The Church as Trustworthy Voice and Point of Unity in Our Crisis

In this time of crisis and uncertainty, many are asking: What is the stand of the Jesuits? Over the last few weeks, Fr. Provincial Daniel Patrick Huang, S.J. and the Jesuit leadership have been meeting to assess the situation and to discern the path of truth, integrity, justice and peace and the path that will be for the good of our people, especially the poor.

We believe that it is important, in these times of confusion and heated emotions, that there be a clear and trustworthy voice and a rallying center of unity for our people. We believe that this trustworthy voice and this point of unity is the Church, led by our Bishops. We are grateful that, in our search for solutions to the crisis, the Archbishop of Manila and the Bishop of Cubao have sought to unite us around the principles of accountability and constitutionality: that government should be accountable to the people; and that the processes to be followed in the search for truth and justice should be within the framework of our constitutional systems, for the sake of the lasting good of our institutions and country.

We have been working with the bishops of Manila. Thus, last Friday, we had a Call to Prayer and First Friday Mass at the Ateneo Church of the Gesù. Former President Corazon C. Aquino led us in prayer and the concelebrated mass was led by His Excellency Honesto Ongtioco, D.D., Bishop of Cubao. At the homily, Fr. Provincial read the pastoral letter of His Excellency Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, D.D., Archbishop of Manila and Bishop Ongtioco read his pastoral letter. Fr. Provincial expressed our commitment to the principles articulated by our bishops. The pastoral letters of Archbishop Rosales and Bishop Ongtioco are posted on our website.

This is a time when intense discernment is needed. We need to discern with sobriety, prayerfulness, and astuteness the concrete operationalization of the principles of accountability and constitutionality that will best serve the country. We continue to work with our Church and our Bishops to discern these paths and the call that will lead our country out of our present crisis.

We ask you to join us in prayer and discernment. This weekend, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) will be meeting. Thus, we ask that this week, in all masses and prayers at the Ateneo, we pray for the intentions of our Bishops.

May the Lord and our Mother guide us through these difficult times and, as they have in times past, may they graciously lead us to a path of truth, integrity, justice and peace.

BIENVENIDO F. NEBRES, S.J.
President

truly sobriety and intense discernment is essential. at times like this, it is really important to pause and pray to ask for guidance from God, because though the will of the people are heard in a democracy, it is still the will of God that should be followed. let us all pray for our nation and for our leaders that they may govern according to God's will.

Let's not forget that God could only listen and give inspiration. In the end it boils down to human thinking.

I wish people should THINK harder about this issue. I'm sensing after this government it would be all the same if we don't think about long term scenarios.

Just my $0.02

Ano na nga ba talaga? Gloria Resign or "it's up to her to decide?"

The official statement in the ateneo.edu website doesn't say anything concrete yet.

I think the AdMU statement just indicated that accountability and receiving forgiveness is mutually exclusive.

On a different light, I have also read in full DLSU's statement and, while a little more radically stated than AdMU's does not differ much in spirit.

With the following recent developments:

(1) Former Sen. Tatad, a rabid anti-GMA (hence, a tainted source, to say the least), being revealed as the source of the CDs released by Atty. Paguia (which now bolsters the idea that the recorded conversations have been doctored/manipulated to put GMA in a bad light); and,

(2) the revelation of the fact that several politicians, like GMA, have called COMELEC officials during the election period;

I wonder if those who have made rash judgments will now rethink the positions that they have taken? It appears that the Jesuit Community, compared to the others, was right in acting more prudently on this issue.

The fact that several politicians also called COMELEC officials does not make it ethically correct (the legal basis, I know not). Nevertheless, that fact does not absolve her. It merely reflects the rotten electoral system we have. I feel she still needs to answer several questions left unanswered by her mea culpa

moral absoluteness in realpolitik has as much chance to grow and prosper as an ice cube in hell. look, if we are to hold GMA accountable for her indisgression, then we must also hold all other politicians for theirs, as recent developments suggest. this is my point: why bring up a bombshell that may later blow up in your face under close scrutiny?

Typical Pinoy short-term mentality. In their greed, they forgot not to shoot themselves in the head. Take a look at Atty. Lozano's impeachment move.

[food for thought from Conrado de Quiros]


There's The Rub : One night in La Salle

First posted 00:08am (Mla time) Sept 05, 2005
By Conrado de Quiros
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the September 5, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


GOING to La Salle Greenhills last Friday offered a metaphor of sorts. I took the MRT, figuring it would be the hardest thing in the world to park inside or near the campus. What I didn't figure was that it would be a long walk from the nearest station. When I finally got to the place though, my shirt clinging to my back from sweat-it was a warm night, after intermittent rain in the day; thunder and lightning would break out later in the night-I was glad I commuted.

