Malevolent missionaries

A dictionary defines the word "benevolent" as "marked by a kindly disposition to promote the happiness and prosperity of others by generosity in and pleasure at doing good works." Now, a cult leader of a group called Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) is very much in the news and if anything, it is the malevolence of the cult that is being projected. A joint team of Philippine National Police and soldiers of the Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion – with air support from two M6-520 helicopters – tried to serve the cult’s leader, Ruben Ecleo Jr., a warrant of arrest for the murder of his wife, Alona Bacolod Ecleo, in Cebu City last Jan. 6. A battle took place and 23 personal bodyguards of Ecleo known as "armed angels" were killed while police officer Rogelio Mordante and two other policemen were wounded.

Now it turns out that Ecleo was under the influence of shabu when the battle took place. Ecleo is known to the cult as the "Divine Master" and his mother is Surigao Representative Glenda Ecleo. That gives us a picture of the state of affairs in Surigao. If anything, Surigao has now taken the Mindanao limelight away from Basilan. The Abu Sayyaf are plain bandits. The Benevolent Missionaries are supposed to be a religious group. Ruben Ecleo now faces many more charges such as direct assault resulting in the death of a policeman plus being a drug user.

We must give more attention and help to the people of Mindanao. We never had an inkling of the sad state Surigao was in. We thought the situation in Basilan was bad enough. But the Abu Sayyafs are plain roving bandits and very few in number. The malevolent missionaries have direct access to the government through the person of the "Divine Master’s" mother, Congresswoman Glenda Ecleo.

It has also become obvious that our problem is much bigger than just apprehending and prosecuting those that break the law. For while the police were testing Ruben Ecleo for drugs, suspected Pentagon leader Faisal Marohombsar and two of his henchmen managed to escape from their maxicum security detention cell in Camp Crame and fly on a commercial plane back to Mindanao. To add insult to injury, he said he escaped because "somebody was trying to convert him to Christianity." You can convert, but you cannot force anyone to become a Christian.

The main solution to our problems is education. Only uneducated people can be misled by a malevolent missionary. Even the war against poverty will have to start providing the underprivileged’ with education. The same is true of terrorism. Its root cause is lack of education. Only ignorant persons can become followers of a malevolent missionary.