Your mantra for the week: “What I radiate comes back to me increased and multiplied.”
It is election time and everywhere you hear the phrase, “We must elect God-fearing candidates,” I get bothered because it sounds like one of the worst oxymorons ever. How and why should you fear God when the bible itself says, “God is Love.” (1 John 4:8)
The God I believe in is not only a God of Love but is also nonjudgmental and nonpunishing. Therefore, fearing It is rather an absurd idea.
What then should we fear? It is karma, the negative one because there is such a thing as positive karma. I must stress that Sanskrit word “karma” means effect, as in the principle of cause and effect. In the biblical context, it is the law of sowing and reaping.
If you check Galatians 6:7, you will be reminded, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” In our lives, when we sow the positive, we can only reap the positive which has nothing to do at all with fearing God.
Besides, the word God is synonymous to Good, and fearing the Good is another variation of the oxymoron God-fearing.
It’s about time people realized that the word karma can either be positive or negative as I emphasize in IAMISM. So, what everyone, especially public servants, must fear is not God but the negative karma they will derive from, not only from their negative deeds but also from their negative thoughts and feelings.
Let us, therefore, elect negative-karma-fearing candidates who realize that their negative deeds against their constituents will return to them as negative experiences in their lives in whatever area—their health, wealth, love and success, wherever they are most vulnerable.
Looking back
“Graft is necessary for progress. In the Garcia administration, graft gave birth to the textile industry in the Philippines. Everyone was shocked, naturally, but today, this industry is responsible for employing thousands and thousands of Filipinos, who otherwise would have been unemployed. Today, we are again shocked at the graft and corruption that we see all around us, but years from now we shall all be grateful for this.”
That statement was from a Marcos crony, the head of two major financial institutions at that time, 1972, and who was then linked to a present popular congresswoman.
Phenomenon
And speaking of congresswomen, there is an outstanding one vying for the vice presidency, Leni Robredo. She worked her way up from no. 4 in the surveys last November and by April 20th, she was no. 1 in the SWS, and statistically tied with Marcos Jr.—truly a phenomenon.
When the next survey appears, I would not be surprised if Leni turns out to be the favorite to win the vice presidency. And why not, especially if her no. 1 opponent is a Marcos whose background is told in a Radyo Bandido editorial, “The martial law years 1972 to 1986, while Ferdinand Marcos was systematically looting the country and Imelda Marcos was partying with Hollywood celebrities while their children, Imee, Bongbong and Irene, were enjoying the fabulous wealth and power of their parents.
“(Today), Bongbong covers up the unprecedented plunder and economic sabotage that his father committed in the 21 years of his antipeople rule under the Marcos dictatorship. Bongbong even had the gall to dismiss almost 10,000 human rights victims in the Hawaii class suit who won the cases against the Marcos estate, saying it’s purely motivated by compensation.
“Pera-pera lang ang habol ng mga iyan,” he said. (By the way, I have been waiting for my share of the pera-pera due for release this month).
“The number of Filipinos living below the poverty line doubled from 18 million in 1965 to 35 million in February 1986. The dictator also left behind a staggering foreign debt of $27 billion. This belies Bongbong’s claim that Filipinos were better off during the Marcos years.
“Sadly, our history books do not contain the grim realities of martial law. Bongbong is running for vice president, not to serve our country, not to serve our people, but to regain power for the Marcos family and to cleanse the Marcos name.”
For those who may not remember, Radyo Bandido came to life as a result of June Keithley and Fr. James Reuter commandeering DZRJ right after the bombing of their home network, the Church-owned Radio Veritas, by the Marcos-loyal Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Contrast
In contrast to the Marcoses, we have a Leni Robredo whose history is the antithesis of Marcos Jr.’s background.
Leni is a father-mother to three supportive daughters: Jill, Aika and Tricia. She is not only an economist (by virtue of her undergraduate courses), a lawyer and one of the most active and productive members of Congress. She championed the Freedom of Information Law, the Tax Incentives and Transparency Law, the Fair Competition Act and Food Security Bill.
When the focus of Congress was on the Priority Development Assistance Fund, she concurred emphatically that it be removed despite its debilitating effect on monies that could have been at her disposal.
Those who know this lady more intimately swear that it is her honest desire to bring decency back to public service. And her passion is to comb the whole countryside to uplift the poorest of our countrymen, which she had already been doing even before she became a public servant, by way of NGOs and local communities in many projects involved in the alleviation of poverty.
Add to this, her deep commitment to rural development and women’s rights.
What makes Leni truly special is that she comes from humble beginnings with nary a tint of graft and corruption to her name and can never be classified as a “trapo.”
E-mail the author at [email protected]; visit www.GeorgeSison.com and www.iamism.org; listen to his “Positive Session” radio program on DWIZ 882 AM every Saturday, 9-10 p.m.
