Pride always spoils dialogue

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
October 9, 2018

ESPECIALLY in our public discourses regarding ticklish issues, we need to see to it that we are most aware of a persona-non-grata that is called pride. We should keep it at bay, exerting appropriate effort to resist its many strong impulses and urges.

Pride always spoils dialogue. It feeds on our self-interest to the point of making us deaf and blind to the points, let alone, the valid points, of the others. It usually sources its strength more from feelings than from reason, more from our own estimation of things than from faith that gives us the full picture of things and leads us to the common good.

Besides, pride usually has bad manners and employs bad language. It always tries to dominate the conversation, using bullying tactics. It is more interested in scoring more points than in earnestly looking for what is true and fair. Its logic clearly follows the path of selfishness. Charity is a complete stranger in pride. Suffering and humiliations play no positive role in pride.

When one, for example, is accused falsely of something, pride would lead him to react very badly, and even violently. He cannot stand being misjudged and mistreated. His pride-stained sense of justice would immediately give a knee-jerk response along the lines of the tooth-for-a-tooth law of the wild.

Pride leads one to see things superficially. There is no depth in its considerations. It gets entangled in the externals and in the appearances. Besides, it usually assumes a rigid attitude, unable to be flexible and to adapt to different circumstances. It makes a person one-track-minded. A proud person is always closed-minded.

Let’s remember what Christ said about new wine in new wineskins. It is a lesson about the need to adapt to different situations without forgetting that we have to put wine into wineskins, that is, without losing focus on what is essential and of absolute value. (cfr Lk 5,33-39) There are things that need to change and things that have to remain unchanged. These days there is a need to know which is which.

Pride is notorious for its highly divisive effects. When pride dominates the discussion, it is possible that both parties can also be both wrong, missing the real point. They can dirty and destroy each other with no constructive result in the end.

We have to be extremely conscious of the workings of pride in us, because it is so embedded in our systems that we often would not know we are being victimized by it. A saint once said that pride is so strongly incorporated in our life that it would only disappear twenty four hours after our death.

The antidote to pride is, of course, the virtue of humility. In the context of our discussions, humility is lived when one is strongly motivated to find truth under God’s guidance. The search for what is true and fair in our discourses cannot and should not simply be guided by our own research and reasoning.

Allowing God to guide us, always asking for the light of the Holy Spirit, will help us to find truth and fairness in charity. With God, we would know how to react to any situation in the course of our dialogues, whether things go well or not. We would follow closely the example of Christ who is “the way, the truth and the life.”

With Christ, our motives will always be pure, and our ways prudent. With Christ, we would know how to react properly to anything in the course of our exchanges. We would be willing to suffer, and even to die, for the truth. The negative things that we can experience in our dialogues would not dampen our spirit, nor the positive things spoil us.

This kind of humility should be earnestly pursued and developed to prevent pride from spoiling our discussions of any issue.

PCID calls for probe on deaths of 7 youths in Patikul

A statement by Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy
September 19, 2018

The Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy, a Muslim think tank based in the University of the Philippines, is urging the Commission on Human Rights, the Secretary of National Defense, and the Armed Forces Chief of Staff to form a committee that would look into the deaths of seven young men in Sulu and recent bombings in several parts of Mindanao.

PCID is also calling for President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to review the current implementation of Martial law in Mindanao and investigate reported human rights violations not just in Sulu but in other parts of Mindanao.

Rasul says government and stakeholders should act proactively now and establish a national plan that addresses violent extremism, bearing in mind potential problems with the implementation of martial law.

Information indicate that ISIS intends to form a big group composed of remnants of the Maute Group and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a break-away group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) while taking advantage of situations like the Sulu killings.

PCID is proposing a gathering of stakeholders with the AFP-SND, to create a plan that aims to further improve coordination and relationships of assigned troops in the region and those from the religious and the communities.

Findings show that most deaths in Mindanao are caused by several factors, among them, the absence of coordination by the military with community leaders, miscommunication or lack of information from AFP units operating in the area.

Last Saturday, the AFP reported the deaths of seven young men in Sulu. Based on reports, the AFP tagged these teenagers as “terrorists” which run counter with testimonies of members of the community. Information gathered show that the youngsters were evacuees from a community in Patikul who fled the area due to intense military operation against the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).

