The General Elections in the Philippines is over but the counting and so now the long wait for the winners although some have already taken their oath the one everybody’s waiting for is still up in the air. Some see this election as the dawn of a new day with Arroyo no longer President. All I can say is don’t get your hopes up. Remember Corazon Aquino? So many promises, so few realized. Not to mentioned some serious allegations of corruption. Lest you’ll be fooled, Mrs Aquino’s reign wasn’t all that good. And so with this next Aquino, don’t bet your life on it. By the way, he’s Catholic.

Election’s real winner: Iglesia ni Cristo unity!

But for me the biggest winner is once again the Iglesia ni Cristo. For once again unity was observed by its members. This unity caused some people to worry. As reported by GMA News, some “netizens raised suspicions over the election results shown in several clustered precincts in Rodriguez, Rizal.” To them it was suspicious that voters from certain precincts showed they all voted for Aquino! Upon further investigation, it turned out the precincts were inside housing resettlement of the Iglesia ni Cristo and 99 percent of the voters in those precincts are members. For some rabid anti-INC they say 99% is not unity because it’s not 100%. They exclaimed “there’s the crack”! Little do they know that not all of the people in the settlements are INC as some are converts from other religion and whose spouses or children are not yet members.

And in case there are still people who sneer at the INC unity in voting, know that the intention is not to make winners of candidates but rather to be one in judgment, a teaching of the Lord Jesus.

The Manila Standard continues it report thus:

Among the religious groups, it is only the Iglesia ni Cristo which has proven that it can provide the swing votes in close contests whether for national or local positions.

The INC factor was probably most felt in the senatorial race. Of the 12 candidates endorsed by the INC, 11 are in the Magic 12. Of the winning senatorial candidates, only returning candidate—Sen. Serge Osmeña —was not endorsed by INC. The only INC-endorsed candidate outside the Magic 12 is Rep. Ruffy Biazon who in the latest count is in number 14 and apparently has no chance of making it.

It looks as though the INC vote is the only religious vote that can be counted on in Philippine politics.

Dynasties

Political dynasties are not new in the Philippines but it seems this year there are a lot more of them. Some are old dynasties like the Marcoses and Aquinos, others are new such as the Arroyos and Estradas. If I’m not mistaken, only Irene Marcos did not run and win in this last election. Bongbong and Imee both won not to mention Madam herself, the still lovely and graceful Madam Imelda. Good for them. For all the supposed greed they’re being accused of, they don’t compare to the Arroyos whom Catholics led by Jaime Cardinal Sin unconstitutionaly put into power. By the way, they’re all Catholics.

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Catholics

The Manila Standard newspaper noted that only the Iglesia ni Cristo vote can be called a “religious vote”. The rest failed miserably. Remember the annointing of Villar by Quiboloy? Add to this the “implied” annointing of Villar by the Catholic El Shaddai of Velarde. So, it’s either the supposed numbers are bloated, or the members do not follow the instructions of their leader, or both. And what about Villanueva? He got 1 million votes! That’s all. Had anyone outside his church voted for him? If not and all his followers voted for him then it’s safe  to say there are only 1 million JIL members of voting age.

The dominant Roman Catholic church is even more embarassing! As the Manila Standard reported:

“Six members of the Philippine Catholic Church hierarchy —Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa, Bishop Joseph Nacua of Ilagan, Bishop Antonio Tobias of Novaliches, Bishop Antonio Palang of San Jose de Mindoro, Bishop Antonio Navarra of Bacolod and retired Bishop Teodoro Bacani—have come out to openly endorse the presidential bid of JC de los Reyes of Ang Kapatiran party.

In the latest Comelec count from 88.95 percent of clustered precincts, de los Reyes was ninth of the nine presidential candidates with only 34,833 votes. The five active bishops head dioceses with more than three million votes and all de los Reyes was able to get is a mere fraction of this number. Either the bishops didn’t campaign for de los Reyes or their flock do not heed them at all when it comes to partisan politics.

This is not to say that the Catholic Church did not play a key and crucial role in this election. It did, through the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) which was the Comelec’s citizen arm in the last election.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the PPCRV played a key role in the success of the last election by providing some 500,000 volunteers to help in the voters’ education campaign, render assistance in the actual elections and conduct a count based on the copy of the returns that they are officially entitled to get.”

De los Reyes would be lucky if he gets 100,000 votes! Endorsed and embarrassed by the CBCP. And the Philippines is 80% Catholic. By the way, he’s Catholic too.

So there you go. May 10 elections in a snap.

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A few malcontents are criticizing the INC “bloc voting” saying it is undemocratic! Talk about being ignorant. Let me set a few things straight based on my own personal take guided by what I’ve learned in my life.

Bloc voting?

It is not “bloc voting” per se. What outsiders think of as “bloc voting” is in truth a body of faithfuls agreeing on one judgement and executing that one judgement. It makes perfect sense based on Christian precepts found in the bible that a “one body” makes one decision and moves only in one direction. That’s all I’m going to say about “bloc voting”.

Democracy, in the Philippines? Really?

- Joseph Estrada won in the 1998 presidential elections by a landslide! It was the second landslide victory of any presidential election in the Philippines, with Magsaysay v Quirino being the first. By one estimate, he won by a margin of 6+ million votes. As most observer say, the INC vote matters more during tight elections where the margin is between 2 to 3 million votes. This means that Estrada had the majority of non-INC votes as well, and would have won even if the INC voted for his opponent. Truly impressive! He clearly had the mandate of the people and a testament to the beauty of democracy.

