"My wife and I are truly blessed."
My wife and I took so many trips in our younger days that we can no longer remember them.
We took many pilgrimages—to the Holy Land, France, Spain and Portugal. We have gone to Turkey and Greece and Italy, to romantic places like Capri and Venice. I would have wanted to go on a safari in South Africa, but my wife hates animals.
But our trip to Akita, Japan, which the Vatican certified as among the six places where the Blessed Virgin appeared, was unforgettable. We spent a night among monks and prayed with them.
My wife and I were in Tokyo when we decided to take a trip to Akita, in Northern Japan, where a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was seen crying tears of blood over all the things happening to mankind—ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and many others.
The Japanese referred to the miracle as the Crying Lady of Akita.
Our trip there was something else. When we alighted from the vehicle, we found ourselves at the terminal building, almost alone and not knowing where to go. Unlike many airports in Japan, Santa Banana, that terminal had no taxicabs. It must have been a blessing from God that somebody who was passing by saw us seated and helpless, and was kind enough to get us to our hotel.
After we had rested, we took a cab to the mission house where the “Crying Lady” was located. We introduced ourselves and said we wanted to see where the miracle occurred. Soon enough, we saw the tears of the statue. We also talked to a bishop, who told us that it would be best if we spent the night in that monastery and experience the events. The Vatican had certified that the blood was real tears.
My gulay, that night after having dinner with the bishop, we prayed with the nuns. At five o’clock the following morning, again we prayed with them. It was an experience of a lifetime. My wife and I consider ourselves blessed.
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The whole Leni Robredo fiasco brings us to what the ICAD—the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-illegal drugs—is all about. Is it merely a policy-making body? It is more than that. It is an agency tasked to ensure that each member-agency implements and complies with existing policies in line with the government’s campaign against illegal drugs. This includes ensuring the effective control of anti-illegal drug operation and arrest of high-value drug personalities down to the street level and users, Santa Banana!
Why was the President so secretive about the drug list that he did not want to share it with former ICAD co-chair Robredo? Did he not trust her at all? So why did he appoint her in the first place?
Mr. Duterte must learn that he should not make decisions in a moment of pique!
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An issue that arises with the Duterte-Robredo rift is that the vice president is almost always from the opposition, who believe that the VP would be the next president. Why can’t they just come from the same party so that they could truly help each other in leading the country?
If we look at the 1987 Constitution, we would see that all this started with President Cory Aquino. She pushed for a multi-party system patterned after the German constitution. The story goes that she wanted her late husband’s friends, the communist fronts, to be represented in Congress. This led to the death of the two-party system—the Liberals and the Nacionalistas—and the birth of the multi-party system, some of whom are identified with the communist movement.
This led to the election of the president and vice president from different parties. The VP ends up doing nothing but opposing the president.
If the 1987 Constitution is to be amended, it must first and foremost restore the two-party system and avoid the confrontation between the top two officials of the land.
To me, the party-list system is the greatest anomaly in our government.
