I am for peace

That we as a nation have a choice for peace 

while other nations struggling as we are

may not or can not have this choice 

is itself a constant wonder to me. 

It is something I think about often 

that we - in the here and now - 

are able to desire peace...

It is a truth I never take for granted.

It means the favorable time for peace is now.

This is the most apolitical picture I can post... I think it fits right in.

Peace may also be won by a contest of arms. 

However, let us remember to consider the field upon which these battles shall be fought and won.

Nation-States have been shaped by wars fought among themselves. These wars are common in our history. But those wars fought from within a Nation-State are different. These internal divides do not shape destiny, they predicate destiny. The longer it happens, the darker that destiny becomes.

If a contest of arms were the solution to peace reform in our Philippines, why is it taking us so long to arrive at a decisive outcome? Our internal conflict have been the longest running in the history of the world. And so much pain and loss it has cost this nation, across the generations.

How easily some of us dismiss the blessings a season of peace might afford our nation's children. How easily some of us would rather trust in the power of arms than believe in the power of peace.

When shall we ever tire of killing our fellow Filipinos in defense of the very Republic sworn forever to our common defense?

Among ourselves, where individuals seem to kill others without responsibility, is it not because the very presence of war ultimately allows it?

As a nation where we seem to view all these individual tragedies as obscure, being without a sense of common accountability, is it not because the absence of peace ultimately precludes it?

Those who advocate a course of war do not understand the cost of war. Nor its nature in particular that we must everyday contend against here within our Republic of the Philippines.

No, I am for peace. 

I am for a just, meaningful and durable peace in Mindanao and across the whole of our Philippines; peace as a cornerstone of the national success.

I am for a peace gained through faith in God and unity through Country; peace that serves and defends all Filipinos with virtue, humanity, and maturity of remembrance.

I think we have suffered enough to merit this peace, I think it is within reach of our memory, and by grace of God and love of our people, we shall have it.
---<--@

Today, we commemorate the miracle of 1986. I was 13 years old then and even then, I had an idea that something big was happening... something bold.

I think many things happened to allow for that miracle in EDSA to occur. God did not just bless us with a miracle from out of the blue in 1986.

If the Gospel has taught my own heart anything, it is that miracles had to be owned first before it is owed to us by God - that faith is always first before fruition.

Today, I remember that truly peaceful revolution our nation was empowered by God to pull from out of the blue through our collective faith and unity as a people... a real crossing of a threshold.

I say it is one of a kind... and I respect it as such... unique. It is special not only in the memory of this nation but in the history of our family of nations. A great movement in the soul of a people... ours.

The Illusion of Race

Race is an illusion, an artifice of a species of nationalism that is not ours. What is proposes is the division of the Nation according to tribal distinctions. What this means is the subjugation of the soul of its peoples by the temporal powers of this world.

Race is a social construct purposed to be divisive of unity and disruptive of harmony among Men. This is so because the concept of race is meant to fill an ideological necessity (that upon our needful earth gave rise to a domination of evil we have together fought and prevailed against in the last age).

It is a thought prejudicial to our Liberty!

For the Nation that is ours is a soul that dwells in and among our peoples, and through it stirs the spirit that gathers our generations together and sends our generations forth into forever.

No human being or temporal power hath placed and purposed this Nationhood in our souls.

The belonging that calls to each of us within our souls is issued among us by neither man nor angel.

Nor may our citizenship, one with the other, be received by any earthly or temporal dominion save our own love and remembrance of all the good and blessed things that made us accountable to the God in heaven for the peace and good will that we are made freely and humanly responsible for together here upon this earth as a sovereign undertaking of Country.

We are made equal in dignity and promise - before God and the assembly of the Nations - not by virtue of external appearances or the whim of fashions temporal but by the truth of what is permanent in our spirit and what is for always to us in the truth.

Race hath no place among us. We are all the colors of life.
---<--@

The Craft of Citizens

Civics is the craft of citizens. Politics is the craft of the State.

Our first consideration: 

We are a nation. This makes us a human people.

We are human beings with common human needs. The cause of our nationhood are human causes. We are through our nationhood sought by heaven on earth that we may be sheltered in peace and sheltered that we may be sent forth in goodwill unto our Mankind.

