Opinion
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2020
Adelle Chua, Editor
NAKED THOUGHT
CHARLIE V. MANALO
Stories
THE FIFTH GOSPEL JUDE ACIDRE WHEN I started writing this column a year ago, our editors asked me what the titleof my column would be. I instinctively replied, “The Fifth Gospel.” At first, they thought I would be writing about religion, an idea that the editors readily welcomed OPEN since this paper doesn’t have a religious column. THOUGHTS But I explained that it wouldn’t simply be ORLANDO about religion. It would be about faith as a lived experience, as a living reality. It would OXALES be as if the Gospel were retold through our ordinary everyday experience. The Fifth Gospel would narrate the story of our faith from the perspective of our everyday lives.
The Gospels are our stories of grief, pain and frustration, as well as of joy, fulfillment and triumph. That was a year ago. Fifty-plus weeks later, I have written on a wide range of timely topics—from politics to religion, from historical facts to current events, from aspirations of faith to policy proposals. We often mistakenly think that the Gospels are simply the Biblical accounts of Christ’s life and ministry. But far from being more than just historical narratives or an eyewitness account of the biography of Jesus—the Gospels are stories of faith shared and passed on by telling and retelling what happened to Jesus and what he did and taught. In the end, the four evangelists were defining Jesus and his message from the perspective of their own lived experience. With churches closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I spent the Holy Week this year watching the series, “The Chosen”—a beautiful retelling of the life of Jesus by American filmmaker Dallas Jenkins. Unlike previous films on the life of Christ, Jenkins enriched the Biblical narratives by portraying Jesus “through the eyes of those who met him.” So the opening episode focuses on Mary Magdalene and the apostles Peter and Andrew and their encounter with Jesus—and Christ’s invitation to radical discipleship. The next episodes feature Mary at the wedding at Cana, Matthew at the tax collector’s booth and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well— and Christ’s response to their own doubts and uncertainties. The season ends with the Jewish scholar Nicodemus who visited Jesus in secret, and their dialogue about the truth of Christ’s mission. The truth is that the Gospels are our stories— and they cannot be too far removed from our
ON THE first week of October next year, candidates for national and local elective positions will have to file their certificates of candidacy with the Commission on Elections. CROSSROADS It is a date, a deadline so near, and yet so far from the public mind at theJ.A. moment. In the proximate DELA past, the race for the CRUZ presidency would already be warming up by this time. But because public interest, nay fear, is still fixated on the health crisis and its ill effects on people’s lives and the macro-economy, 2022, though so near, is yet so far. It was not like this in 2014. With both SWS and Pulse Asia publicizing their quantitative readings of the public pulse, interest was periodically generated on who could possibly beat the then vice-president, Jejomar Binay, who for the past three years had consistently topped the metrics of public esteem. He looked like a sure winner in the 2016 elections. The second quarter 2014 surveys gave Jojo Binay some 40 percentage points, while the administration’s champion and Noynoy Aquino’s heir apparent, Mar Roxas, was a far 15 percentage points low. So many politicians were angling to be Binay’s team-mate, from movie actors-turned- senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla, and another popular political figure, Sen. Chiz Escudero being mentioned. But Janet Napoles entered the public consciousness, and the stink from her ghost-project shenanigans threw away the chances of the actor-politicians who had to worry instead about saving themselves from conviction. With Mar’s figures yet anemic, many were egging the popular senatorial topnotcher
own experiences—of grief, pain and frustration, as well as of joy, fulfillment and triumph. In writing this column, I would not want to make any pretenses about being a good Catholic. I describe myself as “practicing” Catholic—who continues to be a “work in progress” and to learn how to live out our faith more meaningfully. I make no secret of my own struggles and mistakes, as well as with the grace of God’s providence. With this column I hope to underscore that notwithstanding the rise of a secular culture, faith and religion will always retain its enduring importance. In our time, many are often quick to conclude that with fewer and fewer people going to church, it seems that religion has now lost its touch with modern man. This observation, I believe, is far from the truth. For one, a fact that is often overlooked is that there are more people of faith than unbelievers anywhere in the world. This means religion will always be an intrinsic part not only of our individual lives, but of humanity’s collective existence, providing our lives with the meaning and purSO pose that only faith can give. The real threat to our faith, however, is not I SEE in the fact that the number of those staying away from religion continues to be LITO on the BANAYO rise—but in the reality that believers have learned to “compartmentalize” their faith from their other everyday concerns. This is perhaps what Pope Francis had in mind when in the document “Evangelii Gaudium”—the pope wrote, “The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by CROSSROADS consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the J.A. feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, a DELAand CRUZ blunted conscience. Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades.” Take for example, politics. The prevailing secular attitude, wrongly thought to be established by the constitutional dictum of the separation of Church and State, is that politics should be unmoored from religion. We forget that many of the great persons in the Bible were people in politics. Moses grew up in the Egyptian court. Saul was the first king of Israel. David was a consummate leader of his people. Daniel the prophet advised the kings of Babylon. Jonah was a revolutionary of sorts, calling the king and people of Nineveh to conversion. Matthew was a tax collector working for the Roman colonial power. Nicodemus was himself a Pharisee, a religious elite that swayed significant political power. Zacchaeus was a corrupt official who found wholeness in knowing the power of God’s mercy. It was in their politics that these men found God and grew in the faith. In our time and for many of us, it could be in business, in our professions, in our homes and workplaces that we could encounter God and bring others to meet him. So the invitation remains for us to find God where we are—or more beautifully, to allow God to find us, and in each of our own callings, write our own Fifth Gospels.
Calm and candor
I
N 18 recorded interviews conducted in February and March, United States President Donald Trump told veteran journalist Bob Woodward that he was aware of how deadly the coronavirus was but that he was playing it down on purpose to avoid causing panic among the people. Publicly, at around the same time, Mr. Trump likened the virus to the Truthful, fact-based and common flu, telling Americans it compassionate leadership would magically disappear when the will automatically inspire weather got warmer. Woodward, of course, is one of two confidence in the people. journalists who broke ground by reporting on how a Richard Nixon-led White House knew about and covered NAKED had not taken the virus’ threat so lightly up a break-in at the rival party’s head-THOUGHT in public, his followers would have takquarters at the Watergate Hotel. He has en greater precaution, and there would CHARLIE V. fewer cases and deaths—Mr. been the subject of an Academy Awardhave been MANALO winning film. He has written numerous Trump is blaming Woodward for not books on prominent figures. exposing his revelations earlier if he Woodward’s stature and credibility thought they would be harmful. are likely why Mr. Trump, known for That the president has lied is no his narcissism, spoke with the journal- longer new. Mr. Trump has shown time THE FIFTH ist so candidly in the first place, even and again his healthy disrespect for the GOSPEL as he knew his words were going to be truth, caring only whether something recorded. Now that he is being pilloried JUDE would be beneficial to him or not. for lying to the American people—if he The other question that this episode ACIDRE
The tea leaves for 2022 have not settled. OPEN
Nobody THOUGHTS but a very few, mostly from Davao, gave a second thought to the possibility of its long-time mayor, Rodrigo ORLANDO Duterte, gunning for the country’s premier OXALES post in the middle of 2014. Not even as the year drew to a close. Speculation was more centered on whether Mar Roxas could catch up with the wounded Binay, or whether Grace Poe would throw her hat into the ring as well. Or, as Malacanang wished, a MarGrace ticket could yet be forged. “Pang senador lang ‘yan,” most political observers declared of Duterte. Or “baka sakali, pang bise.” Yet beginning the last week of January 2015, and especially coinciding with the massacre of the Mamasapano 44, the interest in Duterte slowly began. Still, the first quarter surveys of that year showed the mayor of Davao quite far from the surveyed front-runners. The rest, of course, is history. But these parlous days, few even bother to guess about the 2022 presidential derby. Surviving the health crisis amid a crum-
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bling health system presided over by its bumbling leadership, and furthermore, worrying about the well-being of the mortally-affected economy are foremost in the public mind. A float by some rather obscure personalities about a revolutionary government presided over by the incumbent himself, with the support of the military, was immediately shut down both by the President and his subalterns. The speculation about the President being succeeded by his daughter, the current Davao City Mayor Inday Sara, has been muted both by her disavowals and by the COVID crisis. Further speculation on Sen. Bong Go, the president’s favorite, whose name Duterte mentions at every opportunity, has likewise been drowned out by the pandemic’s tsunami of ill fate. But the hands of time do not stop, and unless something out of the extraordinary happens, the October deadline to file is just about a year away. When will the presidential sweepstakes start heating up? In a privately commissioned survey I saw some two weeks ago, from field work done nationwide during the first weeks of August, the leading candidate is the personable Isko Moreno, mayor of the City of Manila, with less than a fifth of the total votes as of this time.
