The 1987 Philippine Constitution explicitly provides for the separation of Church in State which is clearly self explanatory but the way things are going the Church is now trying to lord it over the State in almost all aspects of governance. The conduct of political exercises in our country is an opportunity for big and small groups of religious congregations to make their presence felt by coming out with their own gimmicks to show the politicians their influence over their flock in exchange for certain favors for the interest of their leaders and their members.
The true color of our religious leaders is uncovered during elections because of their deeds and the way they handle their congregations to the extent that they go out of their way just to campaign for whom they claim as the genuine or true public servants even if those they are endorsing have questionable moral and leadership foundations. Well, we believe not all religious leaders are corrupt in their own right but there are only a few righteous leaders in our city and country that we could speak of and their numbers could easily be counted by our fingers. The batch of righteous leaders are fast dwindling that at the rate the deterioration of the values of our supposed saviors, the number of bad eggs might have already overtaken the good ones by the middle of the century or even earlier.
Religious leaders always claim that what they are doing is helping the government inform the people on whom to vote during the casting of votes every election, however, such descent excuse already reached its total ware and tare that they now use reasons that such election-related activities are part of their advocacies. Now that the may 2016 general automated elections is just around the corner, it has been noticeable that there had been a significant increase in the number of religious groups going around to seek the help of politicians aspiring for elective posts for their respective groups. Most religious leaders are now frequently inviting the candidates in their respective activities purposely to help in their resource-generation activities. Also noticeable nowadays is the sudden surge in various cause-oriented events spearheaded by the religious groups in the guise of service to the people with an obvious tag of discretely endorsing their supposed righteous candidates.
People willfully attend church events that are organized for information and education campaign because they want to learn what should be done and who are the true leaders that should be put in place. However, many people do not attend mandatory church events that are seemingly aligned with certain politicians being endorsed by a certain religious groups. While it is true that the recently conducted Pulse Check, an activity of the so-called The Baguio that our elite wants is an indication that many of the followers of this religious group already have an inclination of what will happen during the event that is why they do not want to be part of the religious dictatorship and corruption that is currently hounding their congregation. The poor attendance of supposed electorate to the said event should send a clear message to our religious leaders to take a back seat, relax and simply leave the matter of the elections to our politicians, their supporters and the people.
If religious groups intend to emulate such event, ten they must come to the public with clean hands unlike what recently happened that the aforesaid group was clearly endorsing some candidates of their choice whom they believe could help advance their own religious and politician interests. Many of our city electorate are familiar with the issues besetting our beloved Summer Capital and they are also aware of what government has done. Let us not try to use our face value to mislead the people of what is the reality, what would be realizable and what would be attainable. It was observed that many of the people who attended the said activity left because they are already tired of listening to the phrase ‘bring back Baguio to what it was’ or ‘bring back Baguio to the people.’
We find it funny for old Baguio people to be repeatedly talking about bringing back Baguio to what it was. If they can remember, Baguio was planned for only 25,000 but now, the city’s population has grown to more than 200 times during the day. Old pictures of Baguio show that many parts of the city were then barren and grassy lands and that the trees we are seeing were planted by those responsible people who came ahead of us. Now, the supposed environmentalists want the city to go back to what it was several decades ago?
We firmly believe that what should be done is for us to face reality squarely. Let us not dream for the impossible but let us aspire for what would be measurable, attainable and realizable within a certain period of time to put things in order. Let us be open-minded and not allow those with evil motives to lord it over us. Let us not believe on what religious groups, which even went to the extent of previously endorsing the candidacy of an immoral politician, to take us to a ride.
Let us come to the people with clean hands for us to gain their trust and confidence for the benefit of the present and future generations.
