Category: religion

duterte shaking the tree — prelude to martial law and federalism?

Walden Bello
NO DOG IN THIS FIGHT
Since people have been pressing me for an opinion, I am briefly breaking my abstinence from Zuckerberg’s virtual evil empire, to say that while I find some of President Duterte’s policies murderous and reprehensible, when it comes to the conflict between God and Duterte, I ain’t got no dog in this fight, as someone famously said.  [93 likes, loves, haha. 4 shares]

Joel David Finally, a sensible position. I’d actually uphold a militant atheist call, but PRRD’s recent outburst isn’t really atheist, only militant in an awful manner.

exactly my sentiments.  it’s an argument that no one can win anyway, not duterte, not the church, not civil society.  duterte only has the upper hand because he’s president and also because all creation myths naman — such as adam and eve and snake in a paradise with a tree of good and evil — are the stuff of fairy tales and meant to be taken with a grain of salt.

JORGE ARAGO:  Those guys from the highlands say that long, long ago the gods came down to earth and found it a bore with no people around. So they scooped up some clay and moulded two figures, then plucked feathers off a chicken and tickled one clay figure until it laughed – that was the man. Of course the myth doesn’t say if the gods laughed with or after the woman and maintains a plucky silence about the chicken. [Pro Bernal Anti Bio. ABS-CBN publishing inc. (2017) page 35]

besides, the big bang and evolution make more sense to me now that i’m lightyears away from convent school.  but, yes, just the same, we humans like to do creation myths.  read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Creation_myth and other sources.

i actually have no problem with the adam-eve-serpent story that i grew up with, may pagka-cinematic pa nga, contodo plot beginning, middle, and ending.  but the bible is not clear about what life was like in paradise in the beginning, before the temptation — were adam and eve already having sex?  and all was good?  but no kids maybe?  or did the sex come after eve, and then adam, succumbed to temptation, and it’s been downhill since?

“Who is this stupid God? Estupido talaga itong p***** i** kung ganun. You created some—something perfect and then you think of an event that would tempt and destroy the quality of your work,” he said in a speech in Davao City during the opening of the 2018 National ICT Summit.

Duterte found fault in the creation story in the Bible which said that the snake tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, then she in turn gave it to Adam. “So kinain ni Adam. Then malice was born,” he said.

… “So tayo ngayon, all of us are born with an original sin. Ang original sin—ah sin—ano man ‘yan? Was it the first kiss? O… What was the sin? Bakit original? Nasa womb ka pa, may kasalanan ka na,” he said.

the president asks, too, why god had to create eve.

… “Nandiyan na si Adam. Okay na sana ‘yun. Sabi ni God—God found that Adam will be lonely. So he took one of his ribs, bone, and created the woman. Na-l***** na. [laughter] ‘Di kung si Adam lang, mag-dumugan na tayo lahat ng lalaki dito. Okay na ‘yun. Okay lang,” he said.

believe it or not, he speaks from experience.

… ‘yung dalawang brother-in-law ko bakla. Ako noong sa high school pa hindi ko alam kung maglalaki ako, ‘pag magbabae. Eh parang gusto kong maging lalaki, gusto kong maging babae.  Kaya lang sa Philippine Women’s mas maganda talaga ang mga babae, marami doon eh. Kaya ako na-tempt… [17 dec 2017]

but to ask why god had to create woman pa, to scoff at the idea of man being lonely without woman — it is absurd, coming from one who will talk about women and sex every chance he gets, asking for a public kiss here and there, bragging about his many women, even raving about that little blue pill for sex-obsesssed old men, as though it were all some measure of macho cool.

“Sinasadya ko ‘yan eh [I’m intentionally doing it]. You know why? This country is in a doldrums. I’m shaking the tree para mabuhay lahat para makita ko [to wake everyone up so I can see],” Duterte said before an assembly of barangay captains in Zamboanga del Sur.

“Pati ‘yung mga salita ko bastos. I’m trying to go to the boundaries of hanggang saan [Even my words are rude. I’m trying to go the boundaries of how far I can go],” he added.

so.  the kabastusan on all levels is deliberate, to shake us out of the “doldrums”, and also, to test our limits.

“There would be a time to speak, and I will, maybe in the coming days. For now, I will just keep my silence for I want to see how the nation reacts. Kumbaga, I’m shaking the tree. If you’d notice me every now and then, either national or local, ginugulo ko talaga ‘yung puno (I’m really shaking the tree).”   

hmm, shaking the tree  — i.e., arousing to action or reaction, disturbing — but to what end?  to get us so angry that we take to the streets?  to  provoke us into actions that he can pronounce illegal, subversive?  to encourage a climate of violence and instability so he can declare martial law?

nade-deja-vu ako.  alam naman natin na the president is desperate for a shift to federalism — i’m not sure why — and the people are not.  so it’s like he could be taking a page from the marcos playbook —  declare martial law and THEN have the new charter ratified by citizens’ assemblies somehow, anyhow — kaya lang this time there is no threat from the communists to justify it, even now that the peace talks are off-again.  in fact, it’s mostly police operations that are freaking us out.  and the traffic, of course.  and rising prices.  and the falling peso.  and china.

the drama king, as calixto chikiamco now calls the prez, would need to come up with a major major event signalling a major major threat,  better than the alleged-and-denied ambush of defense minister enrile’s convoy in 1972.

and then, again, he might surprise us yet.  what if he’s being singularly offensive pala because he really does want us to oust him as in EDSA, pagod na pagod na kasi siya, ang hirap pala maging presidente, si leni na lang.  omg.  let us pray.

