Leave it to men of the cloth like Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas to lay down the bottomline for politicians who give all sorts of favors to voters in the runup to the 2016 elections.
“Now, you speak about mercy with truth. That is true, because real mercy does not lie. Real mercy is not blind to the malice of lying, and has the strength to confront evil,” Villegas said.
The prelate gave this response during an open forum on family and life held in Cebu City last week after a participant asked him how God’s mercy deals with corruption and other forms of evil.
The question gains currency in light of Pope Francis’s condemnation of corruption in government and its malignant impact on a country’s citizenry and the ongoing election season when one of the country’s leading presidential wannabes is swamped with accusations of corruption and has fought back by filing a P200-million libel suit against his detractors.
We all know who Villegas was referring to.
He gave specific examples without stating names.
Just match the gift with the giver.
“Kung magiging maawain lang ang taong corrupt, hindi lang siya magbibigay ng cakes sa may mga birthday o ng rosary para magdasal. Hindi lang yon ang mercy (If a corrupt person wants to be merciful, he or she won’t just give cakes to people on their birthdays or a rosary for people to pray with),” he said.
If Vice President Jejomar Binay had heard these words from Villegas, would he have included the archbishop in his libel complaint?
Whatever his response would be, the truth of Villegas’s statement doesn’t only apply to the Binays but to any politician familiar with the game of traditional politics.
If it isn’t birthday cakes, it’s vanity billboards with greetings for fiestas and anniversaries, PhilHealth coverage or projects funded by the government with full credit to individual sponsors.
But Villegas’s admonition also imposes accountability on the voting public, whom he cautioned against making excessive demands on elected public officials lest they be forced to live beyond their means and steal from public coffers to keep up with their spending.
Corruption exists when the governed allow those whom they voted into power get away with abuse.
Vigilance and responsibility remain the price we must pay to ensure the survival of our freedoms.
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