‘As a health advocate, he has helped thousands in confidently confronting various health issues.’

BARRY Gutierrez, the former spokesman of former Vice President Leni Robredo, says the meeting between the former VP and Vice President Sara Duterte only touched on personal issues.

For sure, Duterte would not openly state her agenda in her first face-to-face encounter with President Bongbong Marcos’ closest rival in the last presidential elections. Was she trying to warm up to Robredo who was the object, for a time, of her father’s bruising political attacks when she was the VP.

Robredo, who will run as mayor of Naga City, still represents the political opposition, which has chosen to lie low after the stunning but controversial Marcos-Duterte victory.

Was the meeting the start of reconciliation efforts between the two camps? With the rivalry between the Marcoses and the Dutertes turning more intense, the current VP knows that a possible alliance with Robredo and the genuine opposition will shore up her and her father’s dwindling political support.

For Robredo, it may go down to who between the Marcoses and the Dutertes left or is doing real public service and genuine sacrifice for the people. And who left a longer and more notable trail of oppression, misery, crime and social and political inequality.

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Our heart goes out to the very popular Dr. Willie Ong, who is battling a rare form of aggressive stomach cancer. As a health advocate, he has helped thousands in confidently confronting various health issues. Positive feedback on recovery and healing has been substantial.

The selfless doctor has provided much of his expertise and experience for free on various online platforms. Dr. Ong admits that his deadly ailment may have been caused by bashers that tore into his emotional and mental wellness.

It is somehow hard to believe that behind his endearing demeanor is an esteemed personality highly vulnerable to public criticism and insults. Maybe, he could not subdue the resentments, bitterness and depression that welled up inside him like a burning furnace, ultimately leading to a large cancerous tumor.

There is something powerful in openly accepting the love and mercies of God and in embracing the truth that Jesus suffered and died for us. After Dr. Willie has forgiven his detractors, as he stated (he even exhorted everyone else to do the same), he can be sure of the mighty power of the Holy Spirit to touch and heal him. As we know, forgiveness is essential for divine healing. People actually get healed when Holy Spirit-filled Christians lay hands on and pray for them.

Most have accepted their sickness as a means of God bringing them closer to Him, which is quite unbiblical. There is absolutely no passage in the Bible that says God wants you to be sick or be infirmed so that you can truly worship and believe in Him. It is the devil who came “to steal, kill and destroy.” But “Jesus came to give us life, and life in abundance,” which is genuine abundance not only in our spiritual growth but also in abundance directly pertaining to our well-being, good health, emotional and physical strength, material prosperity and success in our profession or business.

The founder of the largest oil company and the world’s first billionaire, John D. Rockefeller, was a shining example. At the age of 35, he was diagnosed with a very rare and deadly disease, with doctors giving up on him and telling him he had only six months to live. He tried putting his life together and reconciled with hostile business rivals, along with many others who had maligned, misled, or disrespected him for many years. He started giving away his huge fortune to innumerable charities and philanthropy work and built hospitals, research centers and schools. Rockefeller eventually recovered and went on to live until 97.

The following were among his notable quotes: “This Sunday School has been of help to me, greater perhaps than any other force in my Christian life, and I can ask no better things for you than that you, and all that shall come after you in this great band of workers for Christ, shall receive the same measure of blessedness which I have been permitted to have. And, we are never too old to study the Bible. Each time the lessons are studied comes some new meaning, some new thought which will make us better.”