The Nine Common Human Needs: Security of Person and Property

Uncertainty is a root cause of fear in Man. This fear before our Exile was a Fear of Certainty. Both of these fears preserve in them the original intention that Man is to be - as the Angels, a social creature - a loving and faithful keeper to each other.

The former, which is a fear of the unknown - is manifest in each of us as an abiding and mortal fear of our impending temporal death, and exists as a consequence of our Exile.

The latter, which is the Fear - of the God Who Is - the Ultimate Truth - is a holy, loving, and awe-filled reverence that abides in the hearts of those who seek after Him - whom He calls unto Himself - in order to more perfectly love Him, and serve Him, and know Him.

The latter inspires us to freely strive for Peace and Human Community. The former bends the will and the spirit towards an understanding of the latter. The former must lead to the latter and the latter must enlighten the former. That the burden of our civilization may be light. One leads to safety, the other to freedom.

For the LORD, our God and Creator, is a God of Community - the LORD of hosts. He dwelleth in Unity and this Unity is Peace.

One of the main reasons that spur our human civilization forward is our need of a common relief from this fear of the uncertain. For it is painful.

The human spirit itself is driven by a universal thirst for a more perfect understanding of that Fear, which leads to Wisdom, and that Wisdom which is an understanding of the Truth - Truth that to our souls is Peace.

Aspects of this interior seeking universal to all Men and to all Women remain common to all our Sacred Remembrances; a spirituality of Peace therefore, remain as a common teaching in each our most cherished and honorable religious traditions as well - particularly, within our three Abrahamic faith traditions.

And so, in spite of the long shadow of War, we as a people remain yearning for Peace. It is more certain to us than War - in ways we often fail to readily understand.

AT THE VERY LEAST, in the sense that we are all equal partakers of this yearning (for Certainty) in our Nation (and in our world), we hold to an expectation as citizens that each of us may - in common - enjoy, security of person and property -

THAT dignity of each individual human life and the safety of its promise - from conception to natural death, along with each our respective right to private ownership - as a natural right and as a public trust - be duly preserved by the Philippine State.

The value of Sacred Life being already well defined, to further expound on the right of private property, I shall take from a teaching in Catholic Morality (excerpted from the book, Catholic Morality by Fr. John Laux, M.A.)

4. Duties Concerning Material Goods

a) The Right of Private Property

1. Ownership defined. - Not only spiritual goods, but material goods also have been placed at the disposal of man by God. But whilst the goods of the soul and the mind are accessible to all and do not diminish, no matter how many partake of them, a material good can, of its very nature, belong undivided only to one person, and the oftener it is divided, the smaller becomes the portion of those who use it. The right to possess, enjoy, and dispose of any material good for ourselves, to the exclusion of others, is called the right of private property or individual ownership.

2. Private ownership rests on the divine law and, taking man as they are, is necessary for the individual and for society -

a) the Seventh Commandment forbids theft as a violation of the rights of others. If private property were theft, as the French Communist Proudhon calls it, theft would not be a violation of the rights of our neighbor, but the right of the State. But God does not forbid theft as a violation of the right of the State, but of the right of our neighbor individually. In the New Testament parables such as those of the sower, the vineyard, and the fig tree pre-suppose the right of private property.

(As regards to plunder of the public coffers, it is the individual tax payers' right of representation, direct as well as indirect, in the official affairs of the State that is violated.)

b) Private ownership is founded on the nature and condition of man; it is a natural right. Nature imposes upon man the duty of preserving his life, and hence it also gives him the right to exclusive ownership in those things necessary for the preservation of his life.

c) The individual has natural duties to provide for the material needs of his family and the education of his children. But he can not fulfill these duties without the right of accumulating and retaining a variety of these goods. If all men were perfect Christians, then the difficulty would be minimized. But we must take men as they are.

d) Without the right to private ownership there would be no incentive to work and consequently no progress in the arts and sciences.

e) God is the true Lord and Master of all things by the right of creation. But man also, the image of God, can mold and modify things at his pleasure. The fruits of his labor bear the stamp of his personality; and thus becomes their true lord in a limited sense, as God is their absolute lord in an unlimited sense.

f) Under a system of common ownership (Communism) the distribution of labor and of the rewards of labor would destroy individual liberty and make all citizens slaves of the State. Under such circumstances, peace and order are inconceivable.

