‘Was there a huge ‘love gift’ for El Shaddai for throwing its support behind Bongbong Marcos and Sarah Duterte-Carpio?’
PRESIDENTIAL candidate Sen. Manny Pacquiao has likened Bongbong Marcos to a thief for evading media interviews and debates. He has compared him to somebody who claims innocence but refuses to take a polygraph test.
Without mentioning names, the straight-talking former 8-time world boxing champ was clearly referring to Marcos Jr. when he warned that a certain candidate should not be trusted with a high public office. In a separate interview with Boy Abunda, Pacquiao also said people should not vote for Marcos Jr. and Isko Moreno due to corruption issues.
Bongbong’s spokesman, Vic Rodriguez, said that Marcos Jr. “does not and will not engage in negative and hateful campaigning.” It is becoming more evident that the “silence” of BBM has favored most of his rivals, with Vice President Leni Robredo climbing to 19 percent and Pacquiao and Moreno gaining three points each in the recent SWS survey.
The more aggressive Robredo and Pacquiao are, of course, hoping there would be ample time to take down the frontrunning BBM on time for the May 9 national balloting. A political analyst from the Stratbase Albert Del Rosario Institute, Dindo Manhit, said that Pacquiao and Moreno would likely continue to chip away at BBM’s lead.
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Was there a huge “love gift” for El Shaddai for throwing its support behind Bongbong Marcos and Sarah Duterte-Carpio? The question is often asked when religious denominations endorse their preferred candidates for the presidency. The Iglesia ni Cristo has often been the subject of speculations of welcoming and receiving huge “love gifts” during the campaign for national elections.
El Shaddai head Mike Velarde could not state any reasons for their pledge of support. It was Marcos Jr. who announced that he and the Catholic charismatic group share the same beliefs and goals for the good of the country. Brother Mike could not cite any positive or exemplary attribute of Marcos Jr. for leadership or governance, probably knowing that he faces a torrent of rebuttals from many fronts.
El Shaddai has also supported BBM in his failed vice-presidential bid. INC traditionally and strictly votes as a bloc but El Shaddai is less rigid with its member’s political choices.
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People should be celebrating the reversible impact of the Omicron variant which doctors feared would bring more deadlier infections. Church bells should be ringing in Metro Manila alone where surges would oftentimes top the national statistics bringing more deaths. We are sure this was God’s answer to the endless prayers that stormed the heavens.
The unforeseen relief came at a time when widespread despair was setting in as entire households were getting infected and hospitals were starting to be overwhelmed again.
People hardly recognized the spiritual dimension that could only explain the mutation suddenly leading to a degraded non-deadly variant.
Instead of frolicking at the beaches or getting drunk at bars we should fill up churches to convey our overflowing gratitude to Our Lord Our God. Was the moment providential that it should come a few months before the national and local elections for us to exhibit a moral transformation in our political beliefs and choices as dictated by the hard lessons of the pandemic?
