"We hope their example will be multiplied many times over by other people of good heart and great faith."
"We hope their example will be multiplied many times over by other people of good heart and great faith."
The well-known resilience of our country and people has found new meaning in the latest tourism statistics for 2018.
According to the Department of Tourism, the number of foreign visitors reached 7.1 million last year, or 7.6 percent over the 6.6 million posted in 2017. This was achieved despite the six-month closure of Boracay island, which used to draw about two-million visitors a year. If we “normalize” for this closure, the increase would actually be closer to 27 percent.
South Korean tourists again led the pack with 1.6 million. But the biggest increase was posted by Chinese visitors, up by 30 percent year-on-year to reach 1.3 million. This is one of the windfalls from Duterte’s foreign policy tilt towards China. The mainland Chinese are not the most pleasant people to be around, so we can only hope that their renminbi spending is making up for their lack of social graces.
This kind of resilience is another argument for exercising the iron political will that will be needed to clean up the worst of our nation’s excesses. Chief among these is the toxic pollution of Manila Bay, which Duterte has now lined up in his cross-hairs following his spectacular achievement in Boracay.
This monumental marine cleanup is estimated to take up to seven years—well into the post-Duterte era, requiring him to build up irreversible momentum. The resources required to do the job are staggering, not to mention the resistance we can expect to be mounted from so many quarters: Informal settlers and their leftist advocates; pollutive industries and their rightist advocates; the two water concessionaires who should be doing a better job of processing the sewage of Metro Manila; and all other manner of vested interests who benefit—one way or another, no matter how indirectly—from leaving Manila Bay a cesspool.
The redoubtable former general, DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu, has his work cut out for him, even if he can only finish, at best, one half of the job. What’s needed now is a lot of volunteer support, an exemplar of which are the pro-Duterte Republic Defenders group, headed by another former general, Ambassador Vidal Querol. We hope their example will be multiplied many times over by other people of good heart and great faith.
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The biennial plenary session of the Catholic bishops last Saturday was blessed by the usual message of support from the Holy Father, who assured them of his prayers “for your efforts to shepherd in truth and love those entrusted to your pastoral care, especially your efforts to advance the mission of the Church in the Philippines.”
His message was of course to be expected, in Asia’s only majority-Catholic country, and with the Philippine Church’s 500th anniversary just around the corner in 2021. But it is already being spun into an anti-Duterte salvo as well, more so with an inter-faith rally scheduled to be held this Friday after the President’s latest diatribe against the Church and, more recently, legislative moves to lower the minimum age of criminal liability.
If the President—or any other public figure—chooses to criticize the Church—or anybody else, for that matter—then don’t be surprised if those being attacked will answer right back in their own defense. That is simply self-preservation, protected by various constitutional guarantees of free speech and expression. And don’t complain if that self-defense is backed by something as mighty as the institutional weight of the Church. After all, the presidency is no slouch, either.
When heavyweights like these two institutions collide, at the expense mainly of the public well-being, it’s high time for someone to mediate. Our best suggestion is for peace and dialogue to be arranged by Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is both a former occupant of the presidency and a devout Catholic lady who enjoys the support of most—though not all—of the bishops.
Will the Speaker step up to the plate on yet another mission above and beyond? Time, and God, will tell.
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As I write this column, I’m getting online reports about an explosion during Sunday Mass at the Catholic cathedral in Jolo, Sulu that has reportedly claimed 10 civilian and five military fatalities among its victims.
This horrific incident comes just after the conclusion of a regional plebiscite in Mindanao on the Bangsamoro Organic Law that reportedly approved the law and the consequent replacement of the current ARMM with a new Bangsamoro judicial entity. Were the cathedral bombers lethally sore losers who hate the MILF and/or just want to keep fighting forever?
The bombing also comes after the SWS 4th quarter survey last year found “moderate” support among all Filipinos for BOL and BARMM, with 36-percent supportive, 22-percent opposed, and a significant plurality of 42-percent neutral or no opinion. The last one is a large bloc of undecided citizens who remain to be persuaded by the results of the plebiscite and, more important, by the behavior of the protagonists in that plebiscite towards each other afterwards.
How the MILF deals with this latest bombing and similar crimes, as it prepares to take power in Bangsamoro, will be closely watched by the Christian majority, for whom the Mamasapano SAF 44 incident is still a raw memory. Insh’Allah, the same kind of iron will with which the MILF waged war will also sustain them as they now keep the peace.
Readers can write me at gbolivar1952@yahoo.com.