Suddenly, it’s Advent. In two weeks, it will be Christmas and hopefully, all the aggravation will stop — the crowded malls, the panic shopping, the traffic, the politicking, the lies and name-calling on Facebook among other irritations. For at least one day before the end of the year, the Filipino community is usually united in the Christmas spirit. May this year be no different.
Whatever the Christmas spirit means to each one of us, it mostly refers to various kinds of ceasefire in the spirit of generosity, forgiveness, love.
The government usually calls for a monthlong Christmas ceasefire that covers the week before Christmas until way past the New Year, to give our people a semblance of peace and our conflict-weary soldiers much needed respite from violence.
Forced to respond, the New People’s Army also declares a ceasefire — usually only two days — on Christmas Day and on New Year’s Day. The rebels have always been wary of ceasefires because they know that given the chance to go home to their families, many guerrillas would choose not to return to the hard life on the front. Thus, the communists declare token ceasefires as their grudging acknowledgement of the holiest and most joyful feast celebrated by Filipinos, including NPA cadres.
Most malls stop operations for at least half a day on Christmas and New Year, in a ceasefire from commercialism that is even shorter than that declared by the Communists from killing soldiers. Mostly, traffic also observes a ceasefire as families spend the day at home exchanging presents and gorging on holiday fare. For sure, this year, these family reunions will be marked by heated debates on the qualities and failings of their presidential and vice-presidential choices, and there may be no ceasefire there.
Although politicians take the day off from shooting virtual arrows at one another as they celebrate with their families, there is really no ceasefire from political activity, what with elections only five short months away. Grace Poe, whose campaign was going strong, seems to have lost her bid for the presidency after a Comelec division disqualified her from running on the issues of residency and citizenship. Grace has not accepted the Comelec decision sitting down. Expect a tough fight from her camp all the way to the Supreme Court, come Christmas, hell or high water.
Instead of getting his candidacy up and running after his declaration as PDP-Laban’s official presidential candidate, Mayor Duterte of Davao spent all of this week trying to wiggle out of the tight space he created for himself after he cursed Pope Francis for the traffic caused during his visit in Manila last January, bragged about his sex life, and boasted about his controversial approach to governance as judge, jury and executioner of so-called “bad elements” in his city.
The Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines quickly responded, describing Duterte as corrupt with negative leadership values; social media is awash with criticism of Duterte’s lifestyle and values. While Duterte is alternately belligerent and humbled, his die-hard constituents in Davao have risen as one passionate and confrontational group in his defense, which is turning out to be a proxy war between Mindanawans and what they call “Imperial Manila.” I foresee an NPA-style ceasefire here on Christmas day, but the battle will continue.
There are many other contentious issues that will not die down because it is Christmas. Analysts say that failure by Congress to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law before the Christmas break could radicalize the Muslims who adjusted their political agenda to suit the rest of the country, to attain peace. If that happens, there will be no peace, and no ceasefire.
The Lumad are fighting to get back their ancestral lands and obtain justice for the killing of their members. The LGBT are demanding that Corporal Lance Pemberton, who was convicted of homicide for the death of the transgender Jennifer Laude, be jailed in Muntinglupa. Commuters despair over Manila traffic and the state of the MRT. So many flash points and so much public anger over them.
Besides the unrest here at home, the earth is in turmoil with mega storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, searing summers and an endless drought constituting the new normal. Armed conflict has become more brutal; innocent people are being slaughtered by the hundreds in the name of religion. Millions are homeless, refugees from violence in their homelands. And never has there been so little sympathy and resources available for the many that need them.
I wish there could be a more inspiring setting for the coming of the Savior. God knows, we need a ceasefire — from violence, politics, anger, negativism, illness, and natural disasters. But whoever, wherever, and whatever we are in the scheme of things, there is always something we can do to make things better for our neighbor, ourselves and the world. This Advent season, may we find the grace and generosity to grant each other the ceasefire we need from the mayhem we have created. Everyone deserves a reasonably peaceful and blessed Christmas.