What does Easter mean to Filipinos?

Despite of the influence of the globalized consumerist and materialist culture of the West, Filipinos commemorate the Passion of Christ in deep personal and communal reflections.

The Holy Week ends with the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Resurrection may mean many things to different people but Christians are unanimous in the belief that it is the sum of all teachings regarding redemption and salvation. Easter Sunday is a joyous day for Filipinos. However, it is less festive and pompous than Christmas and town fiesta celebrations.  

The feast of the Risen Christ is the most solemn feast among the festivities in the Philippines. Catholic churches all over the country start the Easter morning celebration with the pre-dawn ritual called Salubong which re-enacts the meeting between Risen Christ and His Mother. And before this pre-dawn re-enactment, the faithful await the resurrection of the Crucified Christ by attending the Easter vigil.

                                                                                                                                     

            Other religious denominations also hold festivities in the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. In spite of their disagreements on traditions and practices, the different Christian churches in the Philippines seem to have a consensus that resurrection should be celebrated on the same day—Easter Sunday.  Indeed, Christ’s resurrection unifies humankind with His great love and sacrifice.

             Resurrection has deep personal meaning to people who suffer from different physical and mental afflictions. It signifies hope for those who suffer from physical and mental pain. It deepens their faith to the Savior whose death in the Cross gives meaning to the pain and suffering that they endure. It heals and delivers them from hopelessness and void. It refreshes the weary hearts and gives clarity to the confuse minds. It lightens the burden of those who have been psychologically beaten by the weight of the world.

            Resurrection has a deep communal meaning in the lives of people who suffered from extreme calamities and misfortunes. One can still feel the grief and loss of those who survived when super typhoon Yolanda flattened the Visayan soil. The insanity and bleakness of the void that engulf the lives of the survivors are simply senseless. The pain and hopelessness were everywhere and seemed endless. How could anyone survive the curse of coming out alive when all others around them have died?

Life would still be meaningless up to this day for those survivors if Christ had not risen from the dead thousand years ago. The resurrection of Jesus deepens their faith in a God who knows all and assures them of bright future in spite of calamities and deaths.  

Resurrection inspires us to act communally so that we could rise together from deprivation and isolation. Christ has risen. We are called to rise with Him and work for the salvation of humankind.

Will there be peace in Mindanao, Part 2

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Will there be peace in Mindanao, Part 1

Will there be peace in Mindanao?

(First of a series)

Will there be peace in Mindanao? The question has been asked many times in the past. It is still being asked unto this day.

Mindanao is majestic and enchanting. It is a paradise. Anyone who goes there cannot help falling in love with the region. Abundant with natural resources, it is known as the food basket of the Philippines. It is said that Mindanao can feed the whole Philippines. It can provide the country with sufficient capital assets for national progress. Its potentials are beyond question.

            Mindanao is the seat of the Philippines’ rich cultural heritage. It is home to many of indigenous communities. It has been reported that there are at least 18 different indigenous groups island which are collectively known as the “Lumad”. The Lumad does not belong to the much numerous Muslim or Moros (see ). Their presence enriches the cultural heritage of the region and provides the evidence of the cultural roots of the Filipinos.   

However, it is also home to different Moro insurgents. The armed conflicts in Mindanao traced their history in the 1900s with the coming of the Americans which used armed violence to suppress what they considered as moro banditry. Subsequent Philippine administrations are said to have followed the lead of their foreign predecessor in their pacification campaigns in the Moro homeland.

Separatist movements began in the late 60s. Nur Misuari, a young idealistic Moro intellectual from University of the Philippines, founded the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1969. The MNLF declared war against the Philippine government in its bid to establish an independent Bangsa Moro Republic (see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_National_Liberation_Front>). 

The armed conflict in Mindanao has resulted to untold miseries to the people in the region. An international conflict monitoring websites estimated that at least 6, 015 people were killed from 1989 to 2012 because of the armed conflict between the government and the Moro armed groups Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Bangsa Moro Freedom Movement (BIFM) and the Abu Sayaff Group (ASG) (see ).  Like the MNLF, these other groups claimed to wage a war of national liberation according to their different interpretations of the right to self-determination of the people of Mindanao.   

Peace efforts have not been lacking. Religious groups and non-government organizations have been promoting peace dialogues to ease the tensions in the region and to get the parties to the conflict into the negotiating tables. These peace advocates advance peace by working with the parties carry out development initiatives in the region.  Foremost of these advocates is the Bishop-Ulama Conference composed of Catholic Bishops, Protestant pastors and Muslim Ulamas. They provide religious justification in the search for peace and understanding between contending groups in the conflict (see ). 

