We are thankful that the much-ballyhooed anti-Charter change (Cha-cha) rally, said to have been spearheaded and encouraged by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, did not result in violent street actions. No less than the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, together with responsible Church leaders, had appealed for peaceful protest marches and demonstrations. Of course, the appeals are always our best hope, considering that there are always hotheads and agents provocateur in such rallies who are not content with simply mouthing slogans but often resort to more rash activities to drive home their point.

I always find it strange that many of the usual protesters have no clear idea why they are marching or why they are protesting, except that they have been reportedly paid or brainwashed by false prophets from the ranks of the opposition. The sad part is that from a peaceful march usually come violent actions which often result in forced dispersals, usually to the delight of the media. In many past instances, opposition leaders who instigate these demonstrations are simply after publicity, but because no one can predict the unpredictable, these leaders place demonstrators in harm’s way. When things go wrong, these agitators are the first to cry violations of human rights the loudest, and by their overt acts of instigating people to violence and vandalism, they are actually the ones who want to burn the house down.

As tempting as ice cream to a dieter, many “presidentiables” took advantage of the situation and fielded their gofers bearing leaflets, flyers and campaign materials, which got the goat of some of the rally organizers, who pointedly shooed away these early campaigners, warning them to take politics out of the anti-Cha-cha rally. In all, the rally was peaceful and orderly, a gathering of politically mature citizens out to express their opinions and their thoughts in a democratic manner. This is democracy in action. This is what we have been fighting for in our lifetime.

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Our people are now so engrossed with politics that I believe we, especially our leaders, should pay a little more attention to the developing crisis in the Korean Peninsula, where North Korea has been saber-rattling for the past several months. The North’s recent launch of ballistic missiles and the reported detonation of a nuclear bomb should be an event of the gravest concern for the whole world, and especially for Asia. We must remember that Seoul is less than four hours from Manila, and as weapons of war become more and more sophisticated, any conflagration in the Korean Peninsula will surely engulf Japan, China and Southeast Asian countries. Faced with this dilemma, it is of utmost importance that we should not be complacent in our attitude toward the events in North Korea. As far as I am concerned, the dogs of war are there, except that they have not been unleashed. We must all pray that they will never be unleashed, and that peace will continue to reign during our lifetime.

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As of this writing, the Department of Health has admitted that more than a hundred swine-flu cases in the Philippines have already been recorded. In fact, there could be more. But assuming the statistics are accurate, this does not mean that we can be comfortable with it because the figures show that swine flu has continued to grow in intensity and reach in the past few weeks. It appears that we may not be so lucky this time around compared with all reported epidemics in the past. We went through the bird-flu attack, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, foot-and-mouth disease, and other similar scares, but were spared. But this time, we have been contaminated, meaning that no matter how good the precautions we have imposed, this kind of virus is difficult to contain, although beyond the continuing threat, we can confidently claim that because of the dedicated efforts of government health workers, the country remains relatively safe.

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A monument to the “courage, hospitality and determination of the Philippine government,” in what is known as President Manuel L. Quezon’s “open door” policy to allow thousands of Jews who escaped the Holocaust during World War II to seek refuge in our country, will be inaugurated on June 21 in Rishon Lezion, the fourth-largest city in Israel. This project was made possible through the efforts of our former Ambassador to Tel Aviv Antonio C. Modena. The trek to Manila by European Jews was documented by Frank Ephraim in his book Escape to Manila. Indeed, it brings to light once more the Filipino’s innate compassion and generosity toward his fellowman, respecting the value of human life, especially those who are distressed and persecuted, and I believe that Filipinos who participated in this wartime saga were mindless of the risk to their lives for the sake of other human beings. This is the Filipino spirit that even the well-equipped foreign invader could not conquer with cannons and guns, because while they were intent on killing and conquest, Filipinos were intent on nurturing life and helping others survive.

3 Responses to “The value of human life”

• 1
  Vic Esguerra
  June 15th, 2009 12:54

  What a hypocrite. Raul Gonzalez is at it again, criticizing the cha-cha protesters as having been brainwashed and paid. He ought to know, he paid the barangay kapitanes in Iloilo P10,000 as bribe for them to vote for senators in his political party. Thinkers are doers, Raul Gonzalez is the one who pays voters, buying their votes. He is notorious at pointing the sins of others when in fact he’s the one who is the most guilty of such sins. RAUL GONZALEZ IS THE BIGGEST & MOST SHAMELESS HYPOCRITE. No wonder he is so despised in the whole Philippines and esp. in his province Iloilo.
  He keeps yapping like a dog when he has already been fired from the doj and has lost any credibility. He is so brain-dead already.
• 2
  Gil Decolongon
  June 16th, 2009 10:36

  This is exactly what the country needs, for Raul Gonzalez to be fired. At least one tyrant is out of power. If he thinks he can win in Iloilo, he must be high. It’s all downhil form here for Raul Gonzalez. He is over. The brgy captains are just gonna take his money but they will not support him. 2010 will be another rude awakening for Gonzalez. I mean, look at him, he looks like a corpse already. No one’s gonna vote for the walking dead.
• 3
  Mark
  June 17th, 2009 17:01

  “CUT THE CRAP RAUL GONZALEZ!”
  Gonzalez is always pretending that he is a noble person, when he is the farthest thing from that. It makes me cringe to read his column. He is so thick-skinned. He refuses to accept that people do not believe what he says because his life has no credibility. He is so retarded, thinking that he can continue to fool people.
  The lack of justice for the murder of Vice Mayor Ramon Rojas is a monument to the partnership of the murderer Etik Espinosa and the corrupt coward Raul Gonzalez. He does not even have the courage to take on the crime lord of Iloilo… The last thing that Gonzalez did in Iloilo as the doj secretary was allow Etik Espinosa to get away with murder. So how can he talk about such lofty ideas when we all know that he is sleeping with pigs.

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