Christmas, Family, and Hope

For many nations, including the Philippines, Christmas helps boost the economy. Christmas is the season when overseas Filipino workers remit dollars to their families. This explains why the peso has been quite strong since September. But bankers say we can expect the peso to weaken starting February.

From all the material stuff and goodies that they dangle this season, both big entrepreneurs and small street hawkers are cashing in on Christmas. And they really earn as everybody rushes to buy gifts and as each family prepares special meals on the eve of Christmas. It is that time of year when wage-earning folk really spend after getting their 13^th month pay and bonus. More money circulates and that big mall can have all your money as you buy what they have got all for you.

But despite its commercialization, Christmas is an opportune time to strengthen and renew family ties. Normally, sons and daughters, who have been away because of work or college education, would go home to celebrate Christmas with their parents. Overseas Filipino workers usually go home to be with their families before leaving again to bear the loneliness of working overseas in quiet desperation.

In Benguet in recent years, the Christmas break is also usually the time for clan reunions and weddings.

So the relationships and ties that we renew and strengthen as we break bread together either as a family or as a clan is one beauty of Christmas. Definitely, Christmas is not about the material gifts that we receive. It's obviously about the love and compassion we express through our gifts or through our sincere best wishes for others.

Particularly needing our help now are those who lost their roofs, livelihoods, and loved ones during a series of unfortunate typhoons in central Philippines and southern Luzon. The good news is that other Filipinos are not lacking in compassion and love when it comes to helping those who encounter misfortunes like typhoons. Baguio and Benguet's "Operation Sayote" is one example in which local folk were able to synchronize efforts to bring sayote to the survivors of the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991 and to other survivors of other disasters in succeeding years. Although once considered a lowly crop, sayote is still a vegetable that can add fiber to the usual government relief goods that consist of instant noodles and sardines.

Another good news is that various churches in Baguio are matching their prayers with actual calls for material help for the survivors of super-typhoon Reming.

As a people, we are not actually lacking in Good Samaritans. This quality of damayan or helping our brothers and sisters in need is what continues to convince us that there's still hope for this country.

Meek Lambs

House Speaker Jose de Venecia was talking tough earlier. He insisted that the only way the country could progress was by changing the Constitution. And this could be done by transforming the legislature into a Con Ass or a Constituent Assembly to amend the country’s fundamental law.

De Venecia was not only tough as an ass, that hardworking beast of burden. He was roaring like a lion, the king of the jungle. But after the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, El Shaddai’s Mike Velarde, and other church leaders spoke against charter-change, the Pangasinan lawmaker known for his traditional politics became a meek lamb.

To save his face, he said he was not insensitive to public opinion so he and other like-minded traditional politicians would now give up on the Con Ass. And instead of Con Ass, De Venecia would agree to a Con Con or Constitutional Convention. But still, he wanted to have his Con Con as fast as he could by challenging the Senate to pass a resolution in 72 hours on 11 December calling for a Con Con. Stressing that the country had more urgent issues and problems to address such as the 2007 national budget, the Senators, however, did not bite his bait.

The public can now see through the motives of De Venecia and other like-minded politicians. Whether through Con Ass or through Con Con, De Venecia, et. al. and Malacañang are really bent on changing the Constitution. By changing the Constitution, the proponents were envisioning a unicameral form of government under which they could stay longer in power.

Then the Church spoke. Some bishops asserted the country’s problem is not the Constitution, but politicians themselves who don’t know how to govern. Church leaders pointed to corrupt governance as the main factor in dragging the country down. Bishop Socrates Villegas particularly cited the politicians’ insistence to change the Constitution as a “primary proof of corrupt governance.”

For the Church, the Constitution is sacred and politicians with self-serving ulterior motives should not toy with it.

