Political Graffiti

When the strength of our governance is held in its thrall by its love of the nation and not with itself, it is a popular government.

For it is not a popular government to be popular, it is a popular government to stand with the people, and for the people prevail.

---<--@

The word I use for this is political graffiti; the worse ones are writ in steel and stone but the most prevalent ones are in paint and print.

There is nothing wrong with proper acknowledgement of persons, even elected persons must get due credit where credit is due, this is only right and just.

But when this sense of entitlement is taken out of the proper context of the Republic whole and the person becomes bigger (or have begun to think themselves to be so) than the Offices that empower his or her stewardship of a particular function of the government of the people - it becomes a dismaying display of narrow-minded self-interest over the public spirit and the common weal.

So when I see names or images bigger than the Seals or Titles of the one Republic whose ages in time shall - and must - outlast all of our lifetimes in this present time, I cringe.

I ask myself, "what kind of message does it imply to the littlest Filipino?"

That we are ruled by mere individuals vulnerable to every idiosyncratic whim and fancy and the corruption of time not by vision and laws, ideals and virtue, that under the vigilance of Almighty God stand invulnerable to the folly of Man and the ravages of time.

Who do the people serve but the national success? What ensures our destiny is not the life of individuals but the longevity of our Republic undertaking of Country - yea, and long may she live - mabuhay!

Upon this we have all committed our lives, fortunes and sacred trust, have we not?

I love us all, but I have to disagree with those who think otherwise.

This is why I support the Anti-Epal bill: May it be further argued and definitively proven to be necessary to further perfect our Republic undertaking and be made part of the laws that safeguard the same.

Shalom. Salaam. Peace. God bless us all.
---<--@

20111110

The National Peace

Hi there!

You know as well as I do that I am (as well as you are) fully committed to the peace of our Philippines.

Now then, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, restoring the native peace of our beloved Country is not just about fighting and negotiations.

Though we hear so much about it in the news, the peace that we speak about here - when we talk about peace - is much, much more than that...

You'd be surprised.

The peace we desire does not require every one of us to possess a soldier's heart and acquire a warrior's skill.

Winning the peace for our Philippines does not require every one of us to become involved in politics or any of those high-level, hush-hush things that seem beyond the power and scope of the everyday, ordinary Filipino on the ground.

99% of us are not directly involved in the peace process. We are the other 99. This is so since, the political peace is distinct from the national peace.

So let me be clear on this - peace is essentially all about relationships.

To impress upon the nation, our conviction of the right things, as ordinary citizens, we must each understand in the broadest sense that our civic peace is all about loving and caring - all things and all persons both great and small - as well as each those places in time and their associated memories - families, friends, compatriots - least to great - which is everything that connects us together across our generations in one timeless, seamless remembrance.

Remember when I told you that a Filipino is a kind of love and this love binds us together into one nation? Well, its true. Its not just a romantic myth, its a basic fact of our national life.

Truly, we are to love our our own and others like our own...

So from today, we're also going to talk about love... (And I might even begin a new series of open salutations just about love - love in all its wondrous forms - from the romantic to the practical, from the sweet to the bitter but necessary kind - especially that love which must be between Man and Woman.)

I - Love Dares -

Can you hide it when you are in love?

Would you be a fool and feign affection when there is none?

For love is like a song that must be heard!

When love sings, there is harmony and it knits every word.

When there is no love, there are only words and no rhyme.

When a fool sings, it is without meaning.

For only a lover can sing to the heart.

Love is wise that makes itself vulnerable.

So when you are in love, make sure to let thy beloved know.

In the midst of the din and the haste

of thy everyday living, let thy beloved know -

with words but especially without, sing her a song.

Let thy beloved know of thy love -

let the whole world hear of thy sweet, sweet melody

and everything will soon fall quiet as your hearts begin to sing...

---<--@

II - Love Happens -

If I myself can not accept you

- for who you really are -

then, who am I?

If I myself can not accept you

for what you have done or have failed to do

- whether good or bad -

then, what is good and what is bad?

Am I not only a reflection of the love I offer?

If I feign love, I am unsure.

But if I am true,

I will see you - for all that you are.

And I will say, "yes indeed!"

Beauty is when love is in the heart.

---<--@

Often when all that we care to remember is how huge the darkness and how frail and tiny the light, we weep bitterly unto despair and completely forget which one is pure substance and which one is pure illusion.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Yes to NO Political Graffiti!