God is pro-dynasty

By HERBIE GOMEZ

I’M going to give in to the prodding of readers, columnist Netnet Camomot and Cagayan de Oro Press Club president Jerry Orcullo included, that I resume writing opinion pieces for this paper which I have done for years until I decided to give my pen a “sabbatical” so as to allow others to use the newspaper space that my views have been eating up.

My decision to take a rest from column writing was also “selfish”––it occurred to me that I have grown a bit older, I no longer have the kind of energy for putting my thoughts in writing the way I did in the ’90s, and my threshold for deadline pressures hit an all-time low. The years I spent in front of typewriters and subsequently, computers have also taken a toll on my already impaired vision, a handicap which, eye experts have been saying since I was a first grader, is congenital. I have long been giving laser eye treatment some serious thought but unless I get convinced that there are no side effects or if these are too paltry, I would rather not gamble––I can still live with my relatively poor vision even if it’s not a 20/20.

During the “sabbatical,” I have come to the realization that some people have gotten very used to my being opinionated that even at times when I have opted to keep “silent”––meaning, not writing an opinion column, they think my silence is still an opinion. They have even gone to the extent of putting words into my mouth, and they managed to convince themselves that the views of other opinion writers are mine.

And so, I might as well resume opinion column writing to stop them for guessing and speculating on the question about what’s really going on in my mind.

Stop speculating. If you want to know what I really think, here’s my column.

Today, Oct. 19, 2015, I declare, without fanfare, that… I’m back––whether you like it or not.

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The Roman Catholic Church may want to formulate some rules to prevent Filipino politicians of all colors from using churches, priests, sacristans, choirs, and even the Host as props whenever they file certificates of candidacy.

That’s exactly what they all did last week––they heard mass before parading to Comelec offices to submit their papers. Yet before, during and after the mass, they did nothing but discredit and ridicule each other. And the churches and the principles they represent? Oh, well, they were merely political decors.

It really makes me wonder what they were really praying for as they knelt before the altar. Did they pray that the Judeo-Christian god (capitalization is a man-made rule that’s not even in the 10 Commandments) would fill their hearts with love and compassion for their political enemies or did they plead that the heavens strike their rivals dead with lightning? Did they pray that they be given the unnatural ability to turn the other cheek whenever they get politically slapped or for an abundant supply of mud to smear the faces of their opponents with?

It would be unthinkable for them not to pray for victory in 2016. So here, you have three of the biggest Roman Catholic mayoral contenders praying that their god grant their request that they win big in the Cagayan de Oro elections next year. They remind me of two Catholic boxers kneeling at the ring corners opposite each other and making the sign of the cross before throwing the first punch. In the end, only one with a disfigured face was left standing. The winner says his prayer was granted, and the loser went home convinced that either his prayer wasn’t strong enough or his faith was just being tested. That is ridiculous. The plain truth is, the winner won because he threw the right punches at the right time and on the right body parts; the loser lost because he was outmatched.

Come to think of it, why would this Judeo-Christian god take sides in any democratic election when he is an advocate of monarchism and autocracy, and not democracy? This god is pro-dynasty. If you strongly disagree, then you haven’t been reading your Bible.

It doesn’t take genius to know why dynasties are problematic. Through the years, we have modified it, camouflaged the problems dynasties create, and tried to give it a semblance of democracy. It used to be a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family. Now, from Aparri to Jolo, petty kings and queens rule without shame at the same time.

Here, all the competing groups, be it in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental, are advocates of the Pinoy version of political dynasties for different unacceptable and twisted reasons. They have also come up with all sorts of excuses and ridiculous justifications for fielding members of their own or their allies’ families as candidates. Name one who hasn’t advocated this in the past or present. The Emanos, the Morenos, the Rodriguezes, the Uys of Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro, the Guingonas of Gingoog––all of them are guilty.

And you expect real change when all of the choices are into traditional politics, and are shameless advocates of political dynasties that are detestable and are an insult to Filipino intelligence?

Sadly, the very people whom I thought were fighting for real change have become a major disappointment because they are swallowing their words, and are saying now that political dynasties are OK because there is no Philippine law against it. I say there is also no law that prohibits people from picking their noses in public. But you know it’s gross even when Philippine law books, and writings, accepted without questions as sacred and handed down since the Iron Age, are silent on nose-picking in public.

What change are you talking about?

Pastilan.