AS SEEN ON TV
Sects, lies on videotape
There’s no separation of church and the state during these fiery political times. Presidential aspirants have been raiding churches, religious groups and sects these days for that much-coveted heavenly endorsement like it’s the Holy Grail of political survival. Having one’s hand raised by the leader of some sect is “de rigueur”; that no election sortie is complete without a compulsory “visita iglesia”.
Some aspirants can’t help it. Having their hands raised by a religious leader in a prayer rally is almost like a dress rehearsal for proclamation night. Hence to sects and churches they go, wooing voters via the pulpits, customizing their personal qualities (and qualifications) with “specs” of heaven-sent leaders written in the word of God.
Honest, peace-makers, clean, God-fearing, pro-poor, pro-life, “maka Diyos”, “maka Tao”. Many of our politicians are all of that, shortly before they win.
Politicians used to lure only the Iglesia Ni Cristo, which is known to vote as a bloc. Being assured of about 5 million votes will ease the pressure of getting substantial tallies from votes cast on plain merits or even popularity. But after EDSA 1 the Catholic Church itself figured as an important political endorser—- its former leader having played a lead role in removing a dictator and installing a new president via street rosaries.
Lately they have also been seeking the nod of Islamic churches by exploiting very sensitive religious, cultural and political issues, spewing big words with barren promises they do not intend to keep. Some aspirants have also reached out to charismatic groups in the hope that their charismatic leaders and followers would give them their charismatic yeses. If there was a sect that used hypnosis to influence the congregation, I’d bet politicians would line up for favors there as well.
In the decades that followed many elected politicians treaded cautiously when dealing with the churches to avoid hurting its leaders or injuring its sensibilities, lest they suffer eternal political damnation. The guarded stance on the Reproductive Health Bill is but an example of such irrational fear.
But I have faith in both church and people. While church has the duty to lead its flock in supporting the moral and righteous, the workings of conscience and the burden of discernment are highly personal. Voters may pray for guidance but the decision as to whom to vote for, is theirs to make.
I pray voters will vote wisely, not blindly.
My wife and I were catching up on movies we missed last year and while we were engrossed with total-chick-flick “Confessions of a Shopaholic” she comments that many people lie in their resume to get the job like it’s the most normal thing to do to get the job. In the movie, shopping addict Rebecca Bloomwood (played by petite comedian Isla Fisher) wrote on her resume that she spoke fluent Finnish. She later had to wiggle out of an awkward situation when her boss introduced her to a client from Finland who babbled in Finnish, which she didn’t understand a word of.
The same thing is happening in Philippine politics where candidates spruce up their resume via advertising, and use their incredulously false credentials to lure gullible voters.
It’s amazing how some advertisements run like “telenovelas” bordering on “fantaseryes” in the absence of truth, realism and their unrelenting exploitation of the Filipino’s victim mentality. Poor, pro-poor, heart for the poor, ex poor. They’re all inviting the citizenry to ride the bandwagon of vengeance against the rich and the status quo, all through outlandish advertising.
Didn’t it ever occur to these people that the truth has its mischievous way of eventually catching up with the liar?