Because we are, our identity and belonging is established upon a timeless foundation. There are truths about our being as a free and sovereign human community that are changeless and unyielding - as changeless and as unyielding as the peace that in our nation gathers us together and sends us forth as one.

Peace, written in our hearts, is the soul of our nationhood and has been before we were a people.

We are a nation forever. For the peace that forever belong to our nation is an eternal salutation.

The cause of our nationhood are our human causes.

The craft of all nations is peace.

When we know peace, we know memory. 

When we know memory, we know when and where in ourselves does hope spring and goodwill proceeds - in the peace of our nationhood and from the nationhood in ourselves (respectively).

God is our Highest Reliance. The First Defended of our Republic.

Before we know our civics, we must understand our nationhood.

That what makes us human, one to another, makes us also belong to all heaven and earth.

Our second consideration: 

What makes us citizens makes us belong to the temporal State and prepares us for greater belongings.

There is no science that serves to initiate the student of civics to a prior body of knowledge about the art of his or her citizenship. Civic aptitude does not come by way of great academic knowledge.

Recall to thy heart the fall of the first morning star of the first firmament and imagine a single star in the night sky, shining by itself from eternity.

Without the company of other stars, shall this bright morning star have cause to think itself dim or bright?

A great intellect may think itself bright only because he or she is always in the company of a myriad other lesser ones. Whether one is loathe to admit this fact or not, it is a civic truth. 

Sufficiency through reliance.

We are only as far as each of us allow, eaches only as far as we are.

Peace in the nation allows for each of us to allow that - we are.

Civics allow us to be and to function as eaches - as far as we are...

Citizens who together as a Body Politic form through the democratic foundation of the Philippine State, the one Philippine Republic whole.

Our third and final consideration:

A student of civics is a heart willing to listen... Citizenship is a lifelong art.

You do not learn it by reading alone. You acquire it by hearing it, and following, and leading.

You do not teach it by much speaking. You transmit it by living it, and loving, and remembering.

Apply yourself to knowing your civics and your civics will apply itself to teaching itself to you.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

And let us together in the nation grow bright, certainly brighter than the long night.

Start by simply not littering, if you like. And know why you do it.

Begin by respecting the ground of our earth.
---<--@

Personal Reflection

Civics inform our Politics and Politics shape the State wherein we all are citizens first.

One may be civic oriented without ever being political. One may not be political however, without any civic orientation. Politics that is professed without any grounding in civics is almost always mercenary in form, without any concept of loyalty to Country or duty to the common good.

Is it political to love a person, a thing, a place, a time, or a truth?

It may be that the State ought to be concerned about what we love. That the State may know to withdraw from interior freedoms where these are concerned.

There is no such thing as a wrong love.

Politics shall never find enough of itself in itself to prove or disprove what love there is or what love there is not - in any person. It shall soon exhaust its own expression against a question it is never intended to address.

Where interior freedoms are concerned, the State should have a recourse to exhort the civic spirit of the nation and empower the love of the people to bear the right fruit that more and more of our people may know to trust in better things and therefore, be served eventually by better loves.
---<--@

Apart from the Love of God, the Devil has no existence.

Or be a ninja, if you like.

Cheers. Steady on.

My Centrism

I am center-right.
I reach out to the left who reaches out to me.
It is this reaching out that defines my centrism.
Not just my moderate conservatism.

I am a democratic expression
of those finest beliefs - firmest in myself -
within a spectrum broader than my conviction.

Therefore -

In all things political,
I shall be strongly inclined to begin and end,
right of center - every time, all the time.

In America, this means I am either
a liberal Republican or a conservative Democrat
but can't seem to decide on which because...

I am devoted to a necessary unity
and seek to serve my devotion
through meaningful peace.

Partisanship is only secondary to citizenship in my eyes.
And in my heart, Country is always to be honored and served over party.
---<--@

Vigilant Trust

The Politics of our State

Two thought exercises -

Sea and Sky

Politics in our Republic
is like Sea and Sky

The Nation the Sea, the State the Sky
thought reflecting thought, blue upon blue
salt and water and spirit - in faithful motion
we, the people, in deep conversation.

Turbulent water disturbs it,
stormy Skies don't calm it -
but then, Nights turn to Days,
clouds, storms in their great rounds,
governments, parting ways, election days,
gold and silver rays.
---<--@

The Talk in the Walk

Let us first recall to mind - 

Countries take, people make. 

