Life and law

Butch Bagabuyo

“It matters not how long we live, but how.” – Bailey, Festus

IN my teens, our breed used to say, “The good die young.” Because we were far from if not, the opposite of what is good, chances are, we would die in old age. However, because during our teenage days, Ateneans were mentored by Jesuits of the vanishing breed–Pope Francis and his kind–most if not, all of us considered ourselves heaven-bound because we religiously heard mass, regularly confessed our sins, and received the Holy Communion every first Fridays and Saturdays as well as resort to earning indulgences such as the plenary indulgence in passing through the “Holy Door of Mercy.”(This is one of the more popular reforms of the Catholic Church. Because of the Vatican II of Blessed Pope John Paul VI, we no longer have to go on a pilgrimage to Rome just to gain the indulgence as Catholic faithful. The pilgrimage is, to my understanding, similar to that of Islam.)

Unknowingly and regrettably, the outside world hated us for being elitists and all-too-knowing. But that was a long time ago. Because God is good, now in old age, He is teaching us that it is never too late to learn how to be merciful to the poor, the chosen people of God. And because “death comes like a thief in the night,” we owe it to our Lord and Master to spend the remaining days of our borrowed life in sharing with those who have less in life whatever God has given us.

Today is only the 6th of the nine-day novena cum Mass in preparation for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and yet Mnsgr. Rey has reverently reviewed us well and good all that the Jesuits combined have taught me all my life.

While I do not have enough material possessions to share with those in need, I am now finalizing a project, one-year-in-the-making, for the poor, the deprived and the oppressed. As soon as I succeed in securing the necessary proprietary rights, most likely before the end of the month or early January of 2016, we would start the project designed to finally eliminate the pernicious culture of gambling, lotto and the like. In lieu thereof, the poor, the deprived and the oppressed, without asking for any donation and on our own, shall, without fail, create and undertake what I call the “hand-to-mouth-generosity” in order to lick mendicancy which has led the poor to be lazy instead of doing what God has abundantly provided us with–warm bodies with intellect and will-power.

Abangan: The New World Order.

Tsada, di ba?

• •

“Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.” – Goldsmith, The Traveler

Since the start of the traditional nine-day novena cum “Misa de Gallo” days, Monsignor Rey Monsanto of our parish at the Eco-Church in Kauswagan, this city, has consistently and tirelessly reminded the faithful to pray for the victims and their loved ones who are left behind as a consequence of tropical typhoon Sendong of Nov. 16-17, 2011.

Immediate past mayor Vicente “Dongkoy” Emano has paid dearly for his wanton neglect and shameless arrogance in openly disrespecting the bloated corpses of the victims of the killer tropical typhoon Sendong.

Now, I dare say, dismissed transition Mayor Oscar S. Moreno and all the 2013 elected city clown-cilors who are members of the Padayon Pilipino shall all be made to swallow the nauseating wrath of those left behind by the victims of Sendong in the coming May 2016 elections. Mark my word.

Overwhelming and prevailing jurisprudence tell us that the dismissal of Moreno shall be made final and executory in mid January 2016 because the 60-day SQA order issued by the Court of Appeals shall have lapsed by then.

But even granting arguendo, he would be granted another reprieve, he would definitely suffer the humiliating end of his public service career should he be allowed to run in the coming elections. This predicament shall also extend to the members of the City Council belonging to the Padayon Pilipino headed by its presiding officer. This is so because even those who find Moreno as ingrato na hambuguero pa gyud are unanimous in condemning the clown-cilors for doing nothing during their three-year term except to kiss the behind of their ailing and arrogant leader.

Both dismissed and transition Mayor Moreno as well as the majority members of the city council have been found beyond the scintilla of doubt by the Kagay-anons that they have no heart and soul for all those left behind by Sendong.

Four years and millions of pesos and dollars of donations from all over the world have come to our city yet both have done nothing but play the “blame game,” leaving the poor in shelters instead of homes. They are there not for public service but for their debilitating greed.

Because they all have spent more than what their office pay them for, their only concern is not only to recover what they have illegally spent for. But they are there to make governance a bottomless pit for plunder, unconscionable graft and corruption.

Wa mo kyapi! Mga baga’g dagway!

Robust Rufus Team Harus.

Tsada, di ba?