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raises is this: During a crisis, should our leaders sound the alarm and inform the people of dire prospects, or should they act like cheerleaders, boosting people’s confidence and assuring them that everything will be all right? This betrays a simplistic, either-or way of thinking, one that has become too common among politicians and constituents alike. It also assumes that people are ignorant and do not have the capacity to gather information on their own, much less think for themselves outside of the trite lines fed them by those who control the narrative. The approach, then, is that it does not have to be one or the other. Leaders have the responsibility to be truthful during a crisis—especially during a crisis. People have to know the situation they are in and the prospects they face. Panic is a very real consequence, but it can be stemmed by a calm demeanor that comes from a fair appreciation of the facts and a sound plan, for the short and long term, on how to navigate the crisis. Such leadership would automatically inspire confidence and cooperation.
Tragic abandonment
IN WEDNESDAY’S Pre-Budget Briefing on the Department of Health’s (DOH) proposed 2021 budget conducted by the House of Representatives Committee on Health, Chairperson Rep. Angelina ‘Helen’ Tan exercised the committee’s oversight function and probed into the implementation and funding of the Universal Health Care Act, the National Integrated Cancer Control Act (NICCA) and other health legislation. Responding to a query on the highest cause of deaths in the country, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that heart related disease was number one and the second is cancer. Yes, cancer is a leading cause of death and disability in the country that according to the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Human Genetics, National Institutes of Health kills four Filipinos every hour—96 lives lost every day! Compare that with the country’s total death from COVID 19 which by DOH update as of this writing is at 4,108. In the same number of months, there would already have been 17,200 cancer deaths. Global figures are just as alarming. NAKED When President Duterte signed into the of 2013, Grace Poe to run, among them her THOUGHT law Republic Act 11218 (NICCA) in Febclose friend Escudero, who was spokesman ruary last year, millions of cancer stakefor the ill-fated presidential run of her father, CHARLIE V. holders were looking forward to an end to the popular FPJ. MANALO decades of struggle and frustration of the But surprises would yet upset the well-oiled government’s neglect in addressing this and carefully organized Jojo Binay quest. disease. Thanks to great advances in innoAllegations of mind-boggling corruption vative medicines, cancers of certain types and hidden wealth were unveiled against him should not be fatal with early detection and when he and his family ruled Makati for the proper treatment. longest time. And the canary who sang the THE FIFTH NICCA is landmark health legislation that loudest was none other than his long-time was virtually unanimously supported by GOSPEL vice-mayor and confidante. Towards the last both Houses of Congress, crafted through quarter of 2014 and in the JUDE next half of 2015, the collaboration of all cancer stakeholders the nation was fixated by a strip tease of ACIDRE to comprehensively address strategic gaps charges against the front-runner for president, in the country’s cancer control program. Its slowly melting his uber-high survey ratings.
