20110409

Sources of Poverty

I have often meditated on the problem of poverty.

We are mistaken who should believe that the problem of widespread poverty in the Philippines is a purely material phenomenon.

We can not make the poor rich through purely external means. So those traditional economic indicators of a nation's wealth (or lack thereof) are only indicative of a part of the process and certainly not the whole.

We can not completely rely on what other economies think, well-meaning though they are, about our own economy because the roots of our national destiny is planted not on the soil of their land nor is the will of our nationhood established upon the soul of their experience as a people.

Surely, we can not look at a happy, smiling picture of another nation and say to ourselves it is our own without deceiving ourselves. For no nation upon the earth is the same.

Though we are all allied to each other by blood and covenant, each of us - each nation - is as distinct as individual human beings are unique.

The progress of any other nation is built upon the backs of its own sweat, blood, and tears.

Each their own journeys in time shaped by their own common experience of a love willingly and freely shed and therefore, shared from among its people across their generations; their peace a result of the reality they have crafted by grace of God from their own belonging together.

We are not any other nation, my fellow Filipino compatriots, we are this nation.

How we see ourselves as ourselves has a very direct as well as distinct bearing on our national destiny.

It might seem to fade in contrast to the obvious reality of the material but we must remember that the roots of our poverty goes deeper than the things of this world - and that is the truth.

And it matters not what name we should call ourselves - we are what we do.

If our understanding of the Angel of the Philippines (or the spirit of the one Filipino people) is wont to teach us anything, it is this:

We could choose to change the name of our nation (not that I am for it, mind you, I am completely against it) but it shall always remain for all our generations that we are who we are inside of ourselves more than what or how or by what name we appear (or make ourselves appear) from the outside.

We shall wear our Flag on the inside before anything else or not at all.

Because time is a flow and once it has gone out of the timeless within our hearts, once time has flowed out of the Sanctuary of the LORD in our every hearts, it is no longer time but consequence and is near impossible to change. (You may refer to the River in Ezekiel 47: 1-12.)

Only a miracle of God can change the course of consequence.

These miracles do happen but if we rely exclusively on them, we tempt the LORD.

For the small and hidden miracles that God works in the hearts of all men are plentiful indeed and more than enough to change the course of our history - we just need to pay attention and hear Him.

Verily, we can not rely purely on externals to solve our problems as a people.

The fact of the matter is poverty is a social justice issue here in the Philippines. It is therefore, a wrong that our society as a whole must make right.

We have to become willing to re-think ourselves again as ourselves - together this time.

People are poor who have accepted the reality of being poor. A nation is defeated who have come to accept its own defeat. No nation can so thoroughly deplete the spirit and exhaust the will of another nation as completely as it can its own self.

We are not a defeated people. We have spirit enough in ourselves to make it right. So we have to educate ourselves aright, above all our youth.

Our history writes that the Philippines was re-discovered in 1521 by a nation not its own.

Let it write further here today that in the third Christian millennium, the Philippines is re-discovered once again by its own nation; by a people wholly its own and a generation called to re-constitute once more our original culture of life and peace.

Carry on with determination, President Noy.

Do not let your faith waver nor the belief in your heart be weakened by those things that oppose your good will and spirit of Country.

Rather, let if flow out of yourself as a mighty river, continue to strive to be the change to inspire us and to work in the nation a remembrance of itself, mabuhay!

We are with you, sir - all the way.

Furthermore, please refer to 20110317, The Roots of the Problem - and consider these also as major sources of poverty.

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Araw ng Kagitingan

Today we commemorate "Araw ng Kagitingan" or Day of Valour. This day marks the surrender of Bataan and Corregidor during WWII.

Through it, we commemorate the universal spirit of the Filipino profession of arms in general and our friendship with the US Armed Forces in specific.

To do justice to the undying sacrifices of our soldiers and of all soldiers from every nation, we must always remember that there is no such thing as a "just" war, only just causes.

That it is the lives and the actions of just and virtuous military men and women of our nation and of every nation that we shall remember to honor this day, because, my honorable compatriots, in stark contrast to the atrocities of war and the dishonor of war criminals, it is these that redeem.

Military blood ties are permanent.

We ignore the counsel of our own military remembrances at our own peril.

Lest we forget. Lest we forget.