And that this is true for all Countries, including ours... 

More interested should we be in what Countries do 

than in what their people say - whether true or false. 

Because as regards decisions, 

people make them, Countries only take them - 

that Country may translate water into Motion. 

Country, for the intent and purpose of this blog, being a verb, 

its motion is only as faithful as the substance that give rise to it. 

And the richness of this substance 

depends on the depth of our civic spirituality 

as a human people. 

---<--@

If our Nation stops talking the talk, 

our Republic stops walking the walk.

Now, imagine if you will, 

my brothers and sisters of the Promise, 

that upon this - our Land of Promise - 

you were this Republic - 

the particular spirit of Country 

tasked by the deeper workings of Providence 

to shepherd this one Filipino Nation, 

not the Nation itself, mind you - 

but our Republic organism.

Imagine it were you. 

What would you like to hear from your Nation? 

Worthless banter? Bitter silence? Empty thoughts? 

Unfeeling, uncaring politics? Contemptuous prattle? 

Distasteful murmurings of unbelief? Scornful distrust? 

The incessant noise of battle, of war and discord? 

Hate speech and the ignorance of your Liberty? 

Or the happy chatter of a joyful people? 

Let us look now at our National bird - the maya bird - 

An industrious, little, long-suffering creature with wings. 

Almost invisible to us Filipinos for its commonality. 

T'is a bird 

who lives in the moment, 

not because it wants to 

but because it has to

humble
with a life span of only a fraction 

of what is allotted to us human beings  

yet courageous enough for its future 

displaying great fortitude for their young  

at times even more solicitous
than human mothers. 

Hear them sing in the morning... 

just before they go about their day, 

its almost like a daily prayer 

of praise and adoration 

to our God. 

- selah -

Do you think our Nation sounds like the bird 

we carefully took to symbolize and represent 

something we cherish in our people?

Certainly,
we can not all be incapable of worthwhile talk. 

But certainly also,
there is still much to be desired 

in that same regard.

- selah -

What is the center of the Republic? 

The place in the heart 

from which we speak to each other 

as citizens not unlike
one another. 

If we, in this thought exercise, 

should come to the same conclusion 

that there is indeed insufficient 

"chattering of a joyful people" 

going around these days, 

then we must find this center - 

the citizen in ourselves. 

And rejuvenate
the National Dialogue - 

that we may fill it once again 

with substance becoming 

of the Philippine State.

- selah -

My brothers and sisters in the Nation, 

nowhere can we find the best solutions for our problems 

than in ourselves. 

For we are each other's keeper  

keeper to our common humanity, 

our human community, our remembrances, 

our liberty, our posterity - before God.

We were born into it - 

by a choice to live the values 

that make our citizenship 

noble and worthwhile. 

Hence, 

whether natural or naturalized, 

we profess one spirit.

So let's talk the right talk, 

and together walk the right walk.

We can not build the right world with the wrong values.

Nor the right Republic with the wrong civics.

---<--@

=^.^=

Salutation #193

The State is not the Government.
The State is the Ideal of the Sovereign.

We all own the Philippine State
- and - at the same time
none of us do. It is a free State.

It is a Responsible State.

(On the Philippine State)

The State represents the Truth 
of everything we are - as a Nation;
Keeper to the Memory of our Generations,
and Repository of the Common Hopes
of our National Communities.

Any meaningful sense of Timeless Regard
for the lasting Ideals of our People - as a Nation
and the prevailing spirit of our Country - as Motion
proceeds from the reality of the Philippine State.

It is the Knowing
that constantly abides as Learning
prevailing within our living National Culture.

It is the spirit of everything noble, everything good,
and everything worthy of the National Excellence and therefore,
worthy of the praise and the love of our peoples together
- as citizens and as human beings to each other -
passing quietly - as Beauty - from generation to generation.

Our President as Head of State
is the Exemplar of the Philippine State;
the Office of the President of this Republic
being the noblest of all public Seats-of-Service.

- selah -

The Virtue of Citizenship
is the Primary Endowment of the State.

It is the authority to govern
the Citizen in the Person of the Self.
In it is contained the power
that makes each of us
together a "we".

