A Prophesy of Hope for the Filipinos

by Fr. Lito Jopson

JULY 12, 2006 - We Filipinos find ourselves in a whirlwind of troubles – political, social, moral, and economic, seemingly without a ray of hope in front of us and our people.

The solutions like impeachment and charter change seem to push further the urgent concerns affecting the country like poverty, corruption, greed, and violence. The Filipinos demand for a solution, devoid of personal interests, just to get the country back on its feet.

The latest CBCP document titled “Shepherding and Prophesying in Hope: A CBCP Pastoral Letter on Social Concerns” can give us a clue on the areas all Filipinos and institutions can focus on so we can get back on the road to recovery.

What's it all about

The first part of the statement gives the underlying rationale for the year of Social Concerns as it underscores the Social doctrines of the Church like integral development, universal purpose of earthly goods and private property, social justice and love, peace and active non-violence, love of preference for the poor, value of human work, integrity of creation, and people.

It is imperative that we inculcate the values underlying these doctrines so we can proceed to more concrete concerns affecting the country.

More particularly, the CBCP applies the social doctrine of the Church to the following urgent issues which are as follows:

1. The family under siege – to reiterate the pro-life position and protect the sanctity of family and life
2. Charter change – the Elections of 2007 must not be cancelled. The demand for Charter change emanates from the people and not from those in authority; and if there were so, Constitutional Convention is still the best option;
3. Impeachment – We are undoubtedly for the search for truth; we are not inclined at the present moment to favor the impeachment process for establishing the truth;
4. Electoral reform – a call to the Commission on Elections to restore that truth in the electoral process
5. to denounce extra-judicial killings

These 5 points, mostly affecting the political and legislative spheres, should be observed before we can address the problem of poverty, corruption, and violence in our country.

Therefore, we call upon our Fellow Filipinos to read carefully the contents of the CBCP statement and disseminate this information down to every family. There will always be a glimmer of hope for the Philippines.