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A Tragedy in Brazil

I was shocked and saddened by the recent school shooting in Brazil. There are no words enough to express it. I stand in silent sympathy with them.

Let us pray for the victims of this tragedy, feel their hurt, and ask God above for healing for the Brazilian nation.

Let us say peace be upon Brazil, peace be upon the Brazilian people.

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Another Earthquake in Japan

Japan has done so much for the Philippines. In this time of great stress, let us continue to pray for Japan. May God bless the Japanese nation!

May their indomitable strength of spirit triumph against this test.

Please visit Asia For Japan.

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Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

20110316

Mga mahal kong kapwa Pilipino, huwag po tayong magpapadala sa labis na takot. Tunay ngang maraming nangyayari sa ating mundo sa mga araw na ito. Pero wala ni kahit isa sa mga ito ang pinapayagang mangyari ng Diyos ng walang pahintulot.

Siya po ay ang PANGINOON, ang Diyos nating lahat.

Lahat po ng bagay sa ating mundo na binibigyang pahintulot ng Diyos ay ayon lagi sa kagustuhan Niyang tuparin ng lubos ang Kanyang mga pangakong binitiwan Niya para sa lahat ng ating mga henerasyon patungo sa ikabubuti ng ating pagkatao at ikagagaling ng ating sangkatauhan.

Huwag po nating pangunahan ang Diyos ng labis at nakabubulag na takot sa mga kalamidad na nangyayari sa paligid natin at sa paligid ng bansa natin. Kapayapaan lang po ng ating loob at kapayapaan na rin ng ating mga bansa ang nais Niyang subukan at patatagin dito.

Manalig ka, kapwa ko Pilipino! Naniniwala ka ba ng buong puso na mahal ng Diyos ang Pilipinas? Datapwa't matakot ka sa Diyos na ating Tagapagligtas higit sa lahat, ikaw na nagmamahal sa Kanya.

Manalig ka, kapwa ko kapatid sa pangako! Maniwala ka na kung mahal ng Diyos ang Pilipinas, mahal ka ng Diyos, Pilipino.

Sapagka't mapalad ang Bayan na ang Diyos ay ang PANGINOON.

Bakit ka pa natatakot?

Fear of Calamities

I have a healthy aversion to chain letters of whatever form - email, social media messages, text, or the traditional paper versions. I do not believe that compulsion is an aid to free will. To me, as regards to free and human choices, what holds water is faith and reason.

Whatever transmits and advances faith, whatever fortifies and completes reason, these things in turn effectively aid the freedom of the will of Man to choose rightly the things that belong to his or her human dignity and therefore, has the potential to actually fulfill (in time and in eternity) the human promise that the LORD, our God, had planted as a seed in the soul of each person.

I've friends and family who send me chain messages and I love every single one of them. It is love however, and not blind chance, my beloved friends, truth and not random compulsion that feed that hunger from within our souls - that restless desire to grow out from inside the self into God.

Choice is not blind to the heart that has chosen to become in love alive - we all walk in this exile darkness guided accordingly by the love in our hearts...

Now please, a lot of our everyday people here in the Philippines are presently being affected by needless fears arising from rumors reportedly spread by text messages of a lethal degree of radiation from Japan reaching the Philippines.

This is something which has absolutely no factual merit. It is just NOT TRUE. The current radiation levels here in our own Country remain at levels that are considered safe.

The spreading of this misinformation reminds me of those more devious forms of chain letters that prey on the legitimate fears of the common people.

It does not increase my faith in God to believe with any conviction of heart in any of those things. Nor the fleeting quality of any random compulsion serve to intensify the presence of the love I must hold and I must have in myself for people as myself - human, mortal, vulnerable and fallible - a love commanded by Christ, my Savior.

But the fostering of an authentic human citizenship, the responsible collective ownership of the life of living creation, the love of nature and the dignity of the natural world, holy friendships, an ordered love of family, a strong sense of duty empowered by love of God and Country, active civic participation partnered with effective civic education, an ethical and diligent observance of one's state of life, a willing and generous response to the call of vocations, a life that is well-lived in loving service of the truth and of the good of others - all of these work together to transmit, whether explicitly or implicitly, the qualitative force of both reason and faith. In all its various gifts and benevolent guises it speaks of a certain love; that of freedom; of liberty in the service of human community.

And none of these are served by that reckless compulsion which as far as I am concerned, is spread by that same rationale of domination that seeks only to disturb the waters of our peace.

