Think about it
Divine intervention
By Jun Velasco
“Be a billboard of God’s goodness, faithfulness, and grace,” E. I. Duncan
WE should not be surprised at our local version of wanton and unconscionable graft and corruption that’s gnawing our government.
We see its graphic and mindboggling depth and magnitude on our TV sets and many media outlets. Sometimes we pinch our skin if indeed they are happening right in our midst.
We saw Ben Hur Luy’s detailed testimony in the Senate.
Let’s pray God take a direct hand in dealing with this inhumanity by our legislators in stealing the money intended for the people they have sworn to serve.
Over in Mindanao, a tragicomedy is happening. Former ideologue Nur Misuari, a UP classmate of our cumpadre Nestor Pulido, has gone nuts for having been “mal-treated” as a KSP (Kulang sa Pansin) by the national government.
At press time, spiritually gifted person gave us a description for this outbreak of abuse and sin against humanity: Divine intervention.
Let’s read John 8:32: “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, ‘You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
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In Dagupan, we wonder if Mayor Belen Fernandez has no regrets for aspiring to lord it over a problematic office that is so littered with land mines and financial mess.
She must be brimming with enthusiasm to serve—and give Dagupeños her best shot in governance.
Observing her in her first 3 months, we commiserate with her as she fights hordes of hoi poloi who want her to hand them jobs, financial assistance, and other goodies germane to the position.
We give her an A in seeing through the myriad problems and demands of her office; an A- in dealing with individual plaints, a B in handling partisan issues, and A in sincerity of solving pernicious problems beguiling the city: MCAdore, holdover personnel with questionable loyalty, abuse of the city’s river systems, etc.
It should be our duty as Dagupeños to help a sincere leader untangle these gargantuan problems she has inherited from the past.
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At the vigil of our friend Nora Guadiz-Siapno at Eternal Gardens, we managed to elicit from Ms. Lina Tan that about 200 citizens massed at the city plaza to denounce the pork barrel.
That was good enough, we said. No less than the very influential Archbishop Socrates Villegas was the moving speaker in the rally. Its success did not lie in numbers, but in touching the hearts and souls of the locals. In that sense, a minority became the majority for speaking out the truth.
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Our prayers and profound condolence to the family of the late Honorata Guadiz-Siapno, beloved wife of former Mayor Felipe Siapno, who passed away recently. She was a faithful friend and confidante.
It was she who laid the stones for Dagupan City’s historical and cultural renaissance.
Many will surely miss her. We should treat her passing with a quiet resolve to mobilize her advocacies for a culturally re-awakened Dagupan.
May she rest in peace.
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NOTES: Our all-time favorite singer Tony Bennett, 87, will perform at the PICC on Tuesday. No doubt, many of his songs have touched romantic lives.
His “How Do You Keep The Music Playing” makes many swoon for these lines, “How do you keep the music playing?
How do you make it last?
How do you keep the songs from fading too fast?
How do you lose yourself to someone?
And never lose your ways?”
But his knockout ditty “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” he told Ricky Lo, “has lured people to San Francisco and see it for themselves.”
We are waiting for the Bennett concert’s 2 tickets from LTO Region and Director Jojo Guadiz, our donor of the Andy Williams concert a couple of years back.
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