Watch out for text lies on Election Day!

Last Friday and Saturday, text messages designed to fool the electorate were spread, God knows to how many people with cellphones, that the Cebu prelate, our beloved eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal was supporting the presidential bid of Bro. Eddie Villanueva. Naturally, confidants of the Cardinal wanted to know whether this was true because the Cebu prelate never endorses any political candidate — and it didn’t take them long to find out that this was a fraud! Those text messages were obviously the handiwork of evil minds in order to deceive the voters from the truth and you can expect a lot of them will be spread on Election Day itself!

Frankly speaking, we don’t know who started this joke, but the Cardinal wasn’t in a joking mood and immediately issued a statement to the press denying that he was supporting Bro. Eddie because his church, Jesus is Lord (JIL), goes out of its way to destroy the Catholic Church, its doctrines and traditions. Indeed, Born Again Christians lure ignorant Catholics into their churches by telling them how wrong is the Catholic Church or worse, they lie to ignorant Catholics about Catholic teachings, so it was only normal for the Cardinal to warn unsuspecting Catholics who want to support Bro. Eddie Villanueva.

To be sure, a counter text offensive was already being spread to neutralize the deceiving text message. Strangely, as of press time, Bro. Eddie Villanueva hasn’t made any comment on this incident. Makes you wonder why? What I don’t like about Bro. Eddie, I got from a television report about him, where the reporters showed that Bro. Eddie’s family members and relatives were named incorporators of Zoe Television, a network which is owned by the Jesus Is Lord (JIL) movement. That my friends is nepotism of the highest order and I shudder to think how many of Villanueva’s relatives would be working in the government if he were elected president.

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I was in Bacolod City for the 2nd Annual National Conference of Save Our Languages through Federalism (Solfed), the only non-government organization of its kind in this country dedicated to preserving our vanishing languages before they become extinct! This organization is led by Dr. Jose Dacudao, Lino Faelnar, Timi Guemo, Victorias City councilor Juan Tan Palanca and national executive director Fr. Joesilo Amalia.

Solfed has grown by leaps and bounds. Last year, Solfed only had chapters in Bacolod, Dumaguete, Cebu, Iloilo, Aklan, Surigao and Butuan. Today, thanks to Fr. Amalia, it has several chapters in Luzon: in Cavite, Los Baños, Angeles City, Tarlac City, Dagupan, Vigan, Dingras, Ilocos Norte, Tuguegerao, Solano, Nueva Vizcaya; Banaue, Ifugao; Bontoc, Mt. Province, and Baguio.

As usual, the conference began with the singing of the National Anthem in various languages: in Aklanon, Butuanon, Ilonggo and Karay-a. In the course of the conference, I stumbled upon a young girl, 18-year-old Crystaline Piencenaves Salugsugan of Barangay Babag, Butuan City who is the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairwoman of her small barrio of around 2,000 residents some four kilometers from Butuan City.

What’s so unique about Cyrstaline? Well, Bo. Babag is the only place where the townsfolk speak in the Butuanon language! Though you can hear some people living in Barangays Amparo, Mahay 2, Pagatpatan, Agusan, Pequeno, Masao, Doongan or Ambago speak this language, it is only in Babag that the entire residents speak this near-extinct language! In a sort of way, we stumbled back in time, with the earnest hope that someday, the whole of Butuan City would speak their indigenous tongue once more.

Indeed, today, most of Butuan City speaks Cebuano (Binisaya) but we can attribute this to Cebuano migration, though we can pin the blame for this on the government’s policy to promote only one language to the detriment of the other spoken languages of this country. During this conference, Solfed agreed to support the candidacy of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (PGMA) because she is not only multilingual and thus understands the problem, but she’s the only candidate pushing for true reforms through Charter changes leading to a federalized system of governance, which strengthens our cultural diversity. It is also for this reason why Solfed vowed not to vote for Lito Lapid as he vowed only to use Tagalog when he makes speeches in the Senate.

Later in the evening, I met for the first time our fellow STAR columnist Rolly Espina of the The Southern Beat at the El Fisher Hotel. It was good to finally meet my Ilonggo counterpart but actually, he is really a Cebuano. He is a relative of former Cebu Gov. Rene Espina. Some of the young Solfed student-members sang the National Anthem in Butuanon, Ilonggo and Aklanon which gave Rolly the idea of helping this NGO. After all, the first federal state ever established in the Philippines was in Iloilo which did not join the Malolos Convention, but created a federal system which, of course, the Americans stopped.

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While I was in Bacolod City, I got a call from my good friend, environmental lawyer Atty. Antonio Oposa, head of the National Environmental Action Team (NEAT) of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, that he was on board a Philippine Navy gunboat with a composite team from the NBI, Navy Seals, PNP Special Forces, Coast Guard and youth leaders and some IBP lawyers headed to Cadiz City to serve the unserved arrest warrants for Shing Tee, Allan Daniel and Edwin Cornel, owners of big-time commercial fishing companies, for violating the Fisheries Code of 1998.

This law prohibits commercial fishing within 15 kilometers of a municipality without a permit from the municipality. The arrest of these big-time fishing operators sends a message that under the present leadership of the IBP, they are serious in stopping anyone, even the rich and powerful, from destroying our environment. When I interviewed him a few months ago on my television show, Atty. Oposa promised me big results and I can see that he is not only a man of his word, but a man of action as well! Kudos to the IBP-NEAT!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talk show, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.