FROM where we sit, the Duterte camp doesn’t have what it takes to mount a coup against the current administration.
Coup plotters in this country do not engage in open verbal and media hostility against the sitting President and would rather be silent over coup rumors.
Despite Vice President Sarah Duterte’s threats and rants, her family does not have the resources and the support of the people to carry out a socio-political upheaval. She has been spewing unbridled political noise that seems to border on criminal wrongdoing in her bid to bring about a destabilization of some sort.
President Bongbong Marcos was absolutely right in stopping his allies in Congress from any impeachment move against Sara Duterte. The “unimportant” issue, he interjects, should not be allowed to “waste the time” of his government on its actual and earnest work in the face of economic, social and political problems of the nation.
The President is aware that an impeachment process that will be carried live on national TV and on the Internet may turn out to be more politically divisive.
It seems obvious that Sara’s panic and despair over the imminent ICC arrest and trial of his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, have triggered such volatile outbursts.
Would there be street protests in Metro Manila and Davao? Would such protests prosper in the face of the coming midterm elections?
Would Sara and her father continue to influence the coming polls?
***
This is indeed an opportune time to take the meaning of Christmas seriously to heart.
As thousands of lives were affected severely by the massive destruction brought about by the three super typhoons that struck our country, company and church ministry groups should refrain from holding lavish parties and reunions.
Amid the despair and hopelessness in numerous affected areas, they should, instead, provide more abundant donations in addition to regular fervent prayers for the victims’ comfort, provisions and well-being.
Having little should not be an excuse not to help because the Lord blesses those who help from “the abundance of their hearts.” To the wealthy and prosperous businessmen, their assistance should include forms of livelihood and housing, which should be decent enough to restore some dignity in the lives of those reeling from the disasters.
Many of us have forgotten that Jesus Christ has exhibited truthful and deep examples of loving and caring for others. Shouldn’t we be overwhelmed by the fact that He allowed himself, the Lord God and Creator of the universe, to be born (of all places) in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes and surrounded by animals?
What an utterly miserable place for the Son of God to be born! He showed a pitiful and glorious act of denying one’s self. Enduring a brutal Roman bondage for so long, the Jews had expected their Messiah and Savior to come in might and power, but the plans of the Almighty to ensure humanity’s real destiny and eternal salvation do not belong to “our thoughts or to our ways.”
This supreme example of denying ourselves comfort and the “things of this world,” especially during Christmas, will render us empty, as Christ did on the first Christmas, but one with our God. We become not full materially and physically but filled in our Spirit which thoroughly pleases God.
Shouldn’t we disregard the numerous and common Christmas gluttonous occasions to fatten ourselves and please our relatives and friends, and instead conduct parties and fellowships at orphanages, shelters for calamity victims, homes for the aged and hospitals?
Have we indulged our families and close friends endlessly and long enough that we have virtually ignored or forgotten a major command from the Lord “to love others as ourselves?”
