Division in Catholic church prophesied

I was in Manila last Wednesday and I met a friend who told me that last March 5, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) had a frank dialogue with the Lay groups at the San Carlos Seminary called by the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life chaired by Bishop Gabriel Reyes and executive sec. Fr. Melvin Castro.

What my friend told me was a bit disturbing because the main speaker was Bishop Soc Villegas who started his speech saying “I’m the CBCP President because I won the swimsuit competition.” My friend was bewildered why the good Bishop would say this…and he even repeated it. What was he trying to say? He later said that the CBCP is an organization of independent Bishops…who rule their respective turf. But I am the face of the CBCP. What was Bishop Villegas gunning at…some kind of recognition?

What further disturbed my friend was when someone in the group complained that the Ateneo de Davao president was openly supporting the RH bill that became a law. Bishop Villegas refused to believe the person complaining, even to the point of saying it was unfair to tag the Ateneo president without telling him right on his face. But then, the good Bishop probably doesn’t know that in the anti-RH circles, we know who among the clergy are openly for or against the RH law and who are the Yellow clergy.

If you ask me… if the Catholic Church lost the battle against the RH bill under the Aquino regime, it is only due to the reality that the Bishops were not in unison or in one accord on this vital issue about life. This was prophesied by the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fatima that Bishops will be against Bishops and it has happened in the Philippines. What can I say but we are now in this Year of the Laity, so call it Divine Providence that it is now up to us in the Lay movement to take the cudgels for the Holy Mother Church, because the CBCP has committed the sin of omission!

Let me leave this issue with a famous quote from Blessed Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen who said, “Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, and your bishops, like bishops.” I pray that someday, the CBCP under Bishop Villegas would wake up to the reality that if we are united we can stand up against anything that the Evil One would throw against us. Pray, pray, pray!

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Today, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA) celebrates its 45th founding anniversary. They will mark this day with a 21-gun salute in what we would call “Insurgency infested” areas all over the country and the singing of the “Internationale” which in my book is a song not even native to this country.

But while the NPA’s maybe celebrating their 45th founding anniversary, however a pall of gloom mars their celebration with the arrest of CPP/NPA Chairman Benito Tiamzon and his wife, CPP/NPA Secretary General Wilma Tiamzon in Aloguisan, Cebu exactly a week ago. So what has the NPA achieved in its 45th year reign of terror? For sure we learned of the assassinations of its founding father, Romulo Kintanar, Arturo Tabara and Felimon “Popoy” Lagman who were not killed in an encounter with the military, but by the power struggle within the CPP/NPA leadership. So was the arrest of the Tiamzon couple a mere drama, but part of this power struggle?

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I was in Manila for my US Visa interview… and we got it in less than three hours thanks to a new system that the US Embassy embarked to make the processing of visas super efficient…though it’s no guarantee that you’d get your US visa. But I noticed that the lines for Immigrant Visas are longer than those seeking Tourist Visas and this is once more my proof that Filipinos want to get out of this country because we just can’t fix our problems in this country. Again I pointed out that we need a Systems Change!

After getting our US Visa, I huffed over to Manila Polo Club to make-up with the Rotary Club of Manila, headed by my good friend, Pres. Rudy Bediones. Incoming President Frank Evaristo also greeted me. Rep. Roilo Golez, a fellow Anti-RH fighter also came over to do a “Selfie” with me, Rudy and Frank that we all posted in Facebook accounts.

The guest speaker for the day was Rotarian Robert “Bobby” Joseph who’s speech focused on a new product to enhance our tourism… he calls it “Social Tourism”… he pointed that that tourism in the country grew despite Super Typhoon “Yolanda” and that’s because people from all over the world, notably the Europeans wanted to help. With Social Tourism, Bobby pointed out that they could come to the Philippines, help in our socialized housing problems and still have all the fun in the world. With this, Bobby said, “These people come to our shores as Tourist, but go home as family.”

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