The Authority to Govern
our Peers in the Nation is the Secondary
and proceeds from the Primary (as a function).

This Secondary Endowment
establishes for the Nation - from the Nation,
a Government that is - in constant and faithful keeping -
to the Providential Reality of the Philippine State.

We recognize in the spirit of our Constitution
and also in the labors of the Philippine Republic
from timeless Ideals enshrined in the Philippine State
- what is Sovereign to our Nation - in our entirety,
AND the Sacred and Inviolable Trust - that must exist -
between our Government and our Nation (as a free State):

THAT the Virtues of the Republic Government
in order to freely abide in a Government for the People
must have its Reliance upon the Faithfulness of the People
 
AND that the People
in order to conserve - in All our behalf -
our one, common, human Reliance
in the Good Governance of the Nation
must preserve - in and across - our Generations
those two Endowments - Primary and Secondary -
that are proper to the Philippine State,
particularly in our youth but also in all our citizens -
and ensure that a Government of the People
within each ourselves forever prevail.

- selah -

The free Philippine State
is the source of our Sovereignty.

We, the people, 

receive it each Day - in Peace - 

and lay it down each Night - in Goodwill.

In the collective peace
of our National Communities, 

particularly in the life of our Cities together, 

our common labors are its wellspring.

We shape it - and - it shapes us - 

   (we are therefore, we must -
   in being and in becoming)

across our generations - to the last... 

Sovereignty emanates from the People!

And exists - for us - with each present time
in behalf of our children and unborn generations.

We are Citizens First, 

our Nation - a People first - 

ONLY THEN 

shall the rest of the Elements of Country 

follow - and then fall into place -

or not at all.

All that ends and all that begins 

in our Republic - must rise and fall - 

from the Sovereign being of our Nation: 

THAT we are the one Filipino People 

and our Nation, a Nation among Nations;
AND that - this is - our Sovereignty of Being - 

supreme in us - and (simultaneously) - exclusive for us.
---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas - Long Live the Memory.



Thought Exercise - What if?

(1)
The State is the Ideal of the Sovereign

We profess allegiance to an Ideal of a Free State through its Symbols and its Virtues, in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship.

Essentially, we profess allegiance - to each other - as citizens and as human beings - in order to mature our labor of Country and to bring our Nationhood forth into perfection, e.g. Democracy, Meritocracy,

(2)
The State is the Government

We profess allegiance to the Government in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship.

The Government is the source of Sovereignty and utilizes the people and the life of their communities in order to mature its labor of Country and to bring its Nationhood forth into perfection, e.g. Communism, Socialism.

(3)
The State is one person

We profess allegiance to one person in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship, e.g. Fascism, Despotism.

Hitler was the German State, the Nation Germany incarnate - look at what happened to him. And then look at what evil it did to his own as well as to our other kindred Nations. We will carry a burden from that war for a long time to come.

Even Monarchs who are directly responsible to God for the Authority of the State, profess it accordingly, delegate it when necessary, and do not lay a claim to the power of the State as absolute as these.

(4)
The State is a selection of persons

We profess allegiance to an elite few in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship, e.g. Oligarchy, Plutocracy.

Capitalism distorted by materialism. We are struggling against this now.

(5)
The State is in the many and in the all

We profess allegiance to the self alone (and from the self to the other - but not with each other) in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship, e.g. Anarchy, Social Darwinism.

Democracy distorted by moral relativism. We are struggling against this now.

(6)
The State is undefined

We would not be having this exercise. God will spit us out of His mouth.

The Nine Common Human Needs: Thirst in the Nation

As blood is thicker than water and as water runs deeper than blood -
Hunger in Man weighs more heavily upon his soul than his Thirst
but Thirst in Man runs deeper in his soul than does his Hunger -
and can kill him more quickly than his Hunger ever can.



The thirst in Man is deeper than our hunger. 

Yet this thirst is also material in its form.

The need to quench the thirst
in the corporeal body in Man
is a reflection of the state
- of the human soul -
arid, parched, 
barren as a desert wilderness -
devoid of life and 
desolate of the waters 
of living life. 

For there is an absence in the soul of Man,
- a principal consequence of our Exile -
the sin of our separation from God.

This drive in Man is the result
of our very human quenching for God
that is manifest in the whole of our being
as thirst - and is the most profoundly human
of all the nine common needs.

