Prayer power

Most people I encounter during these times can not hide their feelings of demoralization and skepticism as shown by their instinctive and almost spontaneous question about what is happening to our country now. Much as I would like to sound like a cheerleader and exude an aura of optimism, my own negative vibes somehow betray the similarities in our feelings.

Undoubtedly our country is experiencing so many crises. Thinking positively amidst the barrage of dismal happenings all around us is most difficult indeed especially during these times. The only bright spot is the supposedly rosy economic picture indicated by the strengthening of the peso mainly due to the dollar earnings and remittances of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from abroad most of whom come from the poorer sector of our society. To the economists this is good but to the average Pinoy a stronger peso is more of a bane rather a boon to our OFWs since the value of their greenbacks continue to slide down vis a vis the pesos. Hence their dire assessment remains — our fight against poverty is not gaining any ground but may even be suffering serious setbacks because our OFWs will not be able to rise above their present level of poverty.

This assessment is confirmed by statistics showing that most Filipinos still live below the poverty level despite the supposedly great stride in our march to economic progress. The poor remains poor because they just cannot feel the trickle down effects of our economic gains. Marianeth Amper exemplified this situation. The sudden twist in her case by the discovery that she was raped does not change the situation but all the more confirms the sad reality that aside from poverty, every level and sector of our society even the materially bankrupt is now plagued by rampant deception and misinformation and has become morally bankrupt.

This deception and misinformation is more evident in the effort of some sectors to promote population control by the use of artificial contraceptives as a solution to our poverty problem. They continue to peddle the myth that our country is overpopulated and overpopulation is the main cause of poverty by citing wrong statistics about population growth rate at 2.36 percent and still rising when it has already gone down to 1.96 percent. They do not also tell the people that some artificial contraceptives they promote are injurious to reproductive health and may even lead to abortion.

Another dismal aspect in our present situation is the many wrongdoings being committed with the wrongdoers getting away with them. Something definitely wrong happened in the Garci election scandal, the Joc-Joc Bolante fertilizer fund scam, the ZTE broadband deal and the recent distribution of bags of money to Congressmen and local government officials right in Malacañang. But because of lack of transparency and the apparently successful attempts of our politicians to thwart the search for truth and to bring to light the real story behind these shady transactions and dishonest practices, the wrongdoings remain hidden and wrongdoers stay scot-free. And when one wrongdoer was caught and convicted of plunder by the Sandiganbayan after six arduous years of trial, he was even immediately pardoned within two weeks from the promulgation of the decision without serving a single day of his sentence.

More dampening to the Pinoy spirit is the bombings of Glorietta II and the Batasan that claimed the lives of innocent people who committed no wrong at all. These events taken together with the other happenings seem to convey the distressing message that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.

More accurately confirming this observation of bad things happening to nice guys is the tragic fate of a friend and colleague in the profession, Atty. Rene Saguisag who was seriously injured and whose wife died in a mindless vehicular accident. Atty. Saguisag is the only person I know who became a politician without being stained by our dirty politics. We started in our profession almost at the same time and my high esteem of him has not diminished a bit despite the many differences of opinion between us. He is not afraid to take up and fight for even lost and unpopular causes that sometimes invite unfair comments and ugly insinuations against him. His forte is defending the helpless the downtrodden and the oppressed. He may have defended a rapist and a plunderer but he is just being true to his calling of rendering legal assistance without regard to the guilt or innocence of his client. I condole with him and his family for the loss of his wife Dulce and I fervently wish him full and speedy recovery.

These are distressing times indeed but we should not lose heart. Some blame lies on us perhaps for not doing enough of our part and for failing to learn the lessons of the past people power revolutions. So we just have to persevere and do what we can to always uphold truth and justice in our own small way within our family and our community. But over and above perseverance is prayer. These are the times that call for prayer power rather than people power. Remember that God always answers our prayers and acts swiftly which to us may seem like eternity because God’s time is vastly different from our time. It is in His time that we should bide.

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