Does the spread of those above mentioned rumors aid anybody's love of God and Country?

Then whether through ignorance or malice, the person/s behind it must also be one who is devoid of that same love. For the means employed and the ends achieved are both driven and derived from the inward inclinations present in the human heart.

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The Quake in Japan: A Personal Retrospective

Deep within my soul, I hold a proper sense of pride for the great (ancient as well as modern) cities of our Mother Asia - Tokyo, Chiba, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Mumbai, Bangkok, Manila of course, etc.

I was decisively reminded of this as it rose plainly into my awareness the day after the disaster in Japan - I realized that I felt sad and outraged.

This is my Asian spirit - a sense of a belonging to a greater whole. If you ask me, all Asian nations share one thing in common - one thing alone: a deep and profound longing for peace: A desire to belong.

I realize and understand that I have this desire and required neither validation nor permission from any other being other than myself to accept the fact that being Asian is part of my identity; that I belong with as well as to Mother Asia.

If a similar disaster had afflicted Germany, would France not be just as concerned? If a similar disaster had afflicted France, would not Italy not be just as concerned? In the same way, I am concerned for Japan. Because Japan is of Asia as I am of Asia.

But most of all, I am likewise just as presently concerned about what these events bode for my own Philippines, my own Republic undertaking of Country. Because as regards to earthquake preparedness, Japan is the most prepared Country in our corner of Mother Asia if not all of Asia. Is this not a worry?

Shall we not listen intently to her advice? JICA prepared a recent report as regards to our own preparedness in a similar context - specifically that of Manila. It had revealed that we have much to do.

Now please, let me add my own two cents worth to the growing national conversation about civil defense: I am of the conviction that national endeavors such as these must be seen and understood as a duty that is to be performed by every present generation in the context of the lifespan of the nation.

It must, in the spirit of greater civic participation, be something that is done with diligence and vigilance of heart even for the sake of those generations who are yet to come. It must also be felt in the heart as something every Filipino generation must continuously be doing; as something that is worked by all our citizenry, something that must be accomplished even if it lies far away from the notice of others, far away from any praise or recognition; something that is generally understood to even be beyond the reach of each of our lifetimes to completely accomplish.

In this way, we are never lulled into a false sense of complacency.

Indeed, my fellow countrymen, the common defense of the nation against natural and man-made disasters is the concern of all Filipinos. Each of us who draw their citizenship from our eternal belongings together bears a responsibility to act responsibly and decisively to secure the national good according to the freedom of each our gifts.

Japan understands this - so must we.

Let us continue to pray for Japan...

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Soccer Diplomacy

Our Marines are doing something new in the Spratlys - soccer diplomacy. If you think about it, they are initiating a work of peace-building. They might not be aware about it but they are - and so what they are doing is very important.

It is no small and insignificant thing that adds up to become a great thing and there is nothing of greater importance to the life of a nation than peace. Of this truth we must all become aware of because as regards to peace, every little thing counts.

Soccer connects individual citizens and individual nations together in very much the same way that peace does. It certainly has the potential to connect us to as well as with the Americas (most especially the nations of South and Central America with whom we have deep historical trade and cultural connections) and the greater regions of our Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, Oceania - and to the rest of the soccer world.

Aren't we glad we have our own national soccer team? Go the mighty Azkals!

---<--@

National Peace Building Initiatives

Here are some examples of national peace-building initiatives: Light a Candle for Peace, Peace Runs, Peace Councils, Community Consultations, Interfaith Dialogues, Sports meets, etc.

These national initiatives are distinct but not apart from the governmental initiatives set by our Responsible State e.g. the AFP IPSP - Oplan Bayanihan. All of these work toward the same end of a peace that prospers the national good. Even the Common Market has its own innate ability to form its own peace-building initiatives with the nation and alongside the Responsible State.

Truly, we all have a part in obtaining from God, the peace of our Philippines.

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Preserve Palawan

If we are wise, O my people, if we are far-seeing enough, we will realize what we are losing by our indecision to preserve Palawan as a National Sanctuary.

In Palawan is a vestige of our former innocence - something the Filipino soul would always want to return into, something we should like to bestow to our generations even to the very last of our generations.

