Character change

Critics of the administration should call for more rallies as a gauge of their public support.

Yesterday’s much touted "massive" rally in Rizal Park fell about 450,000 short of the promised half a million people.

But the most generous crowd estimate (by the rally organizers) of 50,000 (the police estimate was 16,000) was still impressive compared to the 200 or so protesters for whom Ayala Avenue was closed to traffic for two hours on a Friday, payday, during the Christmas rush. There was a bigger crowd around the naked boys at the traditional Oblation Run at that hotbed of teenage hormonal imbalance, the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

You know there’s something wrong with democracy when the exercise of the right to free expression of 200 people inconveniences hundreds of thousands of others right in Makati City, plus a couple thousand more in other parts of Metro Manila. The Brits and Singaporeans will be out of this regular insanity upon completion of their new embassy facilities at Fort Boni in Taguig.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is right: we need character change for the good of the country. And all of us — including the bishops — should look inward, at ourselves, for the start of character change.

Respecting the separation of church and state, which is enshrined in the Constitution that yesterday’s prayerful protesters want fossilized in amber, would be a good start.

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We do have the bishops to thank for ensuring that their "thanksgiving rally" would not be used by anyone as a political platform against enemies. Several "Be Not Afraid" pins were spotted in the crowd, but trust Sen. Panfilo Lacson to breach even heavy CBCP security. (Ping Lacson praying… now you’ve seen everything.)

All placards, streamers and effigies were banned from the rally, which was in fact a Mass, and the leftist marchers obeyed. The bishops are more effective enforcers than cops.

Mike Velarde of the Catholic charismatic group El Shaddai, whose handkerchief-waving followers provided the bulk of the warm bodies for the rally, was not allowed to address the crowd, which was probably why it was a pretty small crowd for an El Shaddai gathering.

The shock troops of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, several million strong, did not make their presence felt.

The soldiers summoned by at least one bishop never showed up, unless they were disguised in El Shaddai white.

We give thanks to the bishops as well for ensuring a peaceful gathering. I guess they would have lost face if they had canceled the rally despite the retreat of congressmen from the constituent assembly or con-ass.

But on the Sunday before Christmas Eve, celebrating over the carcass of con-ass and Speaker Jose de Venecia does not deliver an inspiring message. In the season of goodwill, our shepherds are teaching us that in victory, we should gloat and rub it in. Where is the moral renewal there?

Gloating is fine for sports and prizefights, but not in battles where the issues at stake are too complex to be settled through rallies and prayer power.

* * *

After the victory celebration, the con-ass provision is still there in our Charter, with the gray area that could later be raised again by another congressman in pushing for a shorter, cheaper route to Charter change without the Senate.

That gray area should have been resolved by the Supreme Court. The betting was the SC would rule against De Venecia’s Senate-less con-ass anyway, as warned by resigned defense chief Avelino Cruz.

But we prefer to leave a lot of loose ends hanging. So the gray area remains gray. Most Filipinos remain clueless about the constitutional issues at stake. And most Filipinos have never read and do not intend to read their precious Constitution. The cluelessness and apathy are borne out by survey after survey in the past years.

To be fair, the bishops do not force at gunpoint the obedience they get from public officials. The Catholic Church has an opinion on everything, and it is up to the people to heed Church doctrine or positions on political matters.

The Church did not compel De Venecia to retreat from his Senate-less con-ass.

When the Church denounces contraception or divorce, it can only threaten its flock with the fires of hell if they disobey.

Someone should conduct an in-depth study of whether there is a Catholic vote in this country. If there is, Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada would never have become president, and Juan Flavier would never have made it to the Senate.

A strong, credible administration or a politician confident of his track record and solid mass support need not fear offending the bishops.

These are qualities lacking in this administration and its leader who is constantly fighting for her political survival.

An administration perpetually buffeted by political typhoons easily jumps and bows in supplication each time the bishops — or even El Shaddai and the INC — say, "Boo!"

These days religious leaders need not even attempt to summon people power; all they have to do is threaten to gather in Rizal Park, and everyone jumps.

Yesterday’s show of force — or lack of it — should lead to some character change among those with an irrational fear of eternal political damnation by the Church.

But for that kind of guts, for that kind of character change, you need credibility — in your cause and track record.

Until someone with that credibility emerges to push for Charter change, the Constitution is safe. And so is the power of the Catholic Church.