Former Philippine senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, greets supporters after filing his candidacy for the 2022 presidential race in Pasay on Oct. 6, 2021. (Photo: AFP)
By Jose Mario Bautista Maximiano, Manila
Feb 18 2022
The emphasis on educating the masses in this election is so that the country can strive to be better
In her book Marcos Martial Law: Never Again, veteran journalist Raissa Robles wrote that Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr., also known as Bongbong Marcos, brokered some technical arrangements in order to recover millions of dollars kept in Swiss banks and used these to bankroll the Marcos political comeback.
In that research-based book, Robles detailed how he told her during a Foreign Correspondents’ Association of the Philippines forum that he gave a signed note directing a Swiss bank to release the “Marcos money” to one “Marcos representative.”
Subsequently, heavily funded with ill-gotten wealth, the siblings and their mother, Imelda Marcos, ran for public offices after their return to the Philippines in 1991, bought allegiances and votes — and won both local and national elective positions.
After 500 years of Christianity, it is a pity that the moneyed can still flood the streets with cash during election time and buy millions of supposedly sacred votes, manipulating the ugly side of the Filipino value called utang-na-loob, or gratitude. If sweet talks, tactical lies and disinformation are added to money, the powerful will absolutely control the poll.
As Pope Francis calls for better politics in his 2020 encyclical Fratelli tutti and in his public statements — “Evangelize and civilize politics” — it seems that one of the most urgent tasks has been placed on the shoulders of the Christian faithful, especially Catholic educators.
Observers think that Philippine politics, known to be a circus with politicians considered as clowns and entertainers during elections, definitely needs to be evangelized and civilized.
We vehemently reject the candidates who run under this platform of lies and historical distortion
It is for this reason that the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), the largest voluntary group of 1,500 schools and 120 Catholic school superintendents across the archipelago, has always offered its facilities and human resources in election-related civic duties and in voter education, particularly among the young.
CEAP executive director Allan Arellano believes that “academic as well as civic excellence are social responsibilities” and, because of this, CEAP has always coordinated with other nationwide church groups called the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) to ensure clean, honest and credible elections and, with the National Movement for Free Elections, to safeguard transparency in counting votes.
In a recent interview, when I asked Arellano why Catholic educators can’t afford to be neutral in the May 2022 elections and why they are so engaged as if the good is waging a spiritual war against evil, he made a simple reply. Voter education, he quipped, is “seen as an expression of love for our country and its people.” And because “this election is a test for all of us to manifest our Christian calling to discern what is right,” he continued, “and fiercely fight for it.”
The CEAP stand is not complicated: The first enemy to defeat is “the massive disinformation that is deceiving our people, especially our youth, in a way that is unparalleled in our history.”
“We vehemently reject the candidates who run under this platform of lies and historical distortion,” CEAP announced in a statement last week, signed by its president Sister Maria Marissa R. Viri, RVM, who is also the current president of the University of the Immaculate Conception-Davao.
Before the 2016 elections in the Philippines, I remember Marcos Jr., then a vice presidential candidate, saying publicly, without blinking an eye, that his father’s legacy was the Bagong Lipunan, the “golden age” in Philippine history. The younger Marcos also said it was the solemn duty of teachers and students of history to make a sound judgment about the Marcos dictatorship.
Right there and then, teachers and professors of Ateneo de Manila University took Marcos Jr.’s own challenge and issued a statement saying he was lying. In March 2016, the CEAP formally adopted Ateneo’s statement against historical revisionism, condemning the willful distortion of history and deploring “the shameless refusal to acknowledge the crimes of the martial law regime.”
It appears the massive efforts exerted by Filipino Catholic educators made a dent in the 2016 elections. Marcos Jr. lost and Leni Robredo won the vice presidency.
Also in the 2016 elections, 16 million Filipinos, mostly Catholics, a number of Catholic priests and nuns included, voted for somebody who cursed Pope Francis when he got stuck in heavy traffic during the papal visit in 2015, who mindlessly called God “stupid,” the Catholic Church the most hypocritical institution, the bishops thieves, and the priests gays.
The reason why there is emphasis on education is that we should continue to strive to be better
That was in 2016. The question now that begs an answer is this: What would happen next when Marcos Jr. — the deposed dictator’s son — emerges as the frontrunner to replace Rodrigo Duterte in the May 2022 elections? Does it matter that CEAP is determined to fight the spiritual war until hell freezes? Does it matter that Catholic educators are endlessly working toward the deepening of the youth’s electoral engagement by using infographics, webinars and workshops, discernment groups, discussion forums on social media, and networking activities with like-minded organizations?
If after all this hard work and politics has not been “civilized and evangelized” or even exorcized at this significant period in Philippine history, I should say, truly, we Filipinos deserve the government we choose in May.
In my interview with Arellano, what he said caught my utmost attention. “The reason why there is emphasis on education is that we should continue to strive to be better. We cannot be perfect but we have to keep on marching towards perfection as our Lord desires that we keep on getting better,” he concluded.
Jose Mario Bautista Maximiano is a Catholic theologian and author of the three-volume work on the Chronological and Thematic Essays: 500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines, published by the Claretians. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News. – UCANews
