doubt.

It is therefore,

the initiative of the lawful government

of the one Filipino nation to pursue or not to pursue negotiations

according to common good of the sovereign Filipino people.

The GPH is not an equal party to the process.

It is the initiating party and let us always remember this:

The GPH is the significant party - the most responsible party -

without which this conflict shall continue unabated.

Foreign mediation is only supplementary and not central to the process.

Our peace process is therefore,

something that is begun by the incumbent Chief Executive

as a rightful exercise of the mandate accorded to his (or her) Office

by the electorate of the nation.

It is therefore,

the prime responsibility of the GPH

to set clear goals and common expectations - as well as -

to be unyielding in the implementation of the mechanisms

that will ensure that every goal is sufficiently met

and every expectation well-founded

and ultimately proven.

There should be adherence to the singular vision of peace.

There should be justice in its approach - in spirit as well as in form.

There should be an ever growing reciprocity of trust.

Indeed,

there should be absoluteness of intent

- to succeed in the attempt -

as well as an unyielding sincerity

- being one without guile or mental reservation -

among the sides from across the one negotiating table

who represent broader interests from among their constituency

as well as carry the common appeal of the one Filipino nation.

There should be continuity and solemn remembrance...

It is the spirit of War - first and foremost -

that must be identified, weakened, rejected, and removed

prior to the obtaining of the vision of the political peace.

There should be universal acceptance

of the foreign nature of the spirit of War

and a common rejection of the manifold evils

it both inflicts and inspires in the nation;

evils made plain and manifest

to our common witnesses

by these unending cycles of pain and loss,

endless battle, poverty and exhaustion -

a sure lineage of ignominy and defeat - for any nation.

There should be a broader understanding of the national peace...

Indeed,

there should be citizenship with fidelity;

a faith among each ourselves that in the end,

the bottom line is that we are all Filipinos to the end

each being individually gifted by God

with one particular nationhood

- the grace to belong -

to a nation that is our nation whatever the name.

Therefore,

there should be a proper well-regard

for the crying needs of our common peoples

and a just and abiding recognition - in all of us -

of the value of the life of our nation.

There should be purity of arms...

- selah -

Now,

particularly speaking

- in the aftermath of recent events -

I think our President Noy

who is our legitimate Chief Executive

and elect by a quorum of the electorate of the nation

has sacrificed enough personal credibility,

spent enough political capital,

and has shown enough good will and good faith

to merit a show of reciprocity from the MILF:

They should surrender the murderers of our troops.

- selah -

And o

ur AFP

should be just as fearless

in launching a formal review

of the lapses

that has led to the incident at al-Barka.

19 is too much...

---<--@

This is my personal appeal to you -

My brothers and sisters of the Promise,

Let us not allow this recent outbreak of violence to shatter our hard fought good will as Filipinos and human beings, one to another, nor steal from us the bright future we all aspire for and truly deserve - the politics of division, once it has exhausted itself, shall look to us for help and consolation.

When that time comes, if we too have lost our guidance - what then?

If we do not hold our ground against the rising of the tide, whither shall our Country be found at the flowing of the tide, when the darkness recedes once again?

If the stars themselves become lost in the midst of the night - what then?

We shall truly be lost.

The Last Fading Away

Who can bear the loss of our soldiers? From all services, they are this Republic's most obedient sons and daughters... Never forget!

O Soul of Army!

Defender of our Peace -
when in battle we weep
for those whose time has come
weep not because of anguish,
our tears are meant not for grief.

Cry not because they have fallen,
those sons and daughters of Country;
valorous souls who gave to us their utmost
and have bled their everlasting witness
to the universal mission of the eternal Army
from which all honorable armed professions
draw their great lineages of victory
Here, at the last fading away -
the quest for that one final sacrifice
the very last soldier to fall

before the breaking of the Day
in the name of Peace and for Sacred Life
in a relentless war that have lasted
from the dawn of Our exile time.

O Soldier of the Peace!
Noble Defender of Country -
You are life preserving life itself
for what is Country but a work of life.
Know you not why you respond
when duty calls you to battle?
Vague at times may your reasons be
especially amidst the desolation of war
and the darkness of war's attendant evils
but forget not what you love
and love shall forget not why you live
and none shall forget you if you shall fall
for in thy Country is thy longevity
Life itself shall be your resting place
and God will forever remember you
His Peace shall forever honor you
for the time you have given others -
more time for building,
more time for sowing,
more time for loving,
more time for hoping,
for kinder days to come.

O when shall the wounding stop
and the healing begin!
O beloved Soul of Army -
when is our last fading away?

