Chief Justice Davide, when asked if his son will win as Governor of Cebu, answered, " I still believe in miracles." This is a very important comment in the light of Philippine elections where "miracles" can have both sacred and secular meanings and interpretations.
Moses raised his arms and the sea parted, allowing the Israelites to cross over en route to their Exodus and God's promised land for them. The water turned into wine at Cana. And one can cite more cases of real miracles where the central source is God and godly faith as the trigger. These miracles are so in the sacred realm. What seems impossible on earth becomes possible because God in heaven allows the impossible to be possible on earth.
Miracles, however, do not happen only on the sacred realm. There are "miracles" that do not trace its source to God or to godly faith.
During elections, the impossible becomes possible. The real losers turn out to be declared winners. Ballots, in the millions, turn out written by the same hands, for candidates who are not really the people's choice but the choice of those who so believe in their power, those who play and act as gods and as miracle-makers during elections.
These are the so-called secular miracles. These are the election miracles created by the power-driven, corrupt and abusive who do not want to recognize the true voice of the people and most especially the true voice of God. They play God instead and tamper with the results of the elections - they make the impossible possible, or so they have continued to believe even up till now.
FPJ saw how this other type of humanly-created miracle prevented a king like him from being the truly elected, legitimate President of this country. Many of those in power are so familiar with this secular type of election miracle. We can almost see their sarcastic smile widening as elections draw nearer so they can pull their election miracles once again!
Election time is not the only period when secular miracles appear and take place. Lo and behold, so much taxpayers' money are spent on infrastructure that is never constructed or for infrastructure that disappears as soon as these are built!
Or public money just disappears before everyone's eyes - for bad deals that are uncovered or for bad deals that are hidden away from the public eye. Or as Cebu has demonstrated to all others, millions of public money can easily vanish for buying land which has long disappeared, for land that has long been submerged in water! And believe it or not, lo and behold, only the appraisal committee members are pointed to as the source of this miracle deal!
And the list of secular miracles - the unbelievable or only en da Philippines-type of miracles- can go on and on. Or so the secular miracle spinners would like to believe. The believers, advocates, and practitioners of secular miracles trust in their powers so much, they are already installing in place all possible mechanisms to continue holding on and controlling power and wealth, win or lose in the May elections.
They are trying to pull miracles with midnight or pre-election appointments. They are already installing win-win situations for them. They have already mastered the art of creating election miracles. They have also mastered the art of controlling the budget - how to make public money disappear without being made accountable for these.
To ensure that in the unlikely event that the sacred miracle that Chief Justice Davide is sincerely praying will take place and the secular miracle makers will lose the elections, they have, as early as now, mastered the art of installing their appointees in the judiciary, the military, other important offices and agencies of government, to ensure their non-prosecution for having created secular miracles unauthorized by the laws of our country, of our people and certainly, unacceptable to God, our greatest miracle-Creator!
Yes, this coming election will be a battle of those who believe in miracles, those who believe in the sacred and those who believe in the secular meaning and creator of miracles!
Chief Justice Davide's comment is a very timely reminder for us all to take our stand this coming May election. For all those who believe in God's miracles, in sacred, not secular miracles, let us stay in faith and continue to go on collective prayer mode, for the Lord to humble and castigate those who try to create their own brand of secular miracles, before, during, and after elections!
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Email: cherryb_thefreeman@yahoo.com