State of war?

Batas Mauricio .

IS there any official in Malacanang, especially those who had been given the privilege of being able to whisper things to President Duterte, who reads the Bible? Pardon me but, my perception is that,there is none. This, I believe, accounts for the many inappropriate remarks that the President had been making, every now and then, on various practices of Catholic believers, like confessing sins to priests.

These remarks likewise forebode the lack of familiarity or, maybe, disregard, on the part of Digong about basic tenets found in the Bible. Then, what appears to be more unfortunate is this: Malacanang officials who say they are Christian believers and workers appear unable to effectively discharge their solemn obligation to somehow guide the President on what the Holy Book of Christian believers actually says.

Take the case of confession of sins made by men to their fellow human beings. This is what James 5:16 is saying: “… Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective…” This verse makes it clear that the healing of a sick person comes with the confession of his sins. So, how are we to reconcile this with what Duterte said?

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I am hoping that one of the issues that President Duterte and Chinese President Xi JinPing found time to discuss during Xi’s state visit to the Philippines is the issue of Chinese products that are defective or fraudulently manufactured or fabricated. This problem is now reaching alarming proportions which, in many cases, have endangered the lives of some Filipinos.

I have a personal experience on this. Someone gifted my wife (former Judge Angelina Domingo Mauricio) and I with an electric-powered lampshade last year, which was marked “Made in China”. At first, the lampshade functioned well, but later on, it had to be continuously plugged to an electric outlet so it could be used as a lamp.

The problem was that, the lampshade from China turned out to be defective. One time, while it was plugged to an outlet near the bed where we were sleeping, it burst into flames. I was awakened by the hot temperature that was coming from the fire that the lampshade generated. By the grace of God, I managed to put out the fire with the use of a pillow. I learned later that similar incidents have struck many others. Oh boy!

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There is something that Malacanang should hurriedly look into on the ongoing controversy at the South China Sea or, if you may, the West Philippine Sea. Radio commentator Ado Paglinawan said the media has been eerily silent on what he said is the on-going “state of war” between the Philippines and China, brought about by an incident that took place during the time of Noynoy Aquino as President of the Philippines. What was this? Paglinawan reported that a Navy Ship belonging to the Philippine Navy (the BRP Gregorio Del Pilar, a gray-colored ship) attacked a fishing vessel (a civilian boat) of China, with Filipino Navy officials going on board the civilian vessel.

The act of the Filipino Navy officers as against the Chinese fishing vessel constituted “an act of war” on the part of the Philippines, Paglinawan claimed, which effectively placed the two countries at war with each other. What appears to have saved the day, he also said, for the two countries was the apparent common, though silent, understanding between Duterte and Xi Jin Ping, to ignore that incident and instead talk things out as friends. Is this true?

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com