The priest as mediator

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
September 16, 2018

WE have to understand well the role of a mediator. He is like a bridge that connects two ends. A perfect mediator is one where he is both in the one end as in the other. He just cannot be in one end but not in the other, though he may orient or dispose himself to the other without reaching it.

Christ is a mediator between God and man. In fact, he is the sole perfect mediator because he is both God and man. St. Paul testified to this truth of our faith. He said, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…” (1 Tim 2,5)

Christ is the perfect mediator because he is not only God but is also man. And he is not only man, but also God. As the Athanasian Creed would put it, Christ is “perfect God and perfect man.” He is not half God and half man. The two natures, divine and human, are together in him inseparably without diluting each other. He is not a ‘mestizo.’

This truth of our faith is, of course, a mystery. We cannot fully understand it. But we believe it because Christ said so and this is what the Church now teaches. “I and the Father are one,” Christ said at one time, pointing to his divinity. (Jn 10,30)

As to his humanity, St. Paul said these relevant words: “When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” (Gal 4,4-5) Only a man could be “born under the law.”

This little explanation about the mediator is important and relevant because we, as human persons, patterned after Christ, have to learn the ways of a mediator. Of course, of all men and women, the priests are especially meant to be mediators, because they are at the forefront of the task of reconciling men with God.

With the sacrament of Holy Orders, they are configured to Christ, head of the Church, and participate in Christ’s task of mediation in a very intimate way. That is why priests, of all men and women, have to be particularly adept in this art of mediation.

While they are already sacramentally configured to Christ as head of the Church, they have the special, albeit very demanding, duty of truly assuming the mind and heart of Christ. If everyone is meant to be “another Christ,” the priests have to be particularly so. They have to lead the way.

This can mean many things. Their mind and heart should be both on heaven even as they are on earth. They should exude the fragrance of heaven even as they can also have the odor of earth, just like what Pope Francis said about priests as shepherds – they have to have the smell of the sheep which they tend.

Like Christ, they have to identify closely both with God and with men. Like Christ, they have to pray constantly so as to be always in touch with God whose will and ways they have to follow.

Let’s remember that Christ said: “I have come down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me.” (Jn 6,38)

Like Christ, priests have to mix well with the people, adapting themselves to them all the way to assuming their sins without committing sin. In this regard, St. Paul said: “God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5,21)

Just imagine what practical considerations can be made from this ideal of priests as mediators like Christ!

A reminder on communion

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
September 5, 2018

BEFORE we get carried away by the dynamics of our present life, it is good to remind ourselves that whatever we do or whatever situation we may find ourselves in any given moment, we are meant for communion with God and with one another and that we should keep and foster it, and not just tolerate or suffer it.

Always living in communion with God and with everybody else is not an option that we are free to choose or not. It is a necessity for us, although a necessity that has to be pursued in true freedom. We should live it not because we are told to live it, but because we just want to live it (“me da la gana,” in Spanish) and because we are convinced it is what is essential in our life.

While we will always have some differences in our life and contend with all kinds of variety and diversity, we have to remember that all these are not meant to undermine our communion, but rather to foster it.

Our unavoidable differences and conflicts are not meant to be divisive, but rather to be instrumental in enriching our life as a communion. We just have to find a way to live and develop that communion amid and even through these differences and conflicts.

These differences and conflicts are rich opportunities to mature and purify our love and care for one another. They can occasion to develop in us the love that is a reflection and participation of the love that God has for us.

Obviously, the basis, source, power and end of communion is God who has also given us all the means for this communion to be achieved. With God, who reveals himself in full to us in Christ who in turn is made present in the world today in the Holy Spirit, we would know how to enter into communion with everyone including those who for one reason or another we may consider to be our enemies.

It is only through Christ that we can manage to love even our enemies. This is the dynamics of communion. It is to know and to love God and everybody else. It is to love one another the way Christ has loved us. For this purpose, like Christ we should be willing to suffer and die in obedience to God’s will. We have to be ready for suffering which will be unavoidable in our life.

