The Year in Politics

I don't want to say that Christmas is over. Here in the Philippines, it lasts until Epiphany (we also earned the reputation of having the longest celebration, which starts on September 1). But Christmas day had passed and during this time of the year, people start to look back on the things that transpired in preparation of the New Year.

Just this time, let's talk politics shall we? It's really not my passion to be political, but I do care about current issues, and I feel it's timely that I post my thoughts about 2 historic bills that passed this year. They deserve a space in my blog, after all, both bills lapsed more than a decade hurdle!

The first one is something that I care deeply is the passage of the Sin Tax Bill. Then just last week, President  Noynoy Aquino finally signed it, now it's officially a law. The new law aims to raise revenue from cigarettes and alcohol products, of course this would mean increase of their prices and hopefully it would discourage people, especially the youth, from consuming them. I feel that it's long overdue, but it's never too late, the law will take effect next year. Personally I'm not affected since I'm not a smoker and I rarely (almost never) drink spirited beverages anyway. But even if I do, I would still go for the passage of the bill to discourage people with lower income from consuming cigarettes and alcohol. Of course this bill comes with a disadvantage, naturally, regulation of sin products like this would mean an increase in smuggling. Even without the law, it's happening, smuggled products make their way here. I guess it's all up to the people at Customs (which happens to be one of the most corrupt department) to uphold a strict implementation on smuggling law. Another thing that some people brought up is the the displacement of tobacco farmers and vendors. I'm not really worried about that, part of the revenue to be raised by the law will go to programs that would provide alternative crops and jobs for the farmers. I've also read that some farmers are unfazed by the passage of the bill because they still have an international market (so shut up Bongbong Marcos!). So this is definitely something to look forward in 2013. I am confident that the objectives of Sin Tax Law will be met, hopefully sooner.

Now the second one, the much more controversial... *sigh* I don't even know how to begin. It's much more complicated and the nation is really divided on the issue. I feel the division personally, I have family and friends who are both for and against the Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill) now called the Responsible parenthood bill. I am a little divided myself because I see the point of both ends and I feel the advantages and disadvantages and advantages of the bill. But the bottom line is, ultimately I am pro-choice and responsible parenthood, so yeah if I was a member of the congress or the senate, I would vote "YES" for the bill.

First of all, let me just say, I feel bad for those who are against the bill for valid and sensible reasons for they are represented by the likes of Sen. Tito Sotto who would not humble himself by admitting he plagiarized excerpts of a blog post and a speech of a late American president, and Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile who thinks the OFW is our best export that's why he's against RH Bill (which is the most stupid argument I've heard!!). Then there's the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and the priests, collectively known as "the Catholic Church". You see, I'm a little uncomfortable with that. I am not a devout, but I'm a practicing Catholic, I go to church every Sunday and on Holidays of obligation, I pray the Rosary and the 3 o'clock prayer, I join the annual Visita Iglesia of our parish and I consistently include the souls of the faithful departed in my prayers. But I disagree with the bishops and the Vatican on a lot of issues, a LOT of Catholics do and I get hurt when criticisms refer to "the Catholic Church" when bishops voice their political stand point, or when another clergy gets involved in a nauseating scandal like sex abuse. But I do not see myself leaving this faith in the near nor far future. I know for a fact that there are bishops and priest who gives a bad name to the Catholic sect, but then, every religion has that. So when people bash the religion itself, I get hurt.Not all Catholics are against RH Bill, and even those who are against it have fair reasons to oppose it. Like I said, it does comes with advantages, for one thing we are talking about budget here. Unlike the Sin Tax Law, which will generate its own budget, RH Bill will be taken from the existing budget that tax payers are now providing. Budget allotment is always a challenge because of the culture of corruption that the present administration pledge to abolish. I'm also not in favor of allocating budget to give free condoms and pills because I feel these two methods of contraception is affordable and accessible enough for everyone. If the so called mass have the money to buy cigarettes and alcohol, now that these products are about to get unaffordable, then they should be able to afford condoms and pills. I feel very strong about education though.  The bill aims to give people a choice, and true choice would only be realized with proper information. What would couples do with free pills and condoms when they don't know what it's for? Some of the issues of the people against the bill is the rise of promiscuity among the youth, with the integration of sex education and access to contraception. In a way, it does, but then, even without the bill, it's on the rise. It's kinda sad, but it's the reality. Sex is everywhere, in pop music, in movies, sitcoms, soaps, in video games, parlor games (I remember attending a party with naughty games and kids are there). In my (teenage) days, it's very unlikely for a prime time TV show to have a kissing scene, now it's very common to see an afternoon program showing a couple making out. I don't really blame the Censorship, the times are changing. It's best to handle it with versatility than keep on doing things the old way. Right now, I do feel that ignorance plays a big part on the rise of STDs, irresponsible parenthood and even the case of abortion. I think education is the best answer to combat these problems.