(As regards the peace process with the NDFP, it is not condemnation of each side our Republic whole must seek but a re-calibration of interests leading towards the beginnings of a common ground vision pursuant and compatible with the reality of the Philippine State, a transformation of the nature of the conflict, and ultimately a reversal of the mindless tides of prejudices and cessation of the cycles of violence that have consumed this Nation for several generations now.

In short, we must together make this Republic of ours work - and, in an imperfect world, labor for the common good of all. Upon our Peace - one, whole, and complete - much depends.)

...

4. Whether we possess much or little, we must always remember that we are only the stewards of what we possess, not the absolute masters, and that we must one day give an account of our stewardship. For as God never gives up His dominion over the gifts of life, so He never relinquishes His right over the gift of material goods.

The fruit of this vision 
in the reality of the Nation is -
An institutionalized, civilian Policing, 
Public Safety, and National Security Service.
---<--@


The Nine Common Human Needs

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

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.

20110718

Salutation #38

(Purity of Arms)

Peace can not be won by arms

but by remembrance.

Our Republic undertaking of Country

is never ennobled by the strength of arms

but by the purity of our arms.

So if we are too hasty to bear them,

if we mistake one path for the other,

my honorable compatriots,

Providence Itself will grind us

into dust and ashes.

What Divine Providence defends

and what our Nation chooses to defend

through our common Republic endeavor

(especially through its military arms)

must be one and the same

- Benignity, Harmony, Unity and Sacred Life -

that Almighty God may restore freedom

to our one Republic as a whole

- that the Peace of our one Republic undertaking -

may likewise restore

its own native protections

upon the virtues of our people.

So let us be aware -

Every nation in the world of our present day

- from the least to the most responsible of nations -

is emerging from a deep darkness;

our world as a whole is questing for this Peace.

What is unique to our present time right now,

is not the perennial nature of armed conflict

- within and between our nations -

but the sharp contrast drawn

by the sheer weight of collective human history

between the presence of War and the absence of Peace.

That we may as one nation among a family of nations,

urgently know that -

by our arms, War is delayed.

It is never hastened.

Lest we forget. Lest we forget.

---<--@

Salutation #39

(The Necessity of Soldiering)

They say,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

that the most ancient of professions is prostitution.

The most ancient of professions is soldiering.

Of the two,

my honorable Filipino compatriots,

soldiering have always existed out of a necessity

- temporal in its mission, Eternal in its scope -

to defend the necessary Peace

that, in God's own turn, work to preserve

within our Republic undertaking of Country

the promise and dignity of our nation.

Prostitution only seems ancient because of our neglect

- the utmost width and profound depth of it -

to constantly fulfill, each in our own times and places,

the promise we bear as citizens to each other.

- selah -

They say,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

that the most ancient of professions is prostitution.

The most ancient of professions is soldiering.

---<--@

The above Salutations - taken together - form my official entry into the AFP writing contest in the Team AFP facebook page.

Go Team AFP! Go Army!

Adversity Tempering Hope...

The senate hearings that exposed to the greater national dialogue the prevalence of the cultures of corruption and betrayal in our AFP is disheartening.

I could not help but feel sad about the whole thing - a necessary process, mind you - but these are sad days indeed for our military services.

It is painful to watch.

Being sad however is a far cry from being in despair.

I am of the conviction that it is normal for one to feel sad about these proceedings who loves the Filipino profession of arms. What is not normal is to feel bitter about it or to grieve as if our AFP institution is beyond all hope.

Our Republic is not dead yet, my honorable compatriots.

You know this to be true who can feel its spirit stirring in your heart, calling you to care and to start believing again... in ourselves as ourselves.

---<--@

Why do I care about our AFP?

It's not complicated.

I am a citizen of this Republic endeavor. I understand it.

When I say, I love my Country, I mean it. I love my Country with a love that is not vague. I love my Country with a heart that is able to see by the light of my faith in God and in my fellow Filipinos the profound riches of the great destiny that the LORD has entrusted to our keeping.

I intend to cherish this gift and protect it from all takers.

I will defend this love as far as I am able, together with all my fellow citizens, utilizing whatever talents God has given me, because I understand - despite myself - with an unfaltering conviction that If I lose this love, I stand to lose everything.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

A Prayer to the King

20110507

Our President Noy is in Jakarta for the 18th ASEAN Summit.