It is an evil Man did not intend 
and exists to remind us
of our common need of the Truth
and the constancy of the living waters 
that flow from Its Hidden 
Abundance.

For we are in our hearts, 
its tributaries in time and throughout - 
called in common to fill the desolation of the Void,
expanding it - and filling it with the waters of living life
unto the completion of the purposes of God - for this universe
and - for time itself as we know it.

When we look
at the universe and into our souls,
thirst reminds us of our need of the Truth -
to quench the absence in our hearts
and fill our loneliness with togetherness
and satiate with God, the human quenching
for the everlasting waters that quenches with life
the deepest and most profound quenching in ourselves
and the purposes for which we exist -
alive to the Alive.

Man's thirst left unanswered and unrecognized
leaves him diminished in his humanity
and leaves him weak of spirit and of will
and this lack of concentration of the human spirit 
- leaves the national communities of Mankind restless -
vulnerable to stir with the stirring of the spirit of War
and the consuming flames that seek to endanger
with swift and terrible destruction 
what parched and dry timbers yet remain standing fast
in the national communities of Mankind.

The fruit of this Vision 
in the reality of the Nation is 
Water Access and Management.
---<--@


The Nine Common Human Needs

The Nine Common Human Needs: Hunger in the Nation

The hunger in Man is material. 

It is a condition of our Exile
and the most basic of all human needs.

The need to sustain the corporeal body
with the life of the earth - drive the hunger in Man
who takes so he can eat - and eats so he can live -
and lives so he can master his hunger.

It is - in itself - not evil.

And finds efficacious remedy
in the salutary nature of human labor
and the work of the Earth 
commanded by God 
of all Nations.

However,
hunger in the Nation,
when taken for granted 
may become for Man,
a source of material poverty
and exist as a social evil
contrary to the growth and development
of the human community.

This denial of hunger
(in all its forms, from slight to serious)
when in our own midst - feeds unto itself -
and give rise to the various social sins -
that worketh to prevent in the Nation,
the material prosperity necessary
to sustain and foster - even in our midst -
the individual human development
of our common Citizenry.

Material wealth - in any Nation -
is always a result of a people's
spiritual strength.

For there are two forms of poverty in Man;
the first one is physical and the other one is spiritual -
the former is always preceded by the latter.

When the condition is that the spiritual needs 
required to alleviate material poverty is present in the people -
then this kind of poverty is the physical kind.

And this is remedied by the work of the earth.

We are then,
by and with our connections
- with and among ourselves -
in God through our Nation,
prospered by our citizenship 
and material prosperity becomes for us naturally,
as an occurrence of our need to master
the hunger in each ourselves.

But when the same physical poverty is likewise
the result of ignorance or corruption of the spiritual needs 
required to address hunger, as the most basic of human needs,
and the soul of the Nation is dim and weak,
this kind of poverty is the organic kind
and dwells with the life
of the people.

If the Republic - were to mount a defense -
against Poverty in the Nation, it would be undertaken
specifically against this aforementioned kind of poverty
as a means to obtain for Social Justice in the Nation
a better expression of the Equality of our peoples.

The fruit of this Vision 
in the reality of the Nation 
is Food Security.
---<--@


The Nine Common Human Needs

Kanlungan

Nakalilito man
at madilim ang mundo,
mga kapatid ko sa Pangako,
huwag tayong mabahala
at huwag mawalan ng loob -
huwag matakot sa gabi!

Pananalig sa Diyos,
kapayapaan sa ating bansa;
kagandahang loob sa bawa't isa
bunga nang pagkakapatirang
namumuhay sa ating diwa,
at pagmamahal natin sa ating
nag-iisang sambayanang Pilipinas -
ito ang lagi nating maaasahan;
ang ating kanlungan sa gabi
at daan tungo sa umaga.
---<--@

We are, therefore, we must

The first were the angels, formed in light.
Beings of pure spirit, timeless, forever bright.

The last was mankind, known as the children.
Conceived in darkness and conceived in light.



My citizenship and your citizenship are neither more nor less than each other -
at the rising of each moment, a quality that is forever equal in our soul.

We know it as truth in our spirit and in our hearts,
we express it in the reality of the nationhood that we embrace as a people.

