The poor must not be stopped from running for president

PROCLAMATION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD: “Proclamation of the Kingdom of God” is the third mystery in the Mysteries of Light, or Luminous Mysteries, of the Holy Rosary of the Roman Catholic Christians, and an account of it is found in Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:14 and Luke 4:15 of the Bible.

In Matthew 4:17, the story is told that when Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been put in prison, He returned to Galilee, and then lived in Capernaum, by the lake in Zebulun and Naphtali, to fulfil what the prophet Isaiah said.

“From that on, Jesus began to preach,” the same Biblical verse says, and what Jesus started to preach was this: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

In Mark 1:14, an almost identical account is found, thus: “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. `The time has come’, he said. `The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.’”

In Luke 4:15, on the other hand, this is what is written: “He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.” Luke however says that Jesus began to preach after he was tempted for forty days in the desert.

What is the lesson that we can derive from the third mystery of the Mysteries of Light?
It is that, there is a need for man, who has become wicked and mired in sin, to repent, stop sinning, and make the good news of God---the Bible nowadays---a necessary part of his life.

-ooo-

DUQUE MUST EXPLAIN LACK OF FACILITIES IN GOV’T HOSPITALS: Health Secretary Francisco Duque III may have to answer why nine or so government hospitals refused to admit and assist a 30-year old woman-resident of Las Pinas City whose life and the lives of her twin babies were in grave danger as the twins waited to be born before Christmas eve 2009.

The reason given by the hospitals---that they did not have the facilities to help the mother and the twin babies---smacks of gross incompetence and terrible neglect of duty on the part of Duque, as chief health dispenser of the Arroyo government.

How come, despite the billions of pesos in the Department of Health’s annual budget, there are no instruments for a very basic medical situation which could spell the difference between life and death for millions of Filipinos?

Was Duque contented to treat loss of lives and limb for patients who will be deprived of medical help as mere collateral damage and unfortunate casualties worthy of nothing else but consignment to the dustbin of the department’s statistics?

-ooo-

POOR FILIPINOS MUST NOT BE PREVENTED FROM RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT: If I were to have my say with the Commission on Elections about the issue of allowing people to run for president in the May 2010 elections whether or not they appear to have the capacity to mount a nationwide campaign, I will allow everyone who wants to run to simply run.

It is not enough that, as the poll body announced on Christmas day, December 25, 2009, it would allow two more candidates to proceed with their candidacies, but continue to disqualify all the other 90 or so candidates.

The reason is that, imposing a requirement or a qualification so that one could become a presidential candidate in the Philippines which is not found in the 1987 Constitution, constitutes a culpable violation of the basic charter of the land and is in fact discriminatory against poor Filipinos.

I totally agree with the observations of Born Again Bishop Noberto Lacierna Mercado of San Manuel, Tarlac, a presidential candidate who is being disqualified by the Comelec, that everyone but everyone who wants to run for the presidency, whether rich or poor, should be allowed to run.

Who knows, these “alternative candidates” may even have ideas which may ultimately prove beneficial to the country and the people.

-ooo-

LAPUS MUST RE-ASSERT SPIRITUAL DIMENSION IN PHILIPPINE EDUCATION: While the 2010 budget allocated for the Department of Education is not even 10 percent of the total governmental budget for next year, Secretary Jesli Lapus should already be thankful that his department is one of the agencies that got a bigger slice for its operations.

But then, if Lapus wants to leave a lasting legacy as secretary of education for which he will be remembered for generations to come long after he is gone, he must now endeavour, in the closing months of his stewardship of the department that takes charge of the education of elementary and high school students, to introduce a spiritual dimension in what is being taught to the young.

The Bible says, in its Proverbs 22: 6, “train the child in the way that he should go, and when he grows old, he will not depart from it.”

Now is the time, for Lapus and everyone one else involved in educating the Filipino youth, to reintroduce them once again to God and to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit through a curriculum that will require the reading of the Holy Bible as part of the educational process.

For the Muslims and those from other faith, a curriculum that will require the reading of the Koran and the other Holy Books can be laid out for them, too.

-30-