We have to be wary of our tendency to react to some issues based on instincts alone, or on our physical, emotional, psychological, cultural condition alone. We have to find a way of reacting to things on the basis of our faith which tells us that whatever we do, we should uphold the ideal of being in communion with God and with everybody else.

In this regard, it would be good if we spend some time processing this truth in our prayer, in our intimate conversation with God from whom we can always ask for the necessary grace and with whom we can start making the appropriate strategies to attain the desired ideal.

Indeed, we have to go through a process of persistent practice until the necessary attitude and skills are acquired. All the effort needed, to be sure, will always be worthwhile. In the end, we can see and judge things better, and make fair decisions that will uphold our need for communion despite our differences.

We have to remind ourselves about the need for communion especially nowadays when we are riven by all sorts of conflicts because of our differences in political views, ideology and other preferences.

100-day maternity leave OK is PH investment for robust future Filipino workers

ALU Statement on passage of 100-day Expanded Maternity Leave bill
September 4, 2018

Workers group Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) commends lawmakers for passing today Sept. 4, from third reading a bill that expands the paid maternity leave from the current 60 and 78 days to 100 days for women workers in private and public sectors and those working in informal economy regardless of civil status and legitimacy of child.

ALU-TUCP Vice President and Women' Committee head Eva Arcos said the passage of the House Bill 4113 or Expanded Maternity Leave (EML) is a sweet victory for Filipino women workers who have lobbied and belabored for the mandatory welfare for more than a decade.

The bill will be integrated in the bicameral committee meeting with Senate Bill 1305 or the 120-day Expanded Maternity Leave bill sponsored by Sen. Risa Hontiveros which was passed the Senate third reading on March this year.

Arcos said the Expanded Maternity Leave measure is the country's non-cash investment in producing a healthy, intelligent and well-developed future breed of Filipino workers without losing the wages and benefits of nursing moms during maternity period and without sacrificing their health and well-being, Arcos said.

TUCP Party-list rep. Raymond Mendoza said the bill gives mothers a minimum of 100 days to recover from giving birth and at the same time gives time to mother and child bonding, care and nurture that the child needs to become fully developed human being.

Arcos said the passage was made possible after congressmen agreed to limit the maternity leave benefits to four pregnancies instead of the bill’s initial provision that the maternity leave benefits afforded to every pregnancy.

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances: Powerlessness before extra-judicial killings

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
August 30, 2018

Today, the world commemorates the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. Enforced Disappearances is one of the recurring tragedies that is happening throughout the world. Many countries, particularly less-developed countries, now adopt enforced disappearances as the easiest way of dealing with problems that Governments find difficult to cope with. The twin evils of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings remain as the two major problems in several Asian countries.

Bangladesh has recorded several hundreds of enforced disappearances of political opponents of the present Ruling Party within the last few months. The matter has been well publicized. But there have not been any serious interventions in order to bring an end to this iniquity. Other countries such as Pakistan, several parts of India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines are among the countries which are prominent in the practice of enforced disappearances.

The complexity of dealing with enforced disappearances is due to the many sections that are involved in causing enforced disappearances. On the one hand, the orders for clearance of the policy of resorting to enforced disappearances involve the topmost layers of governments. Carrying out its resort goes to the military, police and also para-military sections. The moment a Policy of Disappearances is approved by a Government, there begins to develop a secret state within the state. With Government sanction, the open state comes to a standstill and the secret state begins to operate.

Entire legal procedures regarding arrest and detention are virtually suspended. Allowance is made for secret arrests and secret detentions as well as secret torture chambers. Basic functions within the State relating to the judging of guilt and punishment comes to a halt. Judges totally lose their role in dealing with matters of arrests, detentions, and fair trial. The place of the Judges is taken over by ordinary Police Officers, the military and even para-military. Secret decisions are made about the LIFE of a person, and these decisions are IMMEDIATELY carried out.

Although Governments’ claim that there will be inquiries into the matter and the guilty will be prosecuted, this hardly ever happens. It is due to the complexity of the operations and the many powerful persons who are associated with these operations. A simple argument that develops at this point is: the Government has authorized and even ordered us to carry out such operations. How can they now demand that we should be punished for carrying out such orders?

