Poverty was the central theme of the Vatican CEO’s visit to the Philippines. Corruption was crucified by Jorge Mario Bergoglio, current CEO of Vatican, Inc. The hope of corruption’s death was toked up by the pinoy faithful. And even faster than three days, nay three hours, not even three seconds after Jorge’s homily on corruption – corruption would be resurrected, by the government, its cronies, and their political base of voters mills of the “downtrodden” whose “poverty” are “alleviated” by the fraud-ridden “Pantawid Pampamilya”.
But first, let me get to the common themes that I saw in my news feeds in the last few days and hours on the run-up to Jorge’s visit.
Jostling for Choice Seats
Religious laity who were supposed to be seated near the pontiff were displaced by politicians and their staff. The members and officers of the religious auxiliary groups seats were taken over by government folks. The usual impunity in these islands – in full display, at a papal mass.
But there was an upside to it. Trapos were looking for photo ops. Jorge was looking to deliver a homily on corruption.
Of course, the irony isn’t lost to me that the Vatican isn’t exactly the icon of cleanliness it portrays itself to be – but that story is for another day.
Corruption
All these corrupt folks – government officials and cronies alike – got the ire of “the people” for having the nerve to show their corrupt faces.
But then comes the proverbial follow up question – who put the politicians there in the first place? Are the pinoys doing a Pontius Pilate on this one?
Perhaps having the politicians sit up front was a blessing in disguise? Because this gave the Vatican CEO an opportunity to use the power of the pulpit to speak about corruption. It is the sort of speech that if delivered by an ordinary priest can lead to serious bodily harm.
Jorge said that corruption in the use of government resources was a cause of poverty. I would say that Jorge should stick to his prayers and white robes because he is out of his league on this one.
The message has good intentions – to placate the poor and assign blame for their poverty. But even Jorge should know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
The source of corruption lies in the heart of each person. Corruption takes place when a person no longer exercises the power of his choice and his conscience – but instead has delegated his decision making to some other person. What follows is simply the output or the manifestation of the internal state of mind of the participants in the act of corruption. The magnitude may differ – petty, grand, and systemic, but the source is the same, the heart of man working through institutions of tyranny.
For short – one cannot limit the critique to a tyranny’s misuse of resource – but instead direct the focus on the heart of the matter – tyranny itself. An alternate tyranny – secular or religious in nature, however, will not critique its essence and set free the very people it wants to enslave.
As far as am concerned, the papacy is the old world face of tyranny. Government is the new world face of tyranny -a secular papacy. All these government departments are equivalent to medieval religious orders.
They are all sweet talking tyrants – who will take your income away from you – in the name of the greater good bullshit.
Popes have visited the Philippines four times… in every visit… wala pa ring asenso ang mga pinoy.
The poor are poor not because there is corruption in government – the poor are poor because government taxed them to death (in order to help the poor) AND kept the job creators out. Ironically, the poor voted for these people in government for the purpose of using the law to help the poor. Unfortunately, that perversion of the law will not repeal the law of supply and demand.
Poverty Porn on the Pulpit?
Whether it was social media or the pulpit – the Filipinos focused on their crippling poverty and all its manifestations.
I agree the face of poverty is ugly – but what exactly are we going to do with it?
We can’t be griping for more than decades now – when we have not done anything different to our economic policies. Did most Filipinos miss the memo where it says God helps those who help themselves?
Still there are pockets of success – small as they may appear.
When you see that Filipinos are able to succeed in spite of the burden and depredation of a criminal Philippine government and its cronies, imagine what Filipinos can do without the burden and obstruction of these parasites.
Mercy and Compassion
It was argued that the central theme of the visit was “Mercy and Compassion” to the victims of Yolanda in Leyte. I pointed out that the mercy and compassion angle is simply a response to the poverty. If these people had the insurance and backup funds to get their houses reconstructed, I doubt that the visit to Leyte will even materialize.
It was also argued that the poor could have been helped if the funds for reconstruction were not diverted. I need to remind people that there were lots of offers of funding through various channels that were commandeered by the Philippine government. Just the same, these offers were still made due to recognition of the poverty of the people in the affected areas.
Clearly, the chances of funds being actually disbursed to the intended parties would have greater probability with the tried and tested private relief volunteer groups instead of that fraudster DSWD.
The solution is not in kneeling to another man- secular or religious.
The solution lies in standing up for one’s self – be a co-creator and choose to bring about all that is good and leave this world a better place to live in. It’s personal.
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