Viewpoints: Saints

BY ABP. OSCAR CRUZ

THESE are days of rejoicing and bliss.

It has become certain and clear that saints are not only acclaimed in Rome but especially so in Philippines.

And it is certainly not but a matter of this or that saint but many men and woman who are holy and saintly.

Now, it can be said that it is not only funny in the Philippines but also saintly. And all these are in perfect accord with holy declaration of matuwid na daan by the saintliest of the local saints in the country. How consoling! How inspiring!

Of course, even saint differ in sanctity, vary in their holiness and consequent fame. It is clear that there are individuals who are more saintly than others. This is because there are these or those characters who perform bigger and more spectacular miracles than others.

So it is, too, that as a logical consequence, the litany of saints in the Philippines is becoming longer and longer on the occasion of the holy government after another, one saintly government leader after another.

These days in particular, there are these and those lists of saints that miraculously came to fore one day or another.

First, there was but one famous list. Then came a second and now even a third one! As of this writing, there seems to be even a fourth list.

One list is either longer or shorter than other. But put them together, see to it that a given saint list but once – lo and behold, the happy conclusion is that the saints in the Republic of the Philippines are definitely more in number these days – accepting the signal fact that some are bigger saints than others.

Seriously speaking, the Napoles debacle is a big eye opener. Even babies pay taxes when using electricity. The adults – even those living under the bridges – are paying taxes when availing themselves of the benefits of supposedly public utilities. Everybody, and this means everybody – the poorest of the poor included – pay taxes when buying food to eat simply to survive from the one day to another.

And the more people pay taxes, the more demanding the government becomes in imposing and collecting more taxes. And the more money the government demands, the poorer, too, the Filipinos become. Why? Because of so many “saints” in the government.

How long will the Filipinos bear the incarnation of graft and corruption among their supposedly honest and honorable public officials?

How much callous and shameless stealing of public funds will they allow?

What would it take to have those holding public offices render public service?

What will make the Filipinos act as one people for much needed cleansing of their government?/PN