Together, we give each other identity, order, purpose, and strength -
that we may make of this gift of belonging together what we ought to make it.

Upon this equal pursuit we as citizens must rely on the nurture of human freedoms
and the quality of our individual happiness, in this world or the next one, depend on it...
on our learning of it - and from it - and of the freedom of God with it.

In this way, by the light of our liberty -
in that enlightening sense of truth, we as one nation, collectively posses -
the Light in the heart of darkness triumph in each of our living
and by each life lived to the fullest - we are so gathered under heaven -
a nation among one great family of nations - by our faith in God and faith in our people -
across our generations - worlds upon worlds - quenched in everlasting waters...
in the fullness of a forever we can only begin to imagine...
or even dare to inspire.

We are, therefore, we must.
---<--@

Peace is Present

These times when we do not know who or what is trying to prevent us from becoming, let them be - what is important is that we know where we are going, that we have a path and a vision:

So with all these things happening right now, let me get us back to the foundation of why peace is key -



Do you know why I am so concerned about the peace process? 

Firstly, because Peace happens in the Now: 

Peace is Present. You must always remember this -

It is never a thing that was nor can it be a thing that shall be - if not for today. 

We, as one nation, really have to get interested in it. We have to want it enough to seek it and we have 2000 years worth of information in our history with all nations to process this truth.

This is why, as individual citizens, we have to work hard to bring our remembrances forward into our hearts - here and now. 

We have to pray for it and work for it - in whatever way we can, large or small, known or unknown, utilizing the freedom of whatever gift or vocation we have received - in whatever state of life we have chosen before the LORD, our God. 

We have to want it enough to seek it.

For if peace is not in our minds here and now, we shall never obtain it from the God Who Is, the LORD, For He is God. That is my first point - complacency is deadly. 

Especially in this new age of spirit and thought.

Secondly, because in 20 or so years if we do not make ourselves better for our being united and focused as a nation, if we do not as one Republic obtain together the peace which is our shelter - there is a great probability that we shall never recover. The hardships and the darkness we see and know here and now will thus become permanent.

Let me not dictate it to you now: You only have to look at the world around us to validate this for yourself.

And if this happens, not only do we lose our potential as a nation, for which we are each accountable for - all our other kindred nations will also forever lose what good we Filipinos have to give to our world so much in need of it - and this place of earth will wane all the more darker for our not wanting the light.

And we will all answer to God at during Judgment Day for our lack of appreciation for the gift and the grace of nationhood. 

Our citizenship with each other might be something we undervalue in this materialistic times, undervalue so much that we may often times underestimate the truth of its excellence and worth.

It is a real treasure in these ever-changing times.

Did one think we were come to this life without rhyme nor reason? If so, perhaps one did also likewise think that the nations of our world exist only to thirst for their own destruction? 

No, you are not - and no, we are not - to everything there is a time and a season under heaven: For God is in heaven and the Throne of the LORD in Eternity - all will be well, all will be well.

So let us reflect and let us pray about our commitment to God and to each other that we may with much patience and hope succeed - against all adversity - in the common task before our hearts and our hands of building a better place in time for us and for our generations to the last of our generations - mabuhay!

"Public's participation is vital in the peace process as peace agreements are going to need the work of many people and not just the OPAPP alone." - Sec. Ging Deles
---<--@

Kanlungan

Nakalilito man
at madilim ang mundo,
mga kapatid ko sa Pangako,
huwag tayong mabahala
at huwag mawalan ng loob -
huwag matakot sa gabi!

Pananalig sa Diyos,
kapayapaan sa ating bansa;
kagandahang loob sa bawa't isa
bunga nang pagkakapatirang
namumuhay sa ating diwa,
at pagmamahal natin sa ating
nag-iisang sambayanang Pilipinas -
ito ang lagi nating maaasahan;
ang ating kanlungan sa gabi
at daan tungo sa umaga.

Win or Lose

Don't worry, Manny...

When God knocks you down,
He intends to raise you up.

When God wounds your pride,
He intends to heal your spirit.

When God hands you a defeat,
He intends to teach you...
a new kind of victory.

- selah -

Do not forget, my brother Filipino,
that you will always find in your own nation
an even greater, nobler and more lasting arena
wherein which you may freely devote
your spirit and energy.

We will always be here for you.

