‘Peace’ without accountability
What peace is not” was the first title I gave this column piece but on second thought, I might have a surfeit of “what it is not” based on the current situation. The word is being used to an annoying degree to simply mean cessation of conflict or keeping silent in the midst of national issues—massive corruption in high places, to name one—crying out to be addressed. Peace at all cost, as a recent “National Rally for Peace Rally” of a family-led religious denomination tried to project.
Archbishop Socrates “Soc” Villegas did not use the P word when he said some years ago: “If you don’t know how to get angry at the corruption, at the money that should be given to the poor but goes to the pocket of powerful people, then something is wrong with your Christianity.” These words were said when massive corruption committed along with so many other abuses during the Rodrigo Duterte presidency had not yet been publicly and officially exposed. But in God’s time, as I never tire saying, what is hidden will be laid bare, laid bare in a way so stunning a member of the House of Representatives’ quad committee investigating the shenanigans under Duterte could only lament: “Nabudol tayo.” We’ve been had. We’ve been taken for a ride. We’ve been fooled, gutted to the core. And as if we didn’t know it until then.
Last Monday, as if to defy the findings that could lead to the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte for unexplained spending of so-called confidential funds in so short a time, not counting her unbecoming behavioral outbursts and assassination threats against persons in authority, close to two million white-shirted followers of the Manalo-led Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) gathered in Metro Manila and several cities to proclaim peace. Peace to them meant to heed the lame side comment of President Marcos that impeaching her would be a waste of time and, more importantly, to say no to impeachment moves against the VP. The INC had supported the duo that was packaged as “UniTeam,” like the proverbial horse and carriage, if you may, in the 2022 elections. But street-corner political analysts already saw it as an uneasy partnership made at the edge of a precipice, if you can picture that.
Critics of Monday’s gathering had many things to say, among them, the Filipino saying “namamangka sa dalawang ilog,” roughly translated as rowing a boat on two rivers. A photograph showed some rallyists wearing white tees emblazoned with “Obey and never complain.” Obey who? Whoever produced the custom-made white tees for the close to two million obedient INC members must have made a killing.
It was obvious even to addled minds that the rally was really a pro-VP Sara Duterte show of force, but the brains behind the rally soft-pedaled the shebang with the use of Marcos’ dismissive words about the impeachment move as though to give him some credit. But didn’t he also say that she (the VP) did not really matter or something to that effect? The horse and carriage of song have long been severed from each other and one of them is hanging on a craggy precipice while looking beyond the horizon for a 2028 presidential run.
Yesterday, there was a different kind of gathering, a small one by comparison, with not much fanfare and sans traffic nightmare to contend with. Held at the Edsa Shrine was a “Mass for Justice and Accountability” or “Misa ng Sambayanan: May Kapayapaan Kung May Pananagutan.” Paraphrased, accountability is a requisite for peace. Various people’s and sectoral organizations, social movements, and religious leaders gathered to participate in the “platform for reflection, prayer, unity, and as part of the Catholic Church’s contribution to holding officials accountable.”
Expected to attend were endorsers of the impeachment complaints against VP Duterte and former senator Leila de Lima, too, spokesperson for the complainants, she who had suffered solitary confinement for almost seven years on trumped-up charges orchestrated by former president Rodrigo Duterte whom she had criticized severely.
Yes, as Archbishop Villegas said, “Something is wrong with your Christianity,” if corruption that drives the poor further to abject penury does not anger you, And, may I add, if you’d rather turn the other way and have “peace.”
From Nobel Peace laureate Dag Hammarskjold, second United Nations secretary general from 1953 to 1961: “Never for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or conviction. Life only demands from you the strength that you possess. Only one feat is possible: not to run away.” His spiritual journal “Markings” was a must-read in my youth when I was contemplating the crossroads.
—————-
Send feedback to cerespd@gmail.com