It's not about population control but responsible parenthood -- my aunt who's a midwife and works at our municipal health center told a story about a relative of ours who keeps on coming back in the center with a new (malnourished) child, my aunt told her it's time to stop getting pregnant, but she just smirked and replied "masarap eh" (feels good eh). One day, it was her husband who came to the center with one of the sick child and my aunt told her to start using condom. He just laughed. I have a lot of relatives like that. What do you do to these people?

I think the church, not just the Catholic church, but all legible group aiming to preserve our values should think of other ways to keep the people grounded rather than meddle in politics. Like I said earlier, there are many issues that put a bad name to my religion but I chose to stay. Why? Because it is the foundation of all  the values I held dear - my compassion on life, respect to my neighbor, love for my family, love for God.

With the passage of 2 controversial law, I think the country is on the right path. There are lots of monumental events in politics and I'm starting to see small improvements (EDSA is going green, yay). We've got reasons to think that 2013 will be promising.

End of the Whut?!?

As I type this post, it's December 21, 2012, 10:32 AM PHT in my clock, I haven't noticed anything unusual yet. I don't think I will. Of course I do not believe this Mayan calendar predictions. I know the end of time will come, but it will happen when we least expect it. I find it amusing that a lot of people are all over this. I saw a documentary in History channel yesterday about people preparing for the big day, which is today, well they are Americans, so it'll be in a few hours to them. Last night I saw on the news, there are communities somewhere (provinces) here in the Philippines who are also making preparations. They made this large boat obviously mimicking Noah's Arc so I'm assuming they are Catholics or Christians. I wonder if there are atheists who believe in the end of the world though? 

My belief of apocalypse is obviously religion based. The preparation I work on is not physical but spiritual. Every now and then, it will hit me, am I prepared? Sometimes it scares me. It's also one of the constant theme of my dreams. Once in a while, I would dream of the destined day happening right before my eyes. In every dream,  it happened in different weird ways, but it also seemed so real so it always get me really scared. The last I remember was celestial themed. It went something like this:

It was all over the news that a huge asteroid is hitting the earth. My family and I were watching the news (and of course, scared), we didn't know what to do. Nobody did. But everybody's home, the streets were silent. Suddenly I stood up and headed to the windows. I stared at the moon, my eyes widen up when I realized the moon is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. It was  the asteroid heading to my direction. I screamed on top of my lungs "RUNNNNN!!!!!". And I ran, we all did, without looking back. Suddenly I realized that the asteroid was not as huge as I imagined, but definitely larger than life and it was chasing after me alone. I turned my head around to get a glimpse of this huge thing. It turned out to be a white round thing with eyes and a huge mouth widely opened, so ready to eat me. It was a giant Pacman! I was still scared to death by this time, by the way. And I just kept on running and running.

Then I woke up.

I look back on it with amusement, but did I mention, at the time, I was so scared? But the good thing about my end of the world dreams is that I'm always with my family. My mom used to to tell us, a family that prays together stays together. We did pray together. We still do, though not as frequent as before. 

I think that I'm not totally prepared for the end of time, but in a way I am. I believe that all things that I see, hear and touch, everything in this world are all temporary. This life is temporary, but when we all go, our destination is eternal. I don't think I will go to hell. And I'm not saying I'm a saint, I'm not even a do-goody type of person, but I'm definitely not evil. Everyday is a journey to be a better person and a true follower of Jesus. Everyday is a preparation, to the the real end of the world.

Visita Iglesia 2011

Last Saturday, I did something I haven't done before. I joined the annual Visita Iglesia organized by our local parish. It's a Catholic tradition where in pilgrims visit 7 churches during Lenten season to ask for penance. In each church, we relive 2 stations of the cross. The priest gives homily relating each station to remind us how Christ suffered to save us. How we should follow his way for the salvation of our souls.