There was a fair-sized crowd gathered there, people with disparate political beliefs come to affirm a truth. Namely, that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) was not the President of this country. The pro-impeachment representatives were there, the resigned Hyatt 10 were there, the heads of various groups calling for GMA to resign were there. Above all, Susan Roces and Corazon Aquino were there.

My first thought was to wonder if I hadn't studied in the wrong school. La Salle has been far more consistent with its moral principles. Ateneo discovers righteous anger only with tyrants it doesn't like. Maybe being a "Brother" gives a sharper sense of right and wrong than being a "Father." Maybe, I am rooting for the wrong basketball team.

My second thought-which is really the metaphor-was that I might have underestimated the length and arduousness of the walk, but I was finally there. Seeing Susan and Cory sitting side by side, hearing Mass, I had a sense of another long and sweat-inducing walk nearing its end.

If the Church, the holdover businessmen, and an apathetic public still cannot see which is the side of the angels and which of the devils, then they will never see anything. Then this country will have been stricken incurably blind. The images offer stark contrast: Cory and Susan on one side, GMA and Joe de V on the other. Public officials who have gotten richer from the goodwill of their constituents on one side, congressmen and local officials who have gotten poorer from being bought by an unelected president on the other. The power of boundless faith on one side, faith in boundless power on the other.

I told a friend that I thought the gathering at La Salle was the most powerful statement yet issued by those seeking GMA's ouster. The mere fact of The Two Widows standing side by side, arm in arm, said a lot more than a hundred speeches or manifestos combined. This was potent symbolism, as potent as Ramon Magsaysay carrying the lifeless body of Moises Padilla (for the kids who've never heard of Ramon Magsaysay or Moises Padilla, go research), or Ninoy Aquino lying lifeless on the tarmac. These were two widows who lost more than their husbands, these were two widows who lost their innocence by the hand of tyranny. Seeing them together conjured a phrase that had been lost for a time in the haze of public apathy and forgetfulness, "Hindi ka nag-iisa." You are not alone. Except that there you wanted to say, "Hindi kayo nag-iisa."

My friend said, yes, it's the women who are doing everything in this country today. I said, yes, the good and the bad.

I just have a couple of quibbles with the gathering last Friday. The first is that the theme of the gathering being "Bukluran Para Sa Katotohanan," or "Unity for Truth," it could have done with proffering the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. One of those fundamental truths being that many of the people there were also fully to blame for the bane they now wanted to end. It wasn't just that they created the monster that was GMA-it was their support till well past midnight that emboldened her to become what she is. (Feel free to supply your own descriptions.) It was also that some of them actually helped her cheat in the last elections. Not least some of the leaders of the Black and White Movement, who called for that gathering along with the La Salle brothers, who used Namfrel to trend the counting and insisted afterward the elections were fair and clean. I have yet to hear them retract that contention.

I wish the next gathering for truth would have Bill Luz and Dinky Soliman, among others, vowing never to help create another Frankenstein monster and promising to atone for their sins by never counting another vote or serving in government again-quite apart, of course, from returning the ill-gotten Peace Bonds. What they say about GMA applies to them too: No rectification without admission. No contrition without restitution.

The second is that Susan Roces never spoke last Friday. For reasons I cannot fathom. She it was who did the heroic thing by agreeing to forget hurts and be one with the people now, fighting to restore justice, notwithstanding that many of them committed the injustice of helping GMA cheat her husband of his rightful place, which is Malacañang. She it was who had all the moral authority to talk about being aggrieved and tyrannized, who stood to coax the people into saying, "Hindi ka nag-iisa." By all rights, she should have been the one inviting the others to join her cause, not they she.

But I will leave all that aside for the nonce and join in the spirit of prayer. For the nonce, I will believe in the capacity of human beings to change for the better, to pull themselves up to their true height, which at its best is always higher than their physical one, after having fallen so low. Heaven knows nobody's perfect, though some are far more consistently imperfect than others. For the nonce, I will believe in the capacity of people to rise above themselves, and driven by the compelling force of God, history, or truth-however you choose to call it-move to rectify their mistakes. Heaven knows nobody's perfect, but some strive to be more so than others.

Who knows? Maybe God is a woman, too. That should make it three against one.

A basic question on de Quiros’ “insights” is why intelligent people would need to take guidance and direction from a university when it comes to matters of national interest. One would think that having paid so much for what is supposed to be a better-than-average education would equip such graduates with the means to formulate their own opinions on political issues and leave the nuts-and-bolts (ie, English, Math, Science, etc.) on learning to the schools.