INC, rabble-rousing, in our faces

as if the traffic weren’t bad enough, or maybe that’s the point?  INC means to aggravate the situation, push to destablize, can’t wait for 2016, this illegal-detention-case has to be made to go away, now na?

the most appalling thing about it all is the lack of action on the part of the aquino government, as though it didn’t have the authority and the means to nip-in-the-bud protest actions of this disruptive kind, gayong we have seen them do it, time and again, to leftist groups who are almost always dispersed at once pag walang permit, or after a few hours, pag mayroong permit.

the latest from edsa/shaw according to INC TV is: patuloy na dinaragsa ang mapayapang pagtitpon ng mga kaanib sa iglesia ni cristo.  and i’ve heard some sincere rabble-rousing and offensive name-calling in the last hour.  meanwhile, nagpakita at naghayag na rin sina boy saycon at eid kabalu ng suporta, at nagpakita na rin si peping cojuangco, although kumaway lang siya from stage, hmm.

the moon is waxing full in pisces, culminating around 2:30 a.m. sunday.  emotions are high.  it’s going to be a long night.  will we see more politicos stepping up to express support, in aid of 2016?  will the crowd get bigger?  will they refuse to go home when their permit runs out tomorrow?  are they sleepless in the palace putting together, finally, a plan A, and a plan B?  i certainly hope so.  we need to see some decisive action from the authorities.

sabi nga ni walden bello:

A religious sect has Metro-Manila by the throat, and Poe, Binay, and Roxas are conciliating it. The government, always quick to act against the Left, has the authority to peacefully clear EDSA but it declines to exercise this authority, citing “respect for the right to protest.” Rights are relational. When the right to free speech is exercised to deliberately wreck public order and create chaos for the vast majority, then the government must place the welfare of that majority in command. The truth is this religio-fascist sect has the whole Philippine political system by the throat. Time to stand up to it and save our secular Republic. Time to say no to craven politicians who conciliate fundamentalist fanatics.

and to the INC, may i just say, mga kapatid, this is no way to do an EDSA 86, which (to be simplistic about it) was a most prayerful event.  no crass chants, no hi-tech stage, no political rabble-rousing.  what this is really is more like an edsa tres when you guys joined forces with erap’s urban poor constitutents, hoping to grab back the power lost to gloria in edsa dos, and failed.  i almost expect to see enrile and honasan, sotto and maceda, stepping up, with raised fists yet.  but wait, here comes tingting cojuangco.  argh.  excuse me while i throw up.

INC drama, street soap

The story goes: Today, some 200,000 members of the INC will mob the Department of Justice. Yes, a big crowd was there this afternoon – word is, they will stay on and on. They are protesting Justice Secretary de Lima’s “selective justice.”

The plot is: that more and more people will join that crowd and then a big push to EDSA takes place on Friday till Monday. Net25 on its Facebook page says members from 29 districts will be reinforcing their comrades starting tomorrow.

that’s from inday espina-varona’s blogpost yesterday.  about a plot to unseat the president in the long-run (yes, in the run-up to the 2016 elections) and, in the short-term, as in, now na, to demand insist importune that the department of justice respect the separation of church and state and desist from giving “special treatment” to expelled INC minister isaias samson who dares file an illegal detention complaint against INC’s top brass, i mean, ruling council.  unahin daw kasi ang mamasapano — sampahan ng kaso ang mga pumatay sa SAF 44, OR ELSE they will take it to edsa!  who is writing this script?  chiz escudero, is that you?

this morning the big news was the strafing of anthony taberna’s coffee shop in qc.  taberna is anchor of dzmm teleradyo’s dos por dos, with gerry baja, both INC members.  at first i didn’t connect it with the INC protest rally just because taberna had refused to comment on the issue from the start, which i took to mean that his sympathies lay with the INC leadership.  and then i saw inday’s fb status:

Attacks on Tunying’s cafe. He has been receiving many, many threats and very angry socmed messages from INC members loyal to leadership — because he kept quiet. I know some people have questions about Tunying… but it hasn’t been easy for him and Gerry this last month.

ah so.  complicating it is the fact that taberna and samson are blood relations pala, so his loyalty is under question.  the latest is, wala sina taberna at baja sa dos por dos today, and INC members are beginning to gather at the EDSA shrine sabay dumarami raw ang mga tao sa padre faura.  kahit saan nila gusto, puwede?  kahit gaano katagal, puwede?  iyan na mismo ang “special treatment.”

and, oh my, grace poe has chimed in, echoing chiz, of course.  aapir kaya sila sa rally?  abangan.

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INC protest is ‘bullying’, lawyers say

Sex and the Missionary Position: The Grammar of Philippine Colonial Sexualities as a Locus of Translation

Marlon James Sales
Monash University, Australia

Introduction
The written history of Hispanic Philippines is a story wrought in translation. Colonial accounts about this Southeast Asian archipelago attempted to make sense of its people and their cultures by translating them for a European readership in a period that spanned more than three centuries. While there were indeed a number of colonial administrators, travellers and other lay chroniclers who mentioned the country in their writings, it is in the texts penned by missionary priests that we find the earliest and most extensive intent to systematize the understanding of Filipinos on the basis of their languages and customs. From the very beginning of Spain’s colonial expansion in Asia in the 1500s until the last year of the Empire in 1898 when the Philippines was finally ceded to the United States, members of various religious orders wrote histories that recounted how their brothers in the cloth preached the Christian doctrine to different ethnolinguistic groups in the country and the rest of the Asian continent. They similarly wrote grammars and dictionaries, the primary purpose of which was to help ministers in the administration of the sacraments and rituals of the Roman Church in the islands’ many vernaculars.

Read on…