Palm Sunday misunderstood?

Yes, you read it right, I am suggesting that many religious authorities have been selling us the wrong interpretation of Palm Sunday. I submit that “Palm Sunday” was actually a flash mob event intended to be a political statement that the Jews had found their God-promised messiah and they were so sure, they were going public with it! Why else would the Jews roll out a “royal welcome” knowing the Romans could easily stop them and throw them all in jail.

To be fair, it’s not everyday you meet someone who can feed five thousand on two occasions. Even in today’s modern medicine you don’t ordinarily hear of doctors giving sight to the blind, making the deaf hear or raising a man who’s been dead 3 stinking days. There’s also that bit about walking on water and telling a storm to calm down and stop rocking the boat! This guy Jesus had lots of testimonies and endorsers. The problem with flash mobs is that they will readily endorse you today, but if you disappoint them they will quickly crucify you tomorrow.

With the Holy Week upon us, it may be useful for people like the President to really study Biblical leaders and heroes and reflect on their rise and fall from power. The same lessons still hold and it could save our leaders additional grief not to mention crucifixion.

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Speaking of Bible lessons, President Noynoy Aquino should study how guys like King Saul messed things up by being impatient, hardheaded or forcing their way. No matter how good his intentions are as in the DAP funds, the political trial to impeach SC Chief Justice Corona, disregarding the suspension order of the Ombudsman on General Purisima, discrediting the Senate Committee Report on the Mamasapano Massacre, and now creating an alternative body to push for the Bangsa Moro Basic Law or BBL by organizing a group of “Product Endorsers.”

PNoy may believe in his heart that “the end justifies the means” but he is being blind to the reality that the wrong means can discredit or devalue the end goal. The BBL is the sole responsibility of Congress to pass into law; the Constitution is the fundamental legal guide for crafting and finalizing the BBL. Organizing the council of leaders is a dangerous step towards undermining the competence, character and integrity of the lawmakers by placing “product endorsers” to review and give their impressions on a matter they have no right and no authority. It would be foolish on the part of those invited to lend their credibility and public status to be used as deodorant to a defective and dangerous proposition that can fragment the republic and create an even bigger war than the one we already have. If anything, this is the second time that President Noynoy Aquino’s action has shown that he can no longer rely on Congress or his political allies within. Has the President become so obsessed with leaving behind a legacy that he is now willing to leave his allies and his political party in the dust?

I mentioned King Saul because the guy even went ahead of his mentor and God-appointed priests and began doing their job to speed things up only to end up being rejected by God and losing God’s anointing. With his ratings and popularity practically crashing, I hope the President can use the Holy Week to learn some lessons in humility and how to rely on God and not on ourselves. God can still turn things around for PNoy but only if he is willing to follow and not insist. That is the lesson that Jesus left us during the last supper, at the Garden of Gethsemane and during his crucifixion. Not our way but God’s way – God’s will.

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Good news for our readers who have been petitioning, praying and waiting for the opening of the Sto. Toribio / Balete exit ramp on the Star Toll way, I just heard from the staff of Lipa City Mayor Maynard Sabili that the ramp “might” or “will” be opened on March 31 or April 1 depending on the availability of President Noynoy Aquino who has been invited to grace the ribbon cutting ceremony.

I recently visited the site and true enough everything but the beautiful tellers of Star Toll way are in place. Many residents and investors in Lipa City will certainly welcome the new off ramp because it will save traveler at least 5 to 15 minutes of traffic that they usually have to go through if they pass through the Malvar City exit because the local traffic management along the route are simply undermanned, poorly trained and generally ignored by jeepney and bus drivers who always block the Laurel Highway especially in the Lima Industrial Park Area.

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While giving me the update on the toll booth opening, Mrs. Sabili who now stands as Chief of Staff for the Mayor provided me documents to correct the misimpression people may have regarding a city ordinance aimed at removing or relocating “Non-Conforming” feed mills, poultry and piggery farms out of the city by 2017. As it turns out, the “phase out” of farms was proposed and put into an ordinance during the term of then Mayor Vilma Recto, but due to pressure from various sectors, said ordinance was frozen by another ordinance declaring a 15-year moratorium under the same administration. Mayor Maynard Sabili has actually favored the extension of the moratorium that will once again come into the public focus in 2017. In the mean time the Mayor and his wife/Chief of Staff have been doing their best to make farm owners to comply with environmental management requirements to stop flies and foul odors from affecting surrounding communities. They have also expressed their willingness to work with farmers groups as well as government authorities to achieve a balance between food security and community interests.