The frontiers of our world shall be as green oases in the midst of urban deserts. For the world will turn to our cities for hope. People will flock away from these rural areas. But most shall not quench their thirst for living life in the gray of these urban sprawls. Hope shall not be found in concrete jungles. For hope is a thing held in the garden of the heart: In these present times, a kind of innocence lost; something we presently stand to lose forever in Palawan.

Because for us Filipinos, Palawan represents our last frontier, something we must leave untamed and unconquered, something we must leave to be free - for our own good sakes'.

If we lose it now, we will lose it forever.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

It is no small and insignificant thing that adds up to become a great thing and there is nothing of greater importance to the life of a nation than peace.

Be present for peace.

20110312

The Earthquake in Japan

My initial reaction as regards to the news of the massive earthquake yesterday afternoon just off the coast of north east Japan was one of shock. I also felt somewhat afraid:

"I've never heard of a magnitude 8.9 in all of my life", I though to myself.

My heart goes out to the Japanese people.

Massive as the quake was, my friends, and the huge 10-meter high tsumani waves that came in its wake, it is currently being reported this morning that the damage as regards to human life is comparably less worse.

This is all thanks to Japanese foresight and ingenuity. Their building code did its fundamental job of preserving the basic integrity of structures thus sparing the lives of those other citizens who would have suffered greater harm had their authorities been less vigilant and less diligent in their duties.

The loss of lives for a calamity of this scale would (or could) have run into the many thousands.

Truly, my friends, we are only able (as well as enabled) to effectively learn our lessons from mirroring the experience of other nations exclusively in a climate of peace. Thus, we should be just as vigilant, just as diligent as they. For we too, exist with Japan in the Pacific ring of fire. And our Responsible State too, alongside Japan, exists with the same mandate to preserve the promise and the dignity of our citizens.

I realize we have found ourselves on opposite sides with the Japanese during WWII but the past is most certainly the past. We can neither live in the past as human beings nor build upon it as human nations. We have to address the issues, where they exist, in the prevailing climate of the present time as if the past has truly passed us away forever because it has.

Once you have made the choice for peace - at a time, times and half-a-time - there can be no more looking back. If we are to throw off the tyranny of war and to pass over the oppression of its shadow there can be no more division in the heart this time. The justice that we serve (and that serves us) is not animated by anger nor served by division.

Now, there was a certain amount of fear in my own nation about the news received yesterday of the earthquake and the consequent tsunami in Japan. Everyday people were talking about it. This fear is healthy. No nation desires to be hurt in its soul by a disaster of this magnitude.

It was unfounded as well. We did not sustain any damage at all from the tsunami waves that ripped all about the Pacific rim as well as the Island nations all across it. We should be thankful and glad for ourselves and fear God Whose pleasure it is to save and to strengthen us.

There was even a certain amount of religious suspicion that blindly invoked the wrath of God upon our kindred Japanese nation. Now, was God punishing Japan then? No.

The burden of these times is one of expectation and not of judgment. If it were not, would any nation survive? Which of us is not guilty of war in the heart? Indeed, we should be thankful and glad for ourselves and fear God Whose pleasure it is to save and to strengthen us. Let us pray then to God for the strength to persevere in our choice to follow the path of peace.

Let us be always reminded of this, brothers and sisters. Let us always be reminded in our heart of hearts that these are the times - the favorable season for peace - when we should be rightly guided by the brightness of our hopes - dreaming as nations together this time - and not find ourselves sunk again into the dismal depths of despair, utterly mired in the poverty of war and division, caught in the gravity of the void. Indeed, all of this, my dear friends, should help us to overcome the inertia of the last 2000 years - together this time.

Having said all that, Japan has still sustained massive damage. And it is really a terrible thing indeed. The clean up itself, it was further reported, could run into the billions.

I bid us all, my honorable compatriots, to pray for the victims of this latest tragedy to befall our one family of nations. And to do all that we can to extend to the Japanese nation our sincerest sympathies and willing help.

Then we must do all that we must, as far as we can, to carry on with the task of peace-building set before our hearts and our hands by God. That we may in the near future realistically look forward to being more enabled, empowered and equipped to extend such a help to our fellow citizens abroad (as in the case of our merchant mariners who are still being held against their will by pirates in Somalia) and even to our fellow nations whenever and where ever necessary - most especially here, in our own region in Mother Asia, our own local neighborhood with ASEAN.
---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.


Randomness of Nature