Until mankind learns
to be better builders in peace
more than wanton destroyers in war;
until humanity learns
to value Sacred Life
than to seek those paths of death
Heaven and earth shall weep
with thee, O Soul of Army,
but never for those whose time has come
for the lost are never lost
so we must seek them not in vain.
Seek not our fallen with the dead
for life is life and death is death
so let the dead bury the dead!
Let us look for those who are triumphant
not with the defeated enemies of the Peace
but with the living as well as the everliving
for God Himself has declared Peace is over War.

It is for the oppressors of Country
and the enemy of Peace and Sacred Life
for whom the bell tolls
as we sing the songs of our fallen heroes
and their potent remembrance stir
in the hearts of those who yet believe
in the victory of the eternal Army
and in the timeless vision of God
to bring to bear in the name of All that is life
the final wrath that is to come
and bring to pass
Our last fading away;
that one final hymn of taps
at the joyful dawn of the Everlasting Peace
and the breaking of this midnight world.

So cry not because of the passing away
weep for loneliness but never for sorrow
for life is life and death is death.
Let us save most of our tears for those
who yet stubbornly cling to the lie
and believe in the heart in everything that is false
giving rise to all things that inflict evil to our poor world
and bring war and death to our suffering humanity.

For it is always for the reprobate that the bell tolls
to remind to those who sow in War what they shall reap.

---<--@

Salutation #61

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20111021

Reflections on the 20111018 Encounter in Basilan -

I am reading the statements and hearing the news about the recent clash in Basilan and it hurts me to think that all these political correctness seems to have so quickly overlooked the fact that we have lost good people over there - real people with real families and real friends, with real hopes and dreams and a real potential to realize in our nation.

We can never bring them back nor recoup what promise they once stood for in our behalf but we most certainly must never lose sight of their remembrance.

If we can not honorably accept the hope they have left for us in death, how can we say we have ever really, as citizens of this great and noble Republic, truly valued them in life?

For every soldier's death belongs not to him or her but to "we, the people". It is to us, the people, across all our generations, for whom they now offer their eternal sacrifice before the assembly of the nations before the LORD; to us, the nation he or she served in life; to our nation, to this one, great Filipino nation - who by any other name on earth - remains its true meaning and value in our heart of hearts.

So as regards our fallen soldiers, let's just say it straight and not use euphemisms that only serve to further the hurt.

Let us also inherit their courage as well as their hopes.

(Lt. JD Khe - one of the 19 soldiers who fell last Tuesday - via con Dios.)

For there is no such thing as an accidental clash or a misencounter - every death received, every wound inflicted, every drop of blood shed for the cause of the peace of our one Republic endeavor is real. Indeed, all the love that is everyday shed for God and Country is more real than the money we hold with our hands. For virtue is currency.

Therefore, I respectfully, completely and decisively disagree with the usage of words like "accidental clash" or "misencounter" that serve only to indicate to me that the position we are endorsing is weak. It is weak because its remembrance upon which it must draw its truest and most reliable strength is found lacking.

I am an ardent supporter of the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process and so I shall not inflict upon this Office a great disservice by choosing to stay quiet about what I feel needs looking into at this point in time. For I value this Office and all it stands for too much to withhold my loyalty at this decisive juncture of our common mission. I know of how hard this Office works, the sincerity of its people, the vitality and requisite nobility of its mandate, and how difficult the task set by God and our nation before it.

However, we can not as one Republic whole appease criminals - especially war criminals - in times of greatest trouble and in times of deepest calm - either within the ranks of the MILF or the NPA but above all, within our own ranks.

Appeasement of transgressors never serves the purposes of meaningful peace for appeasement is not the forgiveness we seek when we speak about reconciliation.

Most certainly, there can and there should be reconciliation within the nation, among our common peoples - but there can never be reconciliation with War: Those who in their hearts have slept with War and means to repent not of their adultery will always face the Angel of our Remembrance sword first.

I am for peace. But I am for a disciplined observance of it and I realize it will not come cheap.

I realize that this peace will and must involve Justice for all and that this Justice itself demands sacrifice.

For we can never atone for the loss this conflict has inflicted on our people as a whole. Human promise once lost to War is lost forever.

We may only seek to accept the impoverished realities dealt to us by the presence of War in our midst, learn from the depth of our privations, sincerely seek the Peace within ourselves and reconnect with each other as one nation - together this time - under the aegis of Almighty God - through the peace process.

The peace which is our right by honor and blood can never be built on differences nor does it seek to banish the diversity which is our strength.

It is to be built on the steadfastness and potency of those agreements crafted in the spirit of truths about ourselves that ascend higher than the divisions that presently plague our nation, sapping the marrow from our bones, eating up the material as well as spiritual riches of our Country like so much unseen and unwelcome locusts.

