ENQUIRY
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
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My Man of the Year 2008...
Sunday, 01 04, 2009
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The year 2008 had the ugly stains of immorality splattered everywhere — from the botched multimillion-dollar deals with foreign entities, to the resurrected billion-peso dubious projects that have become the hallmarks of our current bureaucracy, to the shameless denigration of our democratic institutions, and down to the shameful efforts of the powers in government to stay beyond 2010.
It could not be said that no one lifted a hand or raised his voice to combat this immorality. But many of them failed. The sincerity and the outrage were there, but somehow there was lack of consistency in their efforts, or that they were simply not cut out to be credible to the great many who were looking for a rallying point. Or, worse still, that they succumbed too soon to the enticements — or the scare tactics — of those they were denouncing.
The nation has seen how political has-beens, presidentiables, pretenders and charlatans have tried, each one in his own mad turn, to unfurl the banner of morality in government. But all this mad scramble suspiciously reeked of grandstand opportunism and hypocrisy. Moreover, it was a shameless disregard of the admonition of the Great Writer of our future: That only the righteous themselves deserve to wave that banner.
Thankfully, Bro. Eddie chose not to be part of that scramble. He simply stood his lonely ground, and the great many looked to him as the rightful carrier of the banner to bring down immorality in our government.
Amid the turmoil over the land on the efforts to perpetuate Gloria Arroyo in power beyond 2010, one voice rang to define the issue and offer a rational way out of the turmoil. That was Bro. Eddie.
Amid the corruption that has been endemic in our system, one voice kept ringing loud and clear to denounce this satanic scourge on our government. That was Bro. Eddie.
Amid the overload and cacophony of voices that bombarded us with worn-out palliatives to our ailing economy, one man stood out and spoke in plain and understandable language. That was Bro. Eddie.
And amid the rent in our moral fabric that was further being torn to shreds by the unmitigated greed of the privileged few and the seething anger of the despondent many, one man has somehow struck a chord that resounds in everyone’s heart and inspires them to find their own personal epiphanies and discover the path to righteous existence. That was Bro. Eddie.
In that interfaith rally in Makati, Bro. Eddie declared that those currently in power shall not last long in the face of the determined effort of the righteous. He said that unless a moral president holds the reins of government, we cannot get out of the socio-political maelstrom that grips the country, where a sitting president who has lost credibility still insists to perpetuate herself in power while the people she is supposed to govern have had enough of her.
It is to the credit of Bro. Eddie’s moral suasion that when he denounces the government minions who had reveled in corruption far too long his voice is heard loud and clear and all over the land. And for once, many celebrated cases that have slept far too long in the chambers of the investigators seemed to move, and many were thankfully filed before the courts.
Bro. Eddie could never claim that he has a master’s degree in Economics, but he knows full well whereof he speaks in his diagnosis of what ails our economy. The twists and turns that have buffeted our economy, he says, were the function of corruption and the evil machinations of our administrators. And that their enlightenment would never come under the current circumstances, and only a return to the basics of decency, truthfulness and spirituality would bring us back to the righteous path.
Bro. Eddie tried, but failed honorably, to get to the presidency in 2004. The failure has not kept him from sulking in his tent to nurse his wounds. Hearing him all over again in 2008 denounce the immorality that pervades the current government, one is brought back to that rueful year, yearning for what might have been, had the presidency not been stolen, but given instead to who one who truly deserved it in accordance with the people’s mandate.
We look forward to 2009 and beyond, behind the valiant efforts of Bro. Eddie to somehow induce what is moral from each and every Filipino, from each and every institution of government, and from each and every functionary of that government.
And for this year, against all odds, we still devoutly hope our present power-wielders would allow themselves to be cloaked with the kind of righteous, passionate leadership that Bro. Eddie has sought to establish when he founded the Jesus is Lord Movement 30 years ago.
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