Your child is at stake

In my father’s time, on radio he made a name for himself by coming up with names or terms that tickled peoples’ imagination. He came up with: “Paniki Brigade” referring to commuters who were perennially hanging on to a pipe like bats on the ceiling, “Anak ng dalagang baka!” (calf of a virgin cow). “The firm” which he got from a movie and used to identify a particularly controversial law firm and “Pa donker-donker” referring to government officials he felt simply “Don’t care.”

Yesterday the term “Brigade” came to mind but not in the context of political or social satire but with a sense of urgency. More than a telephone brigade or text brigade, I really had such a strong urge to initiate the call for a Prayer brigade.

After reminding you of my father’s wit, I know that talking about a “prayer brigade” is very anti-climactic. But please bear with me because I wouldn’t go this close to the edge if I did not believe it was necessary. If someone’s life was on the line, someone you love, I have no doubt that you would form all the brigades you can to save them. That is exactly what is at stake.

If you’ve been watching, listening or reading up on the news, you may have noticed the unusually high incidence of rapes and murders of minors. For three weeks running I have read cases concerning young girls from 7 to 13 being abducted, raped and in one case sodomized because her vagina was too small to penetrate, and then strangled, smashed in the head with a piece of rock, or stuffed in a sack and thrown into a river or a mangrove to drown.

In the last three months or so, we have heard and read about promising students robbed and stabbed to death, a law student beaten to death in an initiation, and two days ago a bemedalled high school student shot for his “play station.” All the violence exhibited was excessive and unjustifiable.

As far as reporters and the police are concerned these are crimes and police stories. Where there is poverty, there are drugs and where there are addicts there are criminals. It is not that simple. If that were the case the same “child oriented” crimes would manifest globally. At the very least they too would be very common in the slums of Chicago, LA and New York.

Instead they’re happening at a very alarming rate in the Philippines at a time when we as a people are trying to cleanse our society of many ills and aspiring for transformation. And why is so much hate, pain and violence being centered on children? Just “put two and two together” and it won’t be difficult to realize that the Devil himself is not willing to let Filipinos clean up without a fight.

I’m sorry if all this sounds deeply religious but sometimes people have to realize that the most difficult enemy to fight is someone we can’t see but whose handiwork and trail is full of blood, pain and destruction. This is especially important for those of us who have young children because they are the most vulnerable and when they go down, we easily crumble after them.

Unlike adults who can reason or defend themselves against evil, our children are the most vulnerable and gullible. They also represent what is dear to us and who comes after us. In other words, by attacking our children the devil is destroying the future of the Philippines.

Since time immemorial we have learned of stories where the young are often the victims. We commemorate Ninos Innocentes in memory of the hundred of children that were slaughtered to prevent the coming of Jesus Christ and to keep Herod on the throne. Whether in wartime Germany, Bosnia, Cambodia and Africa, the world has enough evidence of a “wave” of pure hatred aimed at children.

Sadly, the best that most “experts” can do is come out with pointers on how to protect your children from rapists or becoming victims. Thanks to the PNP, they have become increasingly efficient and successful at hunting down the rapists and murderers. But it never stops the next crime from happening.

That is why, at the great risk of turning you off, or sounding like a fundamentalist preaching fire and brimstone, I have dared to share with you what I seriously believe is an attack upon young Filipino children, particularly girls.

Whether you are a parent, a grandparent or relative; you cannot deny how much you love the children. But it is not enough to secure them materially and emotionally. We need to secure them not just from the drunks and drug addicts that have lost control of their minds but from the devil himself!

Yesterday as I came upon this realization or perhaps revelation, I sensed that the only solution against these attacks has to be at the same level or similar form they come from. That is why I now humbly call upon each of you to quietly form your own “Prayer brigades” at school, at church, at work, in your car, the school bus and where ever else you find opportunity.

Pray, pray hard and with a single purpose to ask God to protect each and every Filipino child who is vulnerable to the spiritual and physical attack of the devil. We were all once children. We did not make it this far if people who loved us, not just our parents, did not pray for us through the years. Whether you are an adult or a child, please pray.

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