Truly, it is not the loss of our soldiers that somehow inclines me to think that the peace process is presently under assault, it is fear of the truth.

The mechanisms of this peace process must first of all involve agreements that limit and control engagements such as these. I have many questions in my mind about last Tuesday's incident in Basilan which is why I am actively seeking to become more informed about it.

But let me tell you this, I will never stand for civilian casualties - AT ALL - the peace process must first and foremost be implemented to protect our non-combatant civilians - Filipinos to the last, especially the very least - the littlest Filipino - and work to establish the norms that seek to treat the common people with the utmost respect as human beings and fellow citizens, brothers and sisters of the Promise, equally engaged in our Republic endeavor without which this peace is worthless.

Both sides when entering into the threshold of the Republic peace from where we must all begin in negotiations must agree to share in the responsibility to protect what we all deem to be worth protecting - the life of our nation - without which this peace is worthless.

When it comes to cases of legitimate military engagements I will never stand for war crimes. But while cases of civilian deaths must proceed through our justice system with the utmost diligence and haste, the losses that our military absorbs while also requiring the application of Justice, must never take precedence over the strategic mission of winning the peace for all Filipinos.

This concession is part and parcel of the sacrifice our national military undertakes to carry upon itself; an essential character of the profession of arms that underlines the value of our military remembrances. And I also expect the same professionalism and determination from the side of the MILF as well as the NPA - especially from their leadership corps.

Verily, we can not seek to merely exhaust ourselves in endless battle without a cause and also claim the dignity of a soul that is rightfully human or the honor of a purpose that is worth all this grief.

We must be just as determined as the spirit of War in our perseverance in the cause of our one Republic peace and as vigilant as War is reckless.

- selah -

My beloved people, let me speak to you for a moment from a place without divisions. Let me speak to you now from a standpoint that care not which camp or faction or side you profess to belong within our one Filipino nation:

We have been harboring what the nations of the world now almost unanimously consider to be the longest running internecine conflict in Asia. If one considers also the extent of the troubles of our Asia, it might perhaps be also right for us to say we have been nurturing in ourselves as a nation, this great and abominable internal division that for the longest time have caused the one Filipino heart to be eclipsed and left wanting in itself; our one Republic skies left as shattered and darkened like the undecipherable confusion that the everyday Filipino is ordinarily subjected unto on top of our daily economic struggles.

These conflicts that divide us reflect the divisions that prevent us from prospering as a nation and these in turn feed into those hidden cycles that spiral down into the void of things that have failed to ascend with the ascent of the truth into the Truth - all that never was - oblivion itself seen from outside of itself.

Indeed, there is a darkness ruling in our midst that is like a tyranny without a tyrant.

I realize I sometimes speak with words that are difficult to grasp - even for myself - (as I might be doing right now) but let me put it this way for us:

Let us please remember, my brothers and sisters of the Promise - for the sake of all we have lost - and strive to validate this truth within each ourselves today, through watchful observance, through unfailing prayer and sincere repentance, that a nation is happy first before becoming materially rich and this happiness will never come by way of the darkness that scatters but by way of the light that gathers.

If not today, when?

Peace, I salute you all.

---<--@

And so, as we enter the end of another week and the nation pauses to reflect upon the significant happenings of the past week, I sincerely hope to have been of help to each of you.

Let us all have a meaningful and relaxing weekend.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

The one Code

REMAIN TRUE -
to our peerless LORD
to the one God
of our Father Abraham,
the one common Creator
of all common creation,
seen and unseen.

To your own sacred remembrances
and the memory of your peace
with God and with each other.

To the overcoming of your War
and the advent of your hope
at the dawn of our new dreaming
as nations together.

To thy own universe within
and to the riches therewith
those treasures that
neither thief nor tyrant
can deprive.

To thy own calling
to serve in the way
of virtue and of peace
and to thy own ascent
upon the one mountain path
whereupon all good things
find their meaning and merit
in the prayer of the heart.

To thy own labors
upon this necessary life
and to the hardships also
that this inhabited earth brings -
May you be satisfied
knowing in your heart
what you truly strive for.

To thy own endeavor of Country
and to the trust of thy own nation
may you embrace with your embracing
these wholes upon wholes
as far and as wide as you could
and with courage
and steadfast persistence
bring all your love
as near as it takes you
to the one Love
that unifies us all
with the one LORD of All.

To our Lord's poor
and to each other
as keeper and as friend -

May we all remain faithful
from always to always
until the final gathering
at the end of days
and the beginning
of all things new.
---<--@

Prosper the Peace. Prosper the People.