For it is not for your fame,
your fortune or your many victories
that you are loved by those who love you:
It is for your kindness, your goodness,
your noble strength of heart, your fierce spirit,
your trust in the glory of the God of greater things,
and your manifest love of the common people.

We love you for your poverty,
your sense of sharing:
your citizenship.

No ring, no limit, no opponent, no arbiter
can take you away from the you being - just you -
so must you endeavor to never forget, brother,
especially now that you were brought low,
what is lasting and what is not. 

For it is here
- at the lowest points in life -
where you can best observe the highest
the sweetest, and the most wondrous places
thy faith in the good God can take you in your life;
it is here where you can best discover
the heights of what is
and what is not.

We love you, Manny:

Win or Lose.
---<--@

Salutation #168

Citizenship is in the soul - 'tis a seeking in the self -
an integral part of the blossoming of every human life.

So you breath it in your spirit, and you live it in your life
- you seek it like the motion of a love learning to love.

You long for it in yourself - until you are full for the truth -
until your belonging is absolute and your joy is complete.



(An Identity of Participation)

Citizen, participate -

(1) in the economic life of thy nation
(productivity, industry, and material prosperity)

   - be honest in your dealings with others
   - pay your taxes

(2) in the political life of thy nation
(responsible authority, meaningful order, and human purpose)
   - be fair in your dealings with others
   - properly exercise your right to vote

(3) in the spiritual life of thy nation
(virtue, meaning, and human felicity)
   - be willing to allow others to be happy
   - work to be happy

(4) in the social life of thy nation
(peace, justice, and human community)
   - be willing to lead and to be led
   - obey the law

BE all you can be for God and Country.
---<--@


Citizenship with Fidelity

Salutation #127

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

- selah -

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

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

Therefore,
do not despair,
my people.

Believe.

---<--@


(Burden of Expectation)

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

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

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

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

Is the Filipino truly free?

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

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

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

Is the Filipino truly free?

- selah -

What is this freedom, this vaunted liberty?

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

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

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

Have we forgotten who we are?

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

Truly, there is a requirement for us to succeed!

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

We have yet to claim it and make it ours!

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

There is a requirement for us to succeed!

- selah -

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

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

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

Our freedom proceeds from this realization.

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

And that this Republic is but one work.

- selah -

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

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

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

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

And
in this togetherness,
we are together sheltered.

- selah -

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

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

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

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

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

Now is the time for peace:

This is our time.

Peace, I salute you.

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

Battlestrong

Salutation #90

A Filipino is a kind of love and this love binds us together as one nation.

(Citizenship with Fidelity)

I believe in our people

- We, the Philippines -

every ethnic tribe

- that make us -

into one common community;

one lineage of hope,

7,107 islands strong!

And I recognize in myself

and in each of my compatriots,

the strength and the spirit

that bind us together

as one Filipino nation.
---<--@

I shall be obedient

- to my parents -

and faithful

- to my God -

that I may learn to love virtue

and the good of others.

For I shall strive

to be useful to my nation

and shall work hard

to bring honor and joy

to my family,

to my school,

to my teachers

and to my community.
---<--@

I shall always remember

the experiences of our history

that forged for our people,

one common destiny.

And I shall walk - forever -

in this remembrance,

deriving from

the sacred memory

of our heroes,

one common identity.
---<--@

I shall keep true

to my common identity -

it is the reality

upon which

is established

the sacred trust

that binds the lives,

the labors

and the fortunes

of all Filipinos

- together -

into one lineage of hope;

one common citizenry.

And I will honor this

- sacred trust -

and work to fulfill this hope

in myself as a citizen

of our Republic endeavor,

drawing from the same

unyielding strength

that have empowered

the labors

of every Filipino

of every generation.
---<--@

I will cherish and understand

our Republic endeavor -

it is the foundation

of our democratic processes

in the political,

social

and juridical institutions

and representative traditions

that maintain the good order

of our public peace

that shelter

and preserve

the life of our civil society.

And I shall maintain

a constant vigilance

over our democracy,

participating in the labors

that enrich and advance

the peace of our Republic,

seeking every means available,

to pursue the the common good

of our people

and realize

the eternal vision

of our nation

established in our Constitution.

