There has been an increasing public demand for death in this predominantly Christian country of failed post-Martial Law expectations.
As crime statistics continue to rise, calls for death penalty and vigilantism a la-Duterte have been getting louder and louder.
There has also been a longing for another Marcos dictatorship—an era of bloody death—thanks to the revisionists, teachers of a nation with short-term memory.
Just recently, the first stones were easily cast on the dead body of Jennifer Laude, transgender and sinner killed by an American soldier staying in the Philippines under the Visiting Forces Agreement.
Victim blaming has been rampant online and offline, as if the death of Laude is God's wrath upon his wretched red-lit life in Olongapo; as if he deserved it, blood by blood, scream by scream; as if the act of killing has been justified.
It's as if death is justice.
The involvement of a U.S. marine in the killing of Laude renewed calls for the junking of the Visiting Forces Agreement once again.
I was attending a wedding a few days ago and the bride's brother, a pastor, drew an interesting parallelism from two Bible miracles:
The first one, which symbolizes judgment and death, was when God, through Moses, turned water (Nile River) to blood in a plague that shook Egypt. The second one, which symbolizes life, was when Jesus turned water into wine during the wedding at Cana.
So it is clear that what Jesus has been teaching all along is life and love, not death and wrath, as He came down to this wretched earth and healed lepers, let blind men see, deaf people hear, and even brought the dead back to life. Truly, the world rejoiced in His wonders.
So where has this light been in this predominantly Christian country? Where has this lesson been amid all these post-Martial Law mess made worse by oligarchs? Why the thirst for death?
Sure, Jennifer Laude was a wreck, a fiancé-cheating transgender and a bastard of bastards. But his murder wasn't justice. Sin does not eradicate sin. Heck, he could have changed his ways had he lived.
The synod of bishops has just ended. As expected, there are no conclusions yet. It was promising that the Catholic Church has softened its stance on homosexuals and single parents, though the church clarified and almost retracted this stance after.
In a commentary published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, a Filipino bishop who attended the synod pointed out a few things about what the bishops had discussed. Pope Francis said that the church must resist the temptation of turning stones into bread and the temptation to turn bread into stones to cast it upon sinners.
This means that for next discussions, the Catholic Church has to come up with a stance that does not necessarily condone sin but does not also condemn sinners. It could be a ''hate the sin, not the sinner'' thing, which could be both traditional and revolutionary at the same time.
Not bad at all as these sinners do not need all the church's arms to embrace them, just a door opened to welcome them and probably teach them the right path, just a chance at life.
***
Leftists say that the agreement is giving America the power to step over the Philippines' sovereignty, therefore more access to whatever the global superpower wants from this country.
I must say that I completely agree that the Philippines must be free from American claws once and for all. I must say that the VFA is a deal, among other PH-U.S. deals, that only magnifies the fact that this country is a neo-colonial, neo-liberal U.S. puppet.
I must say that Pemberton, the marine, for being the typical American asshole in Philippine soil, should rot in this country's rotten jails—not because he deserves it, but because that's how the rotten Philippine justice works for quite a long while.
On giving chances to sinners: While Laude has done a sort of 'moral crime,' Pemberton has done a crime both 'moral and civil.' Laude should have been given the chance do penance for his sin, but Pemberton,while given the chance to redeem his soul (if he is a theist), is still subject to the country's judicial system.
And though, that the death of Jennifer Laude does not really point out the flaws of the VFA, I must say that the issue should be abused in such a way that progressive topics such as neo-colonialism and ass-stinking trapo capitalism should be discussed in national media.
If government officials are abusing national issues to advertise themselves, why can't we abuse these to talk about the real deal too?
As for the junking of the VFA, I must say that we must first junk first the country's oligarchs and businessmen masked as public servants in the highest positions of the government, which is unlikely.
Aside: I have a dream that someday, someone from the labor sector, someone who comes from the working class level of the society will be elected. Of course, this will not automatically translate into change of the system, but hey, it could be a good start.