He hasn't really "graduated" from the universities. There're a lot of old people like that.

GMA taught economics in ADMU for a number of years until 1988. A number of Ateneo graduates-former students- are in her government (former Agri secretary Yap was a former teacher's per, for example).

I voted for GMA because she was an Atenean AND an economics teacher. I dismissed every complaint against her as politicking by power-hungry trapos. This was the same stand of the ADMU faculty for a long time. That's why from 2001 to 2004 you never saw the ADMU faculty attack GMA. Even now only the ADMU students are vocal...then I read the last two issues of Newsbreak...

I feel stupid. It's a bad time to be an Atenean when teachers cheat, lie and steal. I guess its too late for expulsion, huh?

her son congressman mikey arroyo is also an atenean. they say he is more of an arroyo rather than a macapagal. didnt they learn from erap that to steal/take bribes no matter how concealed/discreet can be discovered sooner or later? nakaka inis lang if this is just a result of edsa II . nothing.

thus, edsa people power, should never be used again. never again. a 3rd one will be so disastrous for the philippines, we will become like africa. so i guess, no matter how bad GMAs performance is, the street protests wont do any good. it must be in the realm of the constitution.

What else is there to say about Gloriagate?

No one can prove she did it. The authenticity of the tapes are in doubt. Pots are calling kettles black. And as usual, Conrado De Quiros cannot help but ask for someone's head on the flimsiest of reasons, i.e. he THINKS she did it, and absolutely BELIEVES she did it given the so-called evidence on hand.

And then we have Cory Aquino, Susan Roces and a whole host of (God help us) Congressmen, asking GMA to resign because she has lost the "moral authority" to govern. Enter Armin Luistro and the eminent Lasalle community, also joining the call for GMA to step down. How's about asking EVERYBODY who won in these elections and also called the COMELEC to resign as well! Sauce for the goose apparently isn't good enough sauce for the gander. Hmm...

The impeachment complaints were all trashed. Akala ko ba may 79 signatures ng nakahanda ang oposisyon? Saan ng mga lintek na pirma na pinagmamalaki nila? They villify the tactics of the Administration as dirty, unfair, unjust, criminal. What the blazes do you call the actions of those who are so blinded by their own infalted opinions of themselves?

Bacteria colony talagang Batasan. Looking for leadership in that direction is like asking Joseph Yeo what the national flower is: An exercise in futility.

Matindi talaga itong si Armin Luistro, hindi ko alam na siya's isa na palang expert on the military psyche, at erudite pala siya sa civil-military relations. Imagine, proclaiming that the AFP - particularly the Junior Officers - are all just itching to use the dismissal of the three impeachment complaints as an excuse to go into some (there's that term again) military adventurism.

Hay naku, ensconced in the safe haven of the Lasalle Brotherhood, running an institution that knows about as much about military affairs as Joseph Yeo knows about FAQ's of the Philippines, most likely never having been on the same island as a simple patrol by a 14-man platoon, now goes on record and presumes to speak for the Junior Officers of the AFP.

What will they think of next?

Here's Amado Doronilla's take on Luistro's comments re. military adventurism.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up a sleeping tiger
First posted 01:37am (Mla time) Sept 14, 2005
By Amando Doronila
Inquirer News Service

LAST week, Brother Armin Luistro, president of the De La Salle University System-turned-political activist, warned of seething unrest among young officers of the Armed Forces, saying that "pent-up feelings against the system" could prompt them to seize power.

Luistro, who is also the convenor of the Coalition for Truth, which is pressing for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was referring to the disgruntlement in the military over the controversial appointment of Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan as officer in charge of the strategic Southern Command, instead of Maj. Gen. Samuel Bagasin, who had been recommended for the position by the Board of Generals.

"Capitalizing on these pent-up feelings about the system," Luistro said, "the young officers can decide to venture into politics and take advantage of the political crisis to catapult themselves [to] power."

Putting his coalition's spin on the military unrest, Luistro said the longer Ms Arroyo stayed in office, the danger of military intervention to resolve the present political standoff looms large. In an attempt to sow division in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Luistro said the threat of military adventurism did not come from generals who "enjoyed extravagant lifestyles," but from junior officers exposed to dangers in combat zones.

The promotion of generals has traditionally been a source of discontent in the AFP, and the Adan promotion is not the first time generals have been upset over such decisions. What's different is that Luistro blew up the episode as a trigger for a coup d'etat.