The government had engaged the MNLF and the MILF in the peace tables. Because the ASG and the BIFM are considered as purely (kidnapped for ransom) terrorist groups, it engages them with full military might.

 In 1976, the Philippine government under President Ferdinand Marcos signed a peace agreement with the MNLF in Tripoli, Libya. The Tripoli Agreement intended to place 13 provinces in Mindanao under the administration of a local autonomous authority. However, the agreement did not come into fruition. According to newspaper accounts, the government reneged in its commitments and attacked the MNLF camps (see ).  

In 1996, the government under President Fidel Ramos and the MNLF signed a Final Peace Agreement. The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was a landmark in the implementation of the said Final Peace Agreement.

However, the Final Peace Agreement resulted to a temporary peace only. The Islamic Command Council, a splinter group of the MNLF, immediately declared that it would continue waging war against the national government to pursue its bid for a separate state (see ).

Sometime later, Nur Misuari, then governor of the ARMM, went underground with his followers. He blamed the government for its alleged failure to implement the terms of the Final Peace Agreement. He was arrested for rebellion during the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2007.  His eventual release from prison did not restore him to his former clout in Mindanao.  On January 23, 2012, he declared the establishment of the Independent Bangsa Moro Republic in Mindanao. In September 2013, he called on to the Philippine government to implement the terms of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement. Thereafter, his followers attacked Zamboanga City. The bloody siege resulted in the deaths of many civilians and combatants and in the destruction of properties worth millions (see ). (End for first part)

Who are the wealthiest people in the Philippines?

The 2014 Forbes Billionaires List disclosed that there are at least 1,645 billionaires around the world today whose aggregate net worth is $6.4 trilion. On top of the list is Bill Gates with $76 billion worth followed by Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico with $72 billion worth. 

SM magnate Henry Sy made it to the list with an estimated $11.4 billion worth according to reports. He also topped the list of the wealthiest persons in the Philippines followed by Lucio Tan with a reported net worth of $6.1 billion. Andrew Tan of Mega World and Alliance Global Group and Enrique Razon, Jr. with estimated net worth of $4.7 billion and $4.2 billion respectively. John Gokongwei Jr made it fifth in the list with a net worth of $3.9 billion (see: <http://business.inquirer.net/165345/businessman-henry-sy-crashes-into-forbes-100-richest-people-in-the-world#ixzz2v8M9G9hf>).

The list of the wealthiest people in the Philippines does not change much for the past few years. Today, it is Henry Sy who comes first. Tomorrow, Lucio Tan may come ahead of him. The year after, it may be Enrique Razon, Jr., or some other rich fellow down the scale. Indeed, it is like a classroom competition among the few gifted students who are all in for the challenge to be on top of the class. No new names join the list in the last few years. These gifted few continue to rake bountiful harvests regardless of what is happening in the world around them.   

Most of these rare individuals did not come from the traditionally known “Hacienda clans” in the Philippines. They are generally regarded as business patriarch who made names in their respective industry. Notably, many of them have Chinese lineage. They were assimilated immigrants who came to the Philippines to make a living.   Now, it seems that more than three-fourth of what could be termed as “gross domestic product” refers to the gross receipts that they turn in every year. They are the richest in the country and the most economically powerful. Their influence in public affairs cannot be quantified even if they have to disclose the digits that they contribute to politicians’ chests during elections. 

The listing was made not for the benefit of the public of course. Aside from those whose names appear and those aspiring to be included therein, only the tax authority may find the list relevant.  To us who become billionaires only in our nightmares, the list is not but trash—it cannot make us rich or make our life better. But what it implies is more than what we know about the present state of our country.  Looking at the names and putting them in the context of widespread deprivation and poverty would reveal the truth that while more than seventy-percent of our people are suffering from lack of food, shelter, medical care and education, a less than one-percent of our population enjoys more than eighty-percent of the wealth and resources of the society.  This is the sad truth that the list of the wealthiest and the most powerful implies.   

Oh, if the wealthiest can have the magnanimity of the most righteous and benevolent of all, then, the world will be better place to live in. With all the resources and power in the hands of those who are considered the wealthiest, they can change the course of history and make the lives of other people better. They can shape the patterns of society to make it more equitable and humane. They can stop the decay of civilization and reboot the engine of social progress. This is the awesome possibility of wealth with conscience--the noblest mission that any person of wealth can have!