Enlightened opinion prevalent today has also failed to address this important issue. Somehow a matter of such great importance goes virtually unnoticed. Any amount of jurisprudential thought on these issues, and international policy development in dealing with Governments which are engaged or have been engaging in disappearances, IS NOT VISIBLE AT ALL.

As another year goes by, there will be many additional victims of Enforced Disappearances. Will there be an attempt, at both local and international levels, to put up severe resistance to end this practice? This includes the restoration of the other factors of: a fair trial and the role of Judges in this equation. This remains as one of the major issues that concern Human Rights in our world today. When the lives of so many people are so blatantly destroyed, how can Human Rights be spoken of with any kind of significance and importance?

THIS IS THE QUESTION THAT PEOPLE ARE ASKING.

The fate of Victims of Enforced Disappearances is one of the urgent concerns voiced today. Victims should be given more protection. Victims should and need to be heard by all sectors of society. A genuine response to their cries for help is what is needed NOW.

Let’s always honor our parents

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
August 23, 2018

LET’S never forget the fourth commandment. In fact, with the current temper of the times, we have to reintensify our observance of this commandment that seems to be taken for granted nowadays for a number of reasons.

For one, there seems to be a generalized weakening of family life in the world today. More parents are getting alienated from their children and vice-versa due to some developments whose impact on family life is not well considered.

There are some laws that actually undermine family life, such as the law on abortion, etc. And there are now many aspects of our social and professional life that contribute to this weakening of family life.

We have to remind everyone that the honor, respect, obedience we owe to our parents is due first of all by the fact that they are our first connection with God. It was through them that God put us into existence.

We have to remember that we all come from God, and not only from our parents. When we see our parents, we have to learn to see God immediately behind them. They are the first representative of God to us.
Yes, they all have their share of weaknesses, mistakes and sins, some of them grave, but all these do not and cannot detract from the fact that they are our procreators who cooperated with the Creator in bringing us to life.

They may even beget children through the commission of a crime, like rape. But that again does not take away the truth that they have been an instrument of God in putting a person into existence.

A child is not only a biological being. He has a spiritual soul even while he is still at the first stage of fertilization and gestation. That is why a fertilized human egg is not just a matter of cells. He is already a person with a human spiritual soul.

Parents, of course, should try their best to realize deeply the dignity and the serious responsibility they have. They should not play around with their status as parents.

But as far as the children are concerned, they are duty-bound to honor and love their parents. St. Paul already spoke clearly about this duty: “Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.” (Eph 6,1) And, “Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” (Col 3,20)

Children should try their best to make their parents happy all the time. They should avoid as much as possible to give them problems, especially the unnecessary ones. They should be quick to lend a hand in the house chores. They should prepare themselves for the time when they will have to take care of their parents in their old age.

Inculcating this duty in the mind and heart of the children is crucial because this is the first step that everyone learns how to obey other legitimate authorities. Let’s remember that we as social beings, let alone political ones also, always have to be subject to some authority, and it is important that we know how to be subject to authority.

Everyone should be reminded that any legitimate authority we have in this life is always a participation in the authority of God. Consider the following words of St. Paul:

“Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished…” (Rom 13,1-2)

So, it’s clear that the commandment of honoring our parents, our first authority on earth, paves the way to our proper submission to the other authorities in our life.

On the return of the Balangiga bells

A joint statement by Linganay ng Kalayaan, Kilos na Para sa Makabayang Edukasyon, and Alliance of Concerned Teachers
August 13, 2018

The Linganay ng Kalayaan (Bells of Freedom), Kilos na Para sa Makabayang Edukasyon and Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Philippines welcome the news of the impending return of the bells of Balangiga as a positive step towards correcting the centuries-old historical injustice committed by the United States against the Filipino people. This is a victory achieved by the Filipino people that should be considered as part of the long and arduous campaign in the assertion of Philippine sovereignty and independence.

The Balangiga bells form part of the large number of war booties that the American occupation troops stashed away from the Philippines in the long and bloody Filipino-American War of 1898-1913.

The war resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos, the large-scale burning of villages and the pillaging of communities by American troops that annexed the archipelago and robbed them of the fruits of freedom that they already had after the Philippine Revolution against Spain.