Luistro was not only issuing a warning but appears to be inciting the junior officers -- the so-called "Young Turks" -- to grab power, even as the senior officers seem more restrained in accommodating the impulses of military adventurism, which has been their fashion since 1986. That year a successful people power revolt unleashed a series of coup attempts that threatened the overthrow of the newly restored democracy under President Corazon Aquino. In his haste to force the resignation of Ms Arroyo and in his frustration over the dismissal by the House of Representatives of the impeachment complaints against the President, Luistro and his cohorts in the Coalition for Truth have engaged in the dangerous game of awakening the sleeping tiger of military adventurism. Luistro's agitation followed the call a week earlier issued by Aquino to the soldiers to join the march she and her associates led from St. Peter Church to the Batasan [Legislature] complex to put pressure on the members of the House to send the complaints to the Senate for trial.

Aquino's call was a bit surprising because in 1989, it was a cabal of young officers who spearheaded the coup attempt and the attack on Malacañang. On the morning of the coup, a cabal led by then Capt. Danilo Lim, suddenly appeared on national TV, in what looked like a junta, and startled the nation with the announcement of the formation of a provisional government.

In July 2003, it was a group of young officers calling themselves the Magdalo group and led by Lt.(s.g.) Antonio Trillanes that staged a mutiny at the Oakwood apartments, and the issue that provoked the mutiny was the grievances over military supplies and equipment for soldiers fighting the war against separatist rebels in Mindanao.

What these outbreaks show is that military adventurism has found a fertile soil in the Armed Forces and lies just under a thin skin.

It remains to be seen whether the controversy and unrest over Adan's appointment constitute sufficient provocation to prompt the young officers to stage a coup or Luistro is misreading the mood of the military. The coups of the 1980s proved to be bloody encounters (although loyalist and rebel troops were quite restrained in shooting one another, averting carnage). Thus, when the general staff led by Gen. Angelo Reyes withdrew support from the government of President Joseph Estrada, Reyes took care that the generals were unified and that the chain of command was not broken.

Should the young officers, fed up with the system in the Armed Forces and with the inconclusive political stalemate, stage a coup on their own, Luistro and his cohorts cannot be assured that a military intervention at this time -- whether initiated by the senior officers or by the Young Turks -- will be as bloodless and peaceful as those in 1986 and Edsa People Power II in 2001.

Luistro and his cabal might be misleading themselves in thinking that when the officers make a move this time, the intervention will be a walk in the park.

One unnamed officer has been reported as saying that the soldiers have not intervened in the present crisis because they wanted first to make sure the people would back them up. According to this report, officers had been discussing among themselves whether to wait for the people to go to the streets, or move in and then ask the people to support them.

The first scenario is possible if Luistro's cohorts, including Aquino, can mobilize a human wave of people on a scale that would impress upon the soldiers the idea that it is time to withdraw support from the President, and for them to tip the balance against the regime. So far, the groups that have been striving to assemble another people power have failed to do so.

Apparently, Luistro reckoned that the Adan controversy could spark a military intervention, after his group of militants failed to ignite a mass street insurrection following the dismissal of the impeachment complaints.

Bully for Doronila!

Kahit kailan talaga, ang hilig ng ibang taong manghimasok sa mga usaping halos wala naman silang kamuwang-muwang. I wonder how the younger officers - say those commissioned in 1994 or younger - have to say about Luistro's statements? 1994 is the benchmark year because those are the officers who are the most senior Captains in the AFP now. And no, they aren't of the same messianic mind as the malcontents Trillanes and Maestrecampo.

SOC ngayon ang mga Class 94 ng PMA, PAFFS and even the OCS Officers. Linawin ko lang para kay Armin Luistro: SOC = Senior Officers Course (Squadron Officers Course for Air Force folks). PMA siguro naman alam na niya. PAFFS = Philippine Air Force Flying School; OCS = Officer Candidate School; these last two are for college grads who want to become AFP Officers without having to go via the PMA.

Kulang-kulang 200 siguro sila ngayon na on-schooling. Andami kong nakausap sa kanila, individually and in groups, tipong tropa-tropa lang, and they are one in saying WALANG UNREST sa Junior Officers, at least NOT as portrayed by some know-it-alls who are actually know-nothings. Siempre may grumbling ("gripes" in AFP-speak) pero wala namang nag-iisip mag-coup, sumali sa coup, o sumabak sa politika. Walang PRAETORIAN mentality.

Alam kaya ni Bro. Civil Military Affairs kung anong "Praetorianism"?

Ano pinagkaiba ng "I am sorry" ni GMA sa "We will bring this all the way to the Supreme Court" statement ni Armin Luistro?

Ah alam ko na!

At least 'yung kay GMA may "sorry" 'di tulad nung iba diyan...

kapatid ng sinungaling ang magnanakaw.

therefore, GMA's marriage to mike is null and void ab initio.

