CATHOLIC PROSPERITY

There is an economic boom among Catholics in the US of A. According to Lisa Keister, a sociologist of Duke, Catholics have watched their personal wealth shoot upwards and they have erased the gap that used to separate them from mainline Protestant.

How can Filipino Catholics imitate their American brothers and sisters in faith?

1. We should begin to converge our Catholic values with Protestant values such as work ethic, ingenuity, diligence, entrepreneurship and respect for markets.
2. We should strengthen our marriage, make our family highly stable and never waiver on the opposition to abortion and divorce.
3. We should be more future oriented and less bound by neighborhood and extended family.
4. We should strive for better and quality education by enrolling our children to schools known to provide excellent education.

Add the research of Margarita Mooney, a Princeton Sociologist, who demonstrated that Catholics who attend religious service regularly are more successful than those who don’t.

Everytime you attend the Holy Mass remember that you belong to a faith that provide opportunity to be prosperous.

Aren’t you glad you are a Catholic?.

Desparecidos

It's deja vu. Way back in 1985 a friend by the name of Abet Enriquez was abducted by armed men right after his speech denouncing the conjugal dictatorship. If my memory served me right it was August 21, 1985, the anniversary of Ninoy Aquino assasination. Abet and I were invited but only Abet was the speaker since he was more militant and eloquent. When we parted ways, he rode in a tricycle going home but according to several witnesses, armed men stopped the tricycle around 6:00PM and Abet was forcibly taken. Since then he was never found. After 22 years Abet remains desparecido.
Weeks ago armed men abducted Jonas Burgos and a UCCP pastor. The two remains missing as of this writing. We are a country where perceived enemy of the state are targetted as potential desparecido. We have a legal system wherein the right thing to do is to bring the accused to court and let the justice system rolls. Sadly this legal system was bypassed to kill, maimed, torture or make people disappear.
Peru, Columbia and other countries who practiced illegal methods created a divided country. Gen. Pinochet was hailed a savior for persecuting his enemies but at the same time hailed as a butcher. His country remains poor compared to other Latin American country. Are we heading in the same direction?.

It's Election Time

If you lived in the Philippines for a long time you will find the election period a source of amusement. Every part of a city, barrio or barangay whether its a gate or a trashcan you can find posters bearing faces of politicians. It's only in the Philippines where complete disregard of COMELEC designated area is a norm. How this damn politicians get away with it? I voted several time since Marcos and never a single candidate was disqualified for violating rule on putting posters in non-designated COMELEC area. Mr. Abalos is a complete personification of a lameduck.

The excessive expenses of candidates in their TV, radio and print ads only shows that ours is a farce democracy where "showbistockracy" rule. A candidate knows that Filipinos vote based on popularity and name recall. That is why senatoriables are spending millions in advertisement. Where can they get their money back? Of course from the P200M/year pork barrel allocated to them. This pork barrel came from our taxes and the senators don't give a damn to the poor once they are elected.
Among the candidates who seen in the TV almost every night with their irritating jingles and slogans there are none who present their programs for the poor. Only the "Kapatiran" party presented a sensible program but sadly they can not win the election.
I was convince by my wife to vote on Monday but I believed we are in the crossroad. The middle class are already pushed in the wall. If they can not find a decent job in the country and foreign jobs become scarce, a revolution of the middle class will begin. The middle class who did not believe in the leftist ideology and oppressed by the current elite democracy have no other recourse but to make the Philippines a better one in a method never seen before.I maybe wrong on this but I am sure it will happen in my lifetime.