In the pretext of “Benevolent Assimilation,” the American occupation transformed the islands into their Asian outpost as part of their colonial design to create an American Lake in the Pacific region. This they did by creating a submissive colonial bureaucracy and political system, institutionalizing a Western-type of American educational system, and ensuring the continuous economic, political, and military dependence of the Philippines to the United States even after the granting of 'independence'.

In the half century of colonial occupation and in the ensuing long campaign to suppress Filipino resistance against American imperialism, the military campaigns of the United States in the archipelago provided the perfect opportunity for the systematic, organized, and institutional plunder and pillaging of Filipino cultural and historical artifacts and objects that were brought to the United States. A great number of them are now deposited in museums, historical collections, archives, and government and military installations scattered in various American territories.

The Balangiga bells was the most notable of these artifacts that was symbolic of the tradition of collecting colonial war booty American aggression. These should be returned to the Filipino communities that legitimately owned them. The collection of war booties should also be viewed as part of the historical injustice committed by the occupation troops and should be acknowledged as such.

The United States should complete the correction of historical injustice committed against the Filipino people after the return of the bells, by ensuring that all the other war booties be properly returned to the Philippines. Most importantly, historical injustice resulting from the war crimes committed by the United States in the colonial occupation of the Philippines must finally be acknowledged by the American government by way of formally apologizing to the Filipino people.

Historical injustice committed by American colonial institutions continues to this day by way of the Visiting Forces Agreement, the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, and the Mutual Defense Treaty that ensures the persistence of colonial ties between the two countries. These provide yet another series of institutional mechanisms that make available the conditions for the continuation of plunder and pillage of local communities by foreign military troops. The lessons of history must provide the Filipino people the right path of asserting Filipino independence and sovereignty the way the people's resistance in Balangiga heroically showed us. Never again should another series of colonial wars of aggression be experienced in the country.

Return the Balangiga Bells and all the War Booties Now!

Historical Justice for the Filipino People!

No to Another series of US Wars of Aggression!

Valuing life

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
August 8, 2018

NOW that Pope Francis has made it a Church doctrine that the death penalty is inadmissible, we have to review the basis for the true value of human life.

We cannot exaggerate the value of human life, since it is a life meant to have an eternal relation with God, its creator. Even if that life is deformed physically and morally, God will always love it and will do everything to save it. That is why abortion and euthanasia or mercy killing are wrong. They go against the fifth commandment: Thou shalt not kill.

And capital punishment, while approved or at least tolerated in the past, is also wrong, because no matter how bad or criminal a person is, his life can still be saved by the infinite mercy of God. From the Book of Ezekiel, we read: “As I live, said the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” (33,11)

The reason behind its approval or tolerance in the past is the protection of the common good. But this reason does not hold water anymore since there are many other ways the common good can be protected today without resorting to the death penalty.

Besides, given the many imperfections of our legal systems, we cannot risk the loss of life just because of a guilty sentence of the judicial process. The abolition of the death penalty would, of course, challenge us to be more determined in reforming the offender. This may be the area where many of us are still hesitant to tackle.

Human life is, of course, not just any other life here in the world. Plants and animals also have life but they do not have a spiritual soul as their principle of life. Theirs is a soul that is simply a product of a combination of earthly elements that would enable them to grow, move, act in some manner. But it is a soul that disappears with their death.

Human life has a spiritual soul as its principle, and as such, it can survive death. It is immortal and is, in fact, meant for eternal life. It is a soul that comes directly from God and is forever in a relation with God. It is not a soul that is transmitted by human reproduction.

In some passages of the Bible, there is a reference to a distinction between soul and spirit. This is mentioned for example in 1 Thessalonians 5,23: “May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

My take in this distinction between the spirit and the soul is that the spirit refers to our spiritual soul that needs to be nourished by its union with God, while the soul refers to those aspects of our soul that are akin to the soul of the plants and the animals with whom we also share characteristics.

To be sure, we only have one soul, and it is spiritual, though that soul may be affected and conditioned by the similarities it shares with the plant and animal soul. It is this spiritual soul of ours that makes for the basis of the real value of human life.

Having said that, we can also say that out of love for God and for all men, human life can be sacrificed as what happens in the cases of martyrdom and in the crucifixion of Christ himself. As Christ said, this is the greatest proof of love. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15,13)

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