It looks like after a number of witnesses, tapes and political pressuring, there remains no clear progress on this case. Just like a number of the social issues that the Philippines is facing. I wonder where we would be 6 years down the road. Probably we'll still be a budding economy then. It's a wonder that the bud doesn't get nipped.

If they are truly confident that they have a strong case or if their evidences are sufficient enough, they'd be bringing all their allegations in a regular court. The Peoples Court trial is nothing but a political stunt, a very clear PROPAGANDA.

Is that so? "La Salle has been far more consistent with its moral principles." Well, you got another thing coming with this article. "... studied in the wrong school." Think again before passing judgment on the Ateneo based on your comparisons. Did I mention about La Salle fielding ineligible players in the UAAP games?

double post
ˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇ

o eto pa, Mr. de Quiros. pasensya na kayo kung way off sa topic ng thread. Hindi ko lang matiis itong paglalait ni de Quiros who for all his in-depth views about the country, which I am sure many Ateneans agree with, he came real short-sighted and narrow-minded in this case. ano ba 'yan? feeling regretful pa siya for having "studied in the wrong school" when the other school he's been praising seems to be doing the same despicable Arroyo like behavior that he despises so passionately.

This story was taken from www.inq7.net
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http://news.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?ind...&story_id=68120


The original sin
First posted 00:27am (Mla time) Mar 03, 2006
By
Inquirer

THE Philippine Jesuits are not the only religious order trying to shepherd their community in these trying times. However, they do enjoy a reputation for intellectual rigor and mental discipline that traditionally guarantees them widespread attention, if not agreement. Since the present political crisis began, the Philippine province of the Society of Jesus has made the effort to publish -- and publicize -- guidelines for discerning the situation to their fellow religious, faculty, staff and even students.

The Jesuits, since the Third Republic, have had a tradition of being actively engaged in the political sphere in pursuit of reform. The national condition prior to martial law was best expressed by Jesuit Fr. Pacifico Ortiz's invocation before the State of the Nation Address, after which event Ferdinand Marcos was assaulted by protesters, igniting the First Quarter Storm. Ortiz (a former presidential chaplain) became a delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention, a tradition continued by Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ. The various Ateneo universities in the Philippines have as much a connection to the grass roots as any other organization, because of their decades-long immersion programs.

After its initial set of guidelines, issued in July last year shortly after the question of legitimacy began to hang over the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Philippine province of the Jesuits has issued another one. It is being widely discussed in Catholic, non-Catholic and even irreligious and thus profoundly secular circles. The immediate cause of concern to the Jesuits is Presidential Proclamation 1017, the circumstances surrounding its issuance, and the behavior of officials tasked with implementing both the proclamation and General Order No. 5. In no uncertain terms, military intervention to topple the government is condemned as dangerous and immoral. But equally forcefully, the government's reaction is roundly criticized by the guidelines. If the country must shudder at the specter of military adventurism egged on by civilian provocateurs, it must also recognize government's culpability in this emerging state of affairs, the Jesuits said.

Point 4 of the guidelines says, "The present administration's actions to frustrate legitimate constitutional means of reform and accountability must be held largely responsible for the present crisis. Government's constant attempts to evade accountability and true reform have made the military solution seem attractive and inevitable to some." It goes on to enumerate what sober and sensible people have recognized all along as the only effective antidotes to further strife and uncertainty: "Thus, it is necessary that the following be addressed with greater urgency: the search for truth on the many controversies of the recent past; the revamp of Comelec [Commission on Elections] and other necessary electoral reforms; reforms in the military; and the continuing search for solutions to the problems of poverty and inequality that beset most of our people."

However, paralysis by over-analysis is not a Jesuit trait, and so they suggest concrete steps to be taken. These range from the uncontroversial and pious ("Gatherings of prayer for peace and a non-violent resolution of the crisis") to the practical and not illegal ("Gatherings to exchange reliable information, and to discern collectively in the light of emerging developments") to the confrontational and even rebellious ("Expressions and actions of protest against the curtailments of democratic freedoms in Proclamation No. 1017").

There must surely be a risk that a government that has forbidden protests in general will find it tempting to include protests against the implementation of a state of national emergency in the list of forbidden acts. After all, to loosely borrow a concept from Ayn Rand, the banality of evil includes a fetish for list-making. And lists of every nature do exist, as Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor let slip, when he tried to soothe Randy David by saying he wasn't on the government's list.

When the prudent and cautious decide on a confrontational cause of action, government surely must take pause to determine if the cure isn't worse than what it considers to be a disease.