---<--@

I shall be brave

in the defense

of our Republic peace

and preserve

with my honor

and my life,

the truth of our Constitution

and the life of our generations.

And so

I shall embrace - forever -

all of these duties that I owe

to that undying dream

of freedom for myself

and for all Filipinos

being willing to freely

and humanly carry them out,

with much faith in God

and steadfast trust

in our Country,

kindled forever

like a flame in my heart

and in the hearts

of all my Filipino compatriots -
from always to always.
---<--@

Ikaw at Ako

Pilipinas, ano ito?

Ito ang lupain ng pangarap,

Bayang hinirang ng araw

sa puso nating lahat -

isang bayan, isang diwa

isang layunin, isang puso

isang kapatiran, isang gawa

isang umagang pangako sa atin

nang Diyos nating Maykapal,

at nag-iisang Kapayapaang namumuno

sa lahat ng mga Pilipino.

Pilipinas, ano ito?

Atin ito: Ating lahat,

noon pa man, dito sa Ngayon,

at sa kalahatan nang panahon -

dito sa lupa, sa ating karagatan,

at sa lawak ng mga kalangitan,

atin ito, ating lahat,

mga kapwa ko Pilipino -

kapwa kapatid nang Pangako.

Pilipinas, ano ito?

Atin ito: Tayo ito - ikaw at ako,

ngayon at magpakailanman:

Bayang dakila, Inang kandungan,

Tahanan ng ating mga bayani -

punong puno nang kabutihang loob

at pananampalayaya sa Diyos.

Matamis ang magsilbi

sa malaya mong mga kalupunan.

---<--@

Citizen

My name is Filipino citizen.

The name of my nation is Peace.

Peace means, "we belong".

My work is Freedom.

My ambition is called Happiness.

My calling is known as Truth.

My name is Filipino citizen.

My family name is called Endless.

It means, "I love".

My Country is called Promise.

The land of my fathers is called Bountiful.

The name of my city is Friendship.

The name of my religion is Sacred Life.

My God is called Beautiful.

Beautiful means, "We are one".

My government is Service.

The name of our leader is Servant.

It means, "Great Soul".

---<--@

20111023 AM

Two Paths

These two paths lead away from each other - one leads toward the dawn and the other toward the void of all things that never were.

My beloved Philippines, we are a nation of whose present generations have never experienced the blessings of peace reigning within our midst -

None of us here today have every truly enjoyed the promise of peace to speak with empirical conviction about its real merit for ourselves and our peoples -

We only have the maddening darkness of War and the illuminating brightness of our faith in God and in God's faithfulness to speak for itself -

Today, we stand at a crossroads in time; a defining moment in the history of our Country is presented before all Filipino hearts -

For 2000 years, we have slumbered but now the time for waking up is here - Now is the time we wake up from the nightmare of the last great age of War -

We have to choose a path that shall lead our generations unto two totally distinct futures -

Peace on its own terms today or War on its own terms tomorrow.

- selah -

If it seems difficult for us to conform with the demands of peace today - on this we may certainly rely, war shall make it impossible for us to live with any decency as a nation tomorrow.

Let us be ever mindful that this season of peace shall not always be.

(There are greater purposes at work in our world today - purposes demonic as well as Divine and angelic - powers above and beyond the scope and the reach of Man alone.)

If not today, when?

---<--@

To love our own and others like our own -

"A stranger once welcomed is a stranger no more."

This especially holds true for those persons from other nations who represent for us the good will of their people as Father Pops once did.

But Father Pops goes one step further than this because he was one of the few who welcomed us first. He was on mission.

Father Fausto "Pops" Tentorio is a citizen of his native Italy who born of his great Christian love for our indigenous and poor Filipinos have truly become one of us. This makes him an honorary citizen of our Country by me.

The great injustice of his death is that he who should have received our warmest welcome was also he who was so abruptly and violently taken from our midst by murderous criminals.

Justice for Father Pops!

---<--@

Prayers for Thailand of our one ASEAN -

Among all our present concerns, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, let us also include in our prayers today the safety and welfare of the people of the Kingdom of Thailand who is presently battling a devastating flood in their Country.

To my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, let us be especially mindful of all our needs as well as our blessings during our Sunday obligations in this day of days and bring all of our prayers to God at Holy Mass today.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Citizenship with Fidelity

Mission Spirit