As you know, my fellow Filipino compatriots, our nation is an integral part of the ASEAN. And I would that we should always bear this in mind and heart. We rightfully belong to this region and this region rightfully belongs to our ASEAN Neighborhood.

We should preserve a sense of good will and proper pride about our regional grouping in ASEAN. Because no other grouping of nations can build up the earth here in our region but ours. This is our own dreaming together as ASEAN.

If we remain focused here in the Philippines on our own goals of peace and national development, right here within our own Republic undertaking of Country, we should become aware also that we are adding to the strength of our regional community.

There will come a time when we can reach further out of ourselves in peace and good will with other nations in times of need, and with much better means, but until that time, right here is where we must all begin, right here in the Philippines - our Republic as an integral part of the ASEAN Neighborhood.

Depending on which Country one belongs, every Country here in ASEAN is the best place to live on earth. But only if we collectively believe we can make it so.

It is important that we learn to accept the needs that arise from realities that are local to our region. These needs essentially drive our nations together toward its natural goals which lead to peace and prosperity.

Or if we are not yet wise, it could drive our nations apart.

However, the fact that we have ASEAN is good. Because it manifests our common will of unity.

We can not enlarge the horizons of our own world view realistically if we can not learn to grow out of the colonial mindset that seeks greener pastures elsewhere first.

We can not neglect the fact that we live in this region.

Though each nation in ASEAN belong also to the greater regions of the earth, it is here in the Philippines, and here in our ASEAN, where we must always, always think to build first.

My honorable compatriots, that inherent tendency to disown by false comparison, our Country and our Region, is something we have to learn to let go if we are to finally come into our own in this world.

If we can not learn to love our own, we can not love (at all). If we only love our own, we do not love (we hate). None of these attitudes of nationhood are conducive to peace and development.

If we want to love, we must simply do so bravely, beginning with ourselves and like the stars shining outward - love all things without condition, without compare, and without measure.

For we are a nation distinct but not apart from the one family of the nations of Mankind (which is represented in and by the U.N. of which we are all part).

Two things I should like to write about here in particular as regards to the 18th ASEAN Summit:

Firstly, the Border Dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, I should like to point out, share a similar dimension with the larger, more complex Spratly dispute.

They are both essentially an issue of overlapping claims of sovereignty.

None of these are viable population centers which means the present conflict is not essentially military in nature.

Behind all the rhetoric, in both cases, I think I can safely say that the issue is entirely driven by something else.

In the case of the border dispute between the two member nations of our ASEAN Neighborhood, I do not think it too unrealistic to say that in the interests of both Countries and the greater good of the region, the conflict may be safely contained by delimiting the nature of the engagement away from traditional military means.

By this I am manifesting my belief that this is cultural engagement and therefore, amenable to other solutions of a more ambitious nature.

Furthermore, the military solution can not simply be sustained either so the sooner it is taken out of the cards, the better.

The creation of a Common Trust solution that takes into consideration particular concerns as well as puts the territory squarely in the stewardship of both nations might be the better way ahead for both Thailand and Cambodia.

Therefore, I challenge the ASEAN Neighborhood to come up with a Common Trust solution to the Cambodia-Thailand Border Dispute.

A Common Trust solution to this unfortunate border dispute, in my own view, will yield valuable lessons learned that in turn will contribute toward a workable solution to the Spratly issue.

However, ASEAN must first connect the two issues together.

The other thing is the reaffirmation of the essential doctrine of Civilian Superiority Over the Military.

---<--@

The Royal Wedding

Last week, much of the world had a breather...

I am a fan of Princess Diana's advocacy against the use of land mines and I still am. I am also very appreciative of her de-mining efforts here in our region.

I think something went full circle last week... It certainly feels that way to me.

I am certainly not against the institution of the Monarchy as an integral part of the Responsible State, mind you.

That I was - like you - born into a Republic undertaking of Country simply does not make it that way, my honorable compatriots.

I am however, like you, against bad governance of all sizes and stripes.

So congratulations to Prince William and Catherine!

May God bless their wedlock vows that He may keep them always together.

May they always be able to say forever to each other and mean it.

May God prosper their works of leadership and service.

And may God further bless their union with the new life of children.

Cheers to the Royal Couple! God bless the U.K.!

Good on you, Will Wales.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang ASEAN! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

The Paradox of Power