Let me tell you something. I have never been so eager to join these type of religious activities. The past decade my life, I got caught up in my own world - studies, friends, anime, Japan, work, ambition, etc., I barely have time for God. When I had the time to spare, I use it to bum out. But don't get me wrong. I was never an atheist nor agnostic. I have always been a believer. I just wasn't a devout Christian. I still am not, I always tell myself that I have to do it on my own pace and there are principles of the church that I contest. But last year's series of unfortunate events prompted me to pause and reflect. When I was young, my mom often told me that tragedies or unfortunate things happen not because God is punishing us, but He is testing us, our faith. Trials. They also serve as reminders because when we are drowning with blessings, we forget to thank Him, we forget to follow His ways, we forget to ask forgiveness. The recent tragedy in Japan, is again, a reminder that something is greater than us, that in this type of situation, we have no choice but to leave everything to Him.

I am thankful that I got to realize that early enough to go back to the right path before I get lost completely. I still have a long way to go, but with God's grace, I know I will make it in time.

So we visited 7 churches in the province of Pampanga. Most of them as old as our church here in Tanay and I couldn't help thinking that there must have been some kind of standard on building churches in 1600s, because they resemble one another. There's always relief sculptures of the 14 stations of the cross on both ends of the nave, there are portraits of the four evangelists (Mark, Matthew, Luke, and Thomas) on the dome ceiling, the choir loft sits just above the main entrance (which I doubt is being used by the choir nowadays). Not every church has pulpit though. As I look at these old buildings, I can't help wishing I paid more attention on Arts History. It's amazing how these buildings survived for centuries. They were built at a time when there was raw technology. A stark reminder that machines can never replace the workmanship of humans.

Sta. Rita de Cascia Parish in Sta. Rita, Pampanga

Interior of Sta. Rita Parish

St. Augustine Parish in Lubao Pampanga

Interior of St. Augustine Parish, it is currently undergoing restoration

Immaculate Concepcion Parish in Guagua, Pampanga

Interior of Immaculate Concepcion Parish

My favorite church would have to be the St. James parish in Betis, Pampanga. It has a simple facade outside but once you go inside, it has the most intricate interior of all the churches I've ever seen. It has a wooden floor too, which makes it really unique. The guard on duty (another special feature hahaha, you don't normally see a guard in a church) warned us at the onset of our arrival that we have to turn off the flash of our cameras when taking picture. The place is packed with mural paintings all over, the people there seems to be serious in maintaining the beauty of their church. Whether some people are hard headed or plain ignorant on how to change the settings of their cameras (most of the pilgrims are old people), the guard got really stressed out in reprimanding people who failed to turn off the flash and it was really amusing to watch him hehehe.

St. James Paris in Betis, Pampanga

the pulpit is the stand where friars used to conduct their sermon

awww the poor Manong Guard, his BP went up for sure

Kidd in front of the altar

I am mostly proud of the San Guillermo Parish in Bacolor, Pampanga. It stood still despite being situated in one of the most devastated area when Mt. Pinatubo erupted. The place got half buried by lahar, They apparently had to tore the orginal ceilings because the ground got elevated so high. I also learned that this is the church where a popular TV series was shoot. I didn't watch it but the main character's name is Santino, I kept hearing the people say his name while we were on this place.

San Guillermo Parish in Bacolor, Pampanga

Interior of San Guillermo Parish

what used to be the windows up above is now down below, just like life...

the interior of the church before the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo

The Adoration Chapel requires you to duck before you can enter because of the elevated ground

St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Apalit, Pampanga

Interior of St. Peter the Apostle Parish

Immaculate Concepcion Parish, San Fernando Pampanga

Interior of Immaculate Concepcion Parish

We ended our pilgrimage with a mass in Immaculate Concepcion Parish in San Fernando. Now here's a tradition that I do not know if it's widely practiced. A friend told me once, that if it's you're first time hearing mass on another church, you could make a wish, guaranteed to come true. There's also that common practice of lighting a candle for your petition. Now I think that prayers will work, even if I do it in my room, but lighting a candle for a good cause won't take anything from me, so I went and got me a set of 4 candles anyway. In this parish, they even make a color coding for wishes. I only knew white candles in Baclaran church *scratch head*.

I played along anyway and chose the colors according to my personal intentions.

This whole pilgrimage is a brand new, learning and healing experience. I just realized that we have a new parish director, I don't know his name but I think I like him. The way he discuss the 14 stations of the cross, relating it to our present lives, and how he led this whole activity, I feel that our parish is in good hands. My only complaint is the bus driver, but I'm not gonna talk about him. I would just like to forgive him and pray that he becomes a better person, leaving him to God hehehe.