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So near and yet so far SO I SEE LITO BANAYO
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programs will make quality cancer care and treatment more accessible and affordable. It aims to increase survivorship, reduce incidence, lessen mortality, morbidity and disabilities, and improve the well-being of patients, survivors, and their families.
Studies have also shown that cancer patients who get COVID-19 are 16 times more likely to be in the severe and critical categories, the Cancer Coalition of the Philippines said. This is another piece of great legislation, but so far, since the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) were approved 12 months ago, there has been slow progress in its implementation. The all-important National Cancer Council mandated by the law to lead the implementation of its core programs has not even been organized. This pandemic is most cruel to cancer patients. According to the recent statement of Cancer Coalition of the Philippines, cancer screening, cancer care and treatment has been disrupted due to non-availability of facilities or for fear of COVID-19 exposure. For the majority of cancer patients who lack financial capacity, treatments were discontinued because funding assistance were also halted. Another alarming development is a report of the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology that almost 74 percent of its members had cancer patients who either deteriorated or died because they were unable to seek urgent care in the hospital. CCPh further stated: “This situation is now viewed by public health practitioners, oncologists and the cancer community both here and abroad, as a ‘ticking time bomb’ Following him, some four points behind is another mayor, the President’s daughter. Then comes the incumbent vice-president, Leni Robredo, likely the Liberal Party’s standard bearer, just about two points below Mayor Sara. And surprisingly, as if reprising their tight contest for the vice-presidency in 2016, former senator and former Ilocos Norte governor, Bongbong Marcos, a very close fourth. And along comes the Pacman, the “pambansang kamao” turned politician, Sen. Manny Pacquiao, also a close fifth. Altogether, the five frontrunners at this point in time, namely, Isko, Sara, Leni, Bongbong and Pacman ratchet up a total of some two-thirds of early electoral predispoSO sitions. The other third is divided, in small I SEE bite-size pieces, by other legislators and a LITO governor from Southern Tagalog, with 10 percent still undecided. BANAYO But these are early days. Quite near in time, but still too far from the public mind. Surprises may yet emerge, as Rodrigo Duterte surprised everybody in the previous CROSSROADS presidential elections. Or the death of Cory Aquino brought forth the surprise J.A. presidency DELA CRUZ of her son, Noynoy, in 2010. The tea leaves haven’t settled and the pot, which should be warming up at this time, is still too cold for any reading to be made.
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or a ‘shadow curve’ that has not yet been recognized, but could well lead to large increases in diagnosis of advanced cancers, progression of disease, deaths, unnecessary complications, and disabilities. Studies have also shown that patients with cancer who get COVID-19, are 16x more likely to be in the severe and critical categories.” As convenor of CitizenWatch Philippines, we strongly support the call of CCPh’s appeal to legislators, “as mandated in the law, that a budgetary line item and adequate funding for the implementation of the programs under the NICCA be institutionalized in the Government Appropriations Act.” The cancer stakeholders are asking for starter funds for the Cancer Assistance Fund (CAF) as the NICCA mandates and needs fast action now that the traditional sources of medical assistance for cancer patients such as the PCSO was discontinued. Cognizant of the government’s priority to overcome this virus from Wuhan, this petition sensibly but urgently seeks support so that cancer patients can catch-up with urgent life-saving procedures and treatments. Based on the proposed DOH budget, cancer stakeholders have reason to worry and the impetus to call out what I feel is a tragic abandonment of cancer patients and their families. There is no line item for the Cancer Assistance Fund, the DOH proposed budget for cancer access program is P137 million which would help only a nominal number of breast and childhood cancer patients. In solidarity with the CCPh, we call our representatives in Congress, now exercising their power of the purse, to “again show your compassion and concern for cancer patients by ensuring that there are adequate funds allocated for full implementation of all the critical components of this law.” DOH 2018 data reported 110,000 new cases diagnosed yearly and the death toll from cancer for both adults and children is about 66,000 Filipinos per year. We know that we must win this virus war first but at the very least, the appropriations for NICCA should be institutionalized in the GAA.
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