Zeal, not destiny, is our way

Butch Bagabuyo

“The world belongs to the energetic.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

TO prove his point, Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson stated: “Enthusiasm is one of the world’s most powerful engines to success. When you do a thing do it with your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful and you will accomplish your object. But all these factors would mean nothing without God. And Hitler is our proof that without God failure is not far behind.”

As a Catholic, I do not believe nor rely on destiny (something bound to happen or decided in advance–there’s no such thing) even as we often say that the office of the presidency or the mayorship in our country is providential–meaning, zeal, energy and enthusiasm coupled with faith in God. To the teeming billions who believe in God, faith tells us that God, in His infinite wisdom, gave every human being a free will to do the right thing, not the evil one.

Whenever the faithful says “everything happens for a purpose,” destiny has nothing to do with it. It simply means that because God is good, whenever good is not achieved, it is not the end but only a postponement–perhaps, for a better time.

Take the case of the present Miss Universe who claimed to be from Cagayan de Oro. We all know by now that she did not make it the first two attempts. But because she was convinced in her heart that she could make it, she took the first two attempts as the needed stepping stones to the Miss Universe title. She won the crown not by destiny but by zeal and divine providence.

The “Iginuhit ng Tadhana” of dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos is not what we, Catholics, mean when we say that the presidency is providential. Period.

For the benefit of those who, like yours truly, support and work hard to ensure the idea that now is the time for a Mindanaoan to be President of our country, we shall, without fail, give our utmost in trying to win the many who are poor, oppressed and abused. For the few who are satisfied and enjoying the “tuwad nga dalan” of selective justice and blessings for all his relatives, classmates, kabarilan and cronies, we can assure you that we, the believers of federalism and Team Duterte-Cayetano, are not running away from any good fight for as long as it is within our faith. I am ready, willing and able to have a running debate against any and all comers whenever and wherever on the proposition: Duterte is the right man for president at the right time.

Undoubtedly, there are a few selfighteous individuals who do not believe that Duterte can clean our country of drug lords, queens and mercenaries within six months. That is your right. Kung ayaw mo, di wag. So would you like the drug-lords, queens, mercenaries and criminals to lord it over ad infinitum?

Please don’t call us stupid just because we believe in Duterte who has a track record to back up his assurances unlike a foundling. Just because Duterte has assured that bodies would be floating in the Manila Bay during his presidency, it does not mean, there will be killings right and left. That is stupid. It did not happen in Davao. Trust me, there are much, much more good people in our country than there are drugs lords, queens, mercenaries, criminals and filthy rich.

If you, your relatives or friends are not one of the criminals mentioned, why should you tremble at the thought of dead criminals floating in the Manila Bay and the other rivers in our paradise-like islands of Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan-Tawi-Tawi?

Duterte has not only changed Davao from “a killing fields” to one of the safest cities in the world. On the other hand, unlike the chosen few who favor natuwad nga dalan of selective justice, Duterte has not been accused of enriching himself in office. And with regard to the selfighteous individuals who accused Duterte of being a womanizer, would you rather prefer him to be a lover of boys (like the one we all know)? Candidly, let him without sin cast the first stone. Agay, I mean Amen.

Truly, there are much, much more Filipinos today who are sick and tired of debilitating greed imposed by Imperial Manila, the trapos and the filthy rich. And right now, a good many of the poor, the deprived and the oppressed are joining our group for now known as Barug Pederal Mindanao supports Duterte-Cayetano tandem (BPM-DC.) And mind you, our group is using our own shoestring resources because our faith tells us that we have what it takes to make our candidates win fair and square. And we would never allow cheaters to run our country on May 9, 2016.

We are resolved to have friendly symposia, debates and all kinds of mass action because we know that we have the most potent factor in any presidential derby: warm bodies of the sovereign, not unlike, the 1986 People Power. But the main difference, however, is that in 1986, it was Imperial Manila led by the filthy rich and the trapos who took undue advantage of the situation by merely changing collars, as it were. Not now.  Real change is coming to our country.

The snowballing volunteers of Barug Pederal Mindanao’s “hand-to-mouth-generosity” will meet weekly to find ways and means mainly to inspire the youth and the young at hearts to carry our team–Du30-Cayetano to a stunning victory come May 9, 2016. Our confidence is buoyed by the uncontested fact that Mindanao’s time has come. To repeat Victor Hugo’s immortal truth: “An army can be stopped but not an idea that has come of age.”

Trust me, the “hand-to-mouth-generosity” is the one and only alternative to vote-buying scheme. Candidly, the BPM-DC will do away with the callous tradition of “buying of votes–giving out fish to the needy. Instead we aim to “teach how to fish, nor to give fish” and inspire the poor to be dignified by self-sufficiency and not mendicancy.

While money will flood in the 2016 elections, warm bodies coming from our BPM-DC will prevail by re-inventing People Power in the paradise islands of Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan-Tawi-Tawi

Du30-Cayetano pa more!

Tsada, di ba.