‘And so, I must stand corrected. Padre Damaso’s children still walk the streets of the Philippine countryside…’
TIME and again, Filipinos complain that some religious sects wield too much political power in the country, a throwback to the dark days when Padre Damasos walked the earth.
For Catholics, our brothers in the Iglesia ni Kristo are the greatest offenders. Known to vote as a bloc, the INC is not shy in wielding its voting power that can swing an election one way or the other in tight local or even congressional races where a few thousand votes can mean victory or defeat.
Actually, methinks part of the Catholics’ bitching about the INC is borne out of jealousy. There’s no Catholic vote, you see.
Years back, the flock of Bro. Mike Velarde with their white handkerchiefs was also a political power. Politicians would troop to the Luneta grandstand to get their hands raised by Bro. Mike, the all-important cue to loyal followers to vote accordingly. Because the endorsement of Bro. Mike was the endorsement of God, I suppose.
There was even one Presidential election where Bro. Mike was going to indicate his preference for the presidency by intoning the words “Tiyak Yun” while raising the hand of the candidate. He did that when Joseph Estrada was his guest; funny, at the next prayer rally Estrada’s rival, Jose de Venezia, appeared and also had his hand raised by Bro. Mike again saying the same words. So many were confused, but it seems the “second coming” was a simple accommodation to a candidate desperately playing catch up.
Actually, I suppose Erap would have won by a landslide even without the El Shaddai endorsement.
The same could be said for Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the self-proclaimed son of God who had his heyday during the Duterte presidency. Quiboloy held court in Davao and every politician who was willing to grovel at his feet would go hoping to get God’s blessings. Now the Pastor is running for the Senate while incarcerated and isn’t even landing in the winner’s circle in pre-election surveys. If he can’t get God to get him to win, how were his blessings of any help to those who kissed his ring?
If our politicians continue to cower before religious leaders let us be clear: it is not out of fear of God’s wrath, but out of a desire for votes. The religious sects I named above are all organizations that speak the word of God but do the work of Man to meet the needs and ambitions of their leadership. You need money to run a church organization, be it Rome, the INC, El Shaddai or the PAQ’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ. And one good way to access money is to have influence (if not power) because when you have influence you can access money and the more money you access the more influence you can wield. But some are more effective at this game than others. And because they play this game, I need to use the word religious inside quotation marks.
So that’s why I laughed when I heard that a Catholic priest in Palawan warned politicians of the province that they (the Catholic clergy?) would ensure the defeat of any politician who is pro-mining.
Really? That priest is a throwback to the Inquisition.
And so, I must stand corrected. Padre Damaso’s children still walk the streets of the Philippine countryside, hoping to keep politicians – and ordinary people – hostage to the “religious.”.