As crime statistics continue to rise, calls for death penalty and vigilantism a la-Duterte have been getting louder and louder.
There has also been a longing for another Marcos dictatorship—an era of bloody death—thanks to the revisionists, teachers of a nation with short-term memory.
Just recently, the first stones were easily cast on the dead body of Jennifer Laude, transgender and sinner killed by an American soldier staying in the Philippines under the Visiting Forces Agreement.
Victim blaming has been rampant online and offline, as if the death of Laude is God's wrath upon his wretched red-lit life in Olongapo; as if he deserved it, blood by blood, scream by scream; as if the act of killing has been justified.
It's as if death is justice.
The involvement of a U.S. marine in the killing of Laude renewed calls for the junking of the Visiting Forces Agreement once again.
***
I was attending a wedding a few days ago and the bride's brother, a pastor, drew an interesting parallelism from two Bible miracles:
The first one, which symbolizes judgment and death, was when God, through Moses, turned water (Nile River) to blood in a plague that shook Egypt. The second one, which symbolizes life, was when Jesus turned water into wine during the wedding at Cana.
So it is clear that what Jesus has been teaching all along is life and love, not death and wrath, as He came down to this wretched earth and healed lepers, let blind men see, deaf people hear, and even brought the dead back to life. Truly, the world rejoiced in His wonders.
So where has this light been in this predominantly Christian country? Where has this lesson been amid all these post-Martial Law mess made worse by oligarchs? Why the thirst for death?
Sure, Jennifer Laude was a wreck, a fiancé-cheating transgender and a bastard of bastards. But his murder wasn't justice. Sin does not eradicate sin. Heck, he could have changed his ways had he lived.
***
The synod of bishops has just ended. As expected, there are no conclusions yet. It was promising that the Catholic Church has softened its stance on homosexuals and single parents, though the church clarified and almost retracted this stance after.
In a commentary published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, a Filipino bishop who attended the synod pointed out a few things about what the bishops had discussed. Pope Francis said that the church must resist the temptation of turning stones into bread and the temptation to turn bread into stones to cast it upon sinners.
This means that for next discussions, the Catholic Church has to come up with a stance that does not necessarily condone sin but does not also condemn sinners. It could be a ''hate the sin, not the sinner'' thing, which could be both traditional and revolutionary at the same time.
Not bad at all as these sinners do not need all the church's arms to embrace them, just a door opened to welcome them and probably teach them the right path, just a chance at life.
***
Leftists say that the agreement is giving America the power to step over the Philippines' sovereignty, therefore more access to whatever the global superpower wants from this country.
I must say that I completely agree that the Philippines must be free from American claws once and for all. I must say that the VFA is a deal, among other PH-U.S. deals, that only magnifies the fact that this country is a neo-colonial, neo-liberal U.S. puppet.
I must say that Pemberton, the marine, for being the typical American asshole in Philippine soil, should rot in this country's rotten jails—not because he deserves it, but because that's how the rotten Philippine justice works for quite a long while.
On giving chances to sinners: While Laude has done a sort of 'moral crime,' Pemberton has done a crime both 'moral and civil.' Laude should have been given the chance do penance for his sin, but Pemberton,while given the chance to redeem his soul (if he is a theist), is still subject to the country's judicial system.
And though, that the death of Jennifer Laude does not really point out the flaws of the VFA, I must say that the issue should be abused in such a way that progressive topics such as neo-colonialism and ass-stinking trapo capitalism should be discussed in national media.
If government officials are abusing national issues to advertise themselves, why can't we abuse these to talk about the real deal too?
As for the junking of the VFA, I must say that we must first junk first the country's oligarchs and businessmen masked as public servants in the highest positions of the government, which is unlikely.
Aside: I have a dream that someday, someone from the labor sector, someone who comes from the working class level of the society will be elected. Of course, this will not automatically translate into change of the system, but hey, it could be a good start.