- In 2001, “Edsa Dos, a well orchestrated scheme to steal the seat of power from the filipino people was put into action by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Fidel Ramos, elitist business including major media networks, and Cardinal Sin and Cory Aquino, of course. Foreign media saw through the smoke screen and reported it for what it was: a coup. Phil Browning of the Internation Herald Tribune called not a victory for democracy, but actually the death of democracy in the Philippines. Some called it a lynching with all its negative connotation. Even Lee Kuan Yew, well respected Prime Minister of Singapore called it for what it was, “unconstitutional”.

- 2008. Cory Aquino, the “inspiration”, “joan  of arc” of all Edsa apologized for her role in the ouster of Mr Estrada and basically invalidated all the reasons they used to force him out of office. All of that down the drain. I wish she apologized to the poor Filipinos who’s dreams and aspiration as well as their trust of the democratic process went down the drain with Estrada at Edsa Dos. Philippine democracy still dead.

And so I return to the title of this piece. The leadership of the INC are totally opposite of those of other religion. If one would observe how the INC go about this necessary evil called election you can’t help but admire them. Unlike other religious leaders who calls a press conference to flaunt their “influence” over candidates, the INC leadership do with the least amount of fanfare. I’m even convinced that if it was up to them the INC leadership would rather not meet with politicians. In fact, Mrs Arroyo was famously snubbed for crashing a meeting.

I pity those of other religios leaders, especially EDSA DOS, for allowing their flock to be used in an illegal and undemocratic ouster of a sitting president only to find out that the one they put in power was a far more corrupt that the one they removed.

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On the contrary, the Catholic church, even from it’s earlier years is always been fragmented. Factions within the Catholic church gain support and eventually separate and a new church is created.

Schism

Schism is defined as a rejection of  “communion” with the authorities of a Church, or to put simply, rebellion.  Supposedly, schism is different from heresy because the former does not involve any dispute about doctrines. Apparently, the Catholic church has no doctrine about unity so it is perfectly within doctrine that a member of this church would just, well, up and go and create a new church but still be catholic church.

Among the major schism in the Catholic church are:

• the East-West Schism which split the Catholic church into the Roman Catholic church and the Eastern Orthodox church.
• Papal Schism wherein three(3) Popes claimed to be the true pope.
• the Reformation

Fast-forward 2010

Currently, this dis-unity is being displayed in the political arena when two supposedly leaders of the Catholic church, a priest and a catholic charismatic(?) made known their intent to seek the same political position. BTW, most of the candidates for President in the 2010 elections are also catholics. The majority of Filipinos are assumed to be Catholics and yet come election time, all eyes are on the candidate chosen by the Iglesia ni Cristo.

People Power

So laments Teresita I. Barcelo, president of the Philippine Nurses Association in a report by The New York Times.

Filipinos, although not all including myself, regard the 1986 “revolution” as a golden moment in Philippine history, maybe the world. It was the first time a “dictator” was swept out of office in a peaceful, almost non-violent uprising. The dictator was President Ferdinand E. Marcos. Masses faced down tanks and won. Truth be told, Marcos also had someting to do with it, or to be exact, he did not do it. When adviced to order an attack Marcos sadly but firmly said no. He was not going to have blood in his hands. He elected to leave.

So the late Corazon Aquino was swept into power and democracy was restored, right? Not exactly.  The same established powers are still there, only the front men and faces were different. Yes, reforms were initiated but nothing was achieved.

“The legacy is the mess we are in,” said F. Sionil Jose, 84, the nation’s most prominent novelist, pointing to the continuing poverty, inequality and political disarray of a nation that failed to capitalize on its moment of possibility.

“We have a word for it — sayang — ‘what a waste,”’ he said.

source: New York Times

Filipinos has failed themselves. They remain subordinated to the powers that be. Democracy was supposed to give the power to the people but trapos (Traditional Politicians) still remain at the helm.

“We thought all we needed to do was remove the dictator and do nothing about it,” said Teresita I. Barcelo, president of the Philippine Nurses Association. “We thought the problem was just the dictator. I say the problem is us. We did not change.”

Sister Dory Reyes, 61, a former Roman Catholic nun and teacher in the farming town of Santa Maria, said: “The poverty is still there. The corruption is still there. Unemployment is still there. I don’t see improvement.”

The Philippines, with a population of 92 million, is one of the most vibrant nations in Asia, with a flamboyantly free press and a creative and assertive body of independent organizations and interest groups.

But it has not managed to tame its Communist and Muslim insurgencies or its restive military, which seems constantly to be plotting coups. Human rights abuses by the military have returned to the levels of the Marcos years.

source: New York Times

So, Corazon Aquino, the hope of the Philippines and Mother of Democracy. I was right afterall. When the supposed “People Power” revolution was going on and I was watching it on TV I thought to myself, “these people don’t know what they’re doing”. I knew then that permanent change will not happen unless and until the Filipino people changed for the better. Much like the ubiquitous carabao, a farm animal that’s gentle yet strong yet a slight tug would make the animal face another direction.

Corazon Aquino apologized to President Erap in which she said she was wrong and was sorry about it. What about the Filipino people. Wasn’t she sorry she was instrumental in a illegal coup d’etat of a constitutionally elected president?