To help save its own face for pushing for charter change, Malacañang (the presidential palace) hailed De Venecia’s “statesmanship” in throwing away the Malacañang-backed cha-cha bid via Con Ass. The presidential palace patted De Venecia’s back, appreciating how De Venecia did what he did for the sake of “national unity.” So the presidential palace would now want to paint De Venecia as a hero of some sort. If De Venecia could indeed become a hero in the public’s mind, the presidential palace could also be perceived not as a villain, but as a proponent of national unity.

But the public cannot be fooled. The public can now discern every word traditional politicians utter. For many, traditional politicians don’t mean what they say. So if they say they want to change the Constitution so the country can prosper, the public is not easily convinced. The public may have been fooled many times. But the public cannot be fooled all the time.

"Naked, Chilling Sadism"

The verdict was finally out. US marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith would get 40 years in jail for the rape of a young Filipina, an act which the court described as “bestial” and “chilling, naked sadism.”

At 21, Smith is so young, and he has a lot to do ahead of him. This includes careers in the US Marine corps and probably raising a family. But alas, he committed something, which, to his innermost conscience, he must have regretted doing in the first place.

Unfortunately, Smith, in trying to defend himself, denied he committed rape. He insisted it was “consensual” sex. But granting this was so, following his own argument, why did Smith and his three other colleagues literally dumped Nicole at a street in the dead of night? Granting it was consensual and he acted as a gentleman, why did he and his colleagues just dump Nicole like garbage? Again, granting that it was consensual, the mere fact that he and his colleagues dumped Nicole out in the cold showed their utilitarian behavior, to say the least. Typical of the consumerist and throw-away mentality common in the West, Smith and colleagues practically threw away Nicole after “using” her.

Fortunately, the court ruled that what happened on that night on 1 November 2005 was not just a case of “using” someone. The Court said it was “morally convinced” that Smith committed the crime as charged or what it described as “bestial acts” and “chilling, naked sadism.” “Thus, a severe penalty is meted out by this state, as parens patriae (father of his country) on this advert crime, to protect the women against the bestiality of persons who cannot control their libidos,” the court said.

The crime of rape is not just about uncontrollable libidos. Rape, as one Manila newspaper editorial noted, is also about abuse of power. In the case of Nicole, she was not just overpowered. At that time, she was practically powerless as she was too intoxicated to defend herself. Smith took advantage of this powerlessness in unleashing his bestiality. And while at this at the back of a van, Smith must have thought that such bestial act would just be one of his one-night stand misadventures, which he could brag about among male colleagues. But it was not to be because Nicole gathered all the strength and courage to complain and cry rape.

Many were happy about the verdict. But some insisted the three other US Marines should have also been punished. Although the three were freed, this did not mean they were innocent. It just so happened that there was not enough evidence presented to pin them down, too.

But anything can happen to Smith. With all its power, the US can move heaven and earth to appeal Smith’s case. For now, legal luminaries are debating on who gets custody of Smith. Still, the bigger issue is when Smith, with the help of Uncle Sam’s might, will be freed after an appeal.

If he remains in jail as sentenced, Smith certainly will lose his future. Now alone in his cell at the Makati jail, he can have all the time in the world to reflect on things that matter and to reexamine his unexamined self. Perhaps, he can reflect on what real happiness means and may yet come to realize that real happiness transcends one-night stand misadventures. Or he can also reflect on karma, the law of action and reaction, the principle that you reap what you sow.

Or better yet, he can have all the time in the world to write a best-seller, which focuses on his confessions and transformation while in jail. There just are a lot of positive possibilities Smith can do while he remains sleepless at the Makati jail.

Nicole, the 23-year old survivor of that bestiality, also has many years ahead of her. After more than a yearlong painful wait for that 4 December verdict, she can now plan her future and move on. Despite what happened to her, Nicole has apparently transcended her pains. And for this, she is grateful to the heavens. She, as the reports said, has acknowledged that “God is good.” With God’s goodness on her side, Nicole can now face the world and may yet advocate for other silent survivors of bestiality to also seek redress and justice.