A nation under God

On the night of Aug. 30, I had dinner in Alabang Town Center with my sons, my daughters-in-law, and my grandchildren. The rain was so heavy it burst through the ceiling of the restaurant, flooding part of it.

When I went to the car, BayanKo adviser Jose Alejandrino was driving. The rain was still heavy and the cars caught in a traffic jam because of the floods. On the service road to Hillsborough, the cars and jeepneys had stopped because the road ahead was flooded nearly three feet high. A jeepney driver told us at some points the water was four feet deep. Many of the cars decided to make a U-turn.

Alejandrino decided to push through despite the heavy rain and the high water. He put the car on first gear, drove ahead, continuously praying the ‘Our Father.’  Twice, the car started to stall, but Alejandrino was still praying. We swam nearly one kilometer before finally reaching a part of the road where the water was not so deep. We made it!

After this experience, I am now totally convinced of the power of prayer. I don’t consider myself a person of deep faith, as Alejandrino is, but for the first time I began to believe. What I saw that night with my own eyes is a miracle.

The next day, the 355 delegates to the National Assembly of the Katipunan Party, with over five million card-bearing members, ratified the charter and by-laws of the new party and elected its officers. It happened to be National Heroes Day.

Elected were former Sen. Ernesto Herrera as national chairman; ?former Sen. Joey Lina as national vice-chairman; former Exec. Sec. Ruben Torres as secretary-general; ?Leonardo Montemayor as deputy secretary-general for education and information; ?Reynaldo Santos as deputy secretary-general for finance; ?former Sen. Heherson Alvarez as deputy secretary-general for international affairs; Rolly Capoquian as deputy secretary-general for organization; ?Milagros Ogalinda as national party treasurer; ?former Justice Narciso Nario as national party chief auditor; and ?Carmen Pedrosa as secretary for public information. It is an excellent lineup.

I received a congratulatory message from Pablo Adrian Hardy, chief economist and adviser to the Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Association, for the BayanKo and Katipunan initiatives.

“Without a doubt,” Adrian wrote, “your contribution to Philippine social and economic development will be very important and much appreciated by the population (of marginalized sectors) and the international community.”

The Ibero-American Association groups together Spain, Portugal, and all the Latin American countries, and has an important network of world political and business leaders.

I will be in South Korea to chair the media forum that will organize the media bureau of Asian political parties.

The international community is beginning to notice that something new is happening in the Philippines.

I have to give credit where credit is due. Much of BayanKo’s success is due to Jose Alejandrino who came home to help me. He explains why.

“When you launched BayanKo,” he told me, “I was struck by the name you gave to your movement. You named it after the song my granduncle Gen. Jose Alejandrino had composed. It was as if God was sending me a message I should return home.

When I met you a few days after my arrival, I had in mind to go beyond crowd sourcing and bring the marginalized sectors into one big movement.

In my first meeting with FVR in Manila, he took me to the window of his office to show me the wide discrepancy between rich and poor. He showed me the disparity between the high-rise buildings of the affluent and the slums of the poor. I understood what he was really saying. The politicians and big business had lost their social conscience.

In our meeting with Cardinal Tagle, we understood where his true heart lay. I told him that he was destined by God for a higher mission.

At Joe Almonte’s book launching, he wrote in his dedication to me to ‘finish the unfinished revolution at Edsa.’ I also understood what he meant.

The Good Lord continued to guide me. He brought us to Sen. Ernesto Herrera. He brought us to CJ Reynato Puno. The God-fearing people were being brought together. God was weaving the threads.

In less than a year since I arrived, the Katipunan was formed, grouping the marginalized sectors into a political party that has the vision of a nation under God.

The katipuneros are made up of God-fearing men and women like Ernesto Herrera, Joey Lina, Sonny Alvarez, Leonardo Montemayor, Ruben Torres, Willie Villarama, William Dar, Roy Seneres, Reynaldo Santos, Rolly Capoquian, Narciso Nario, Susanita Tesiorna, Milagros Ogalinda, Florencia Cabatingan, and countless others in the Katipunan. BayanKo was swelled recently by Jocelyn Magcale and her organization of three million tricycle drivers. The list continues to grow and I pray good men like Raffy Alunan and Dick Gordon will soon join us.

The movement is more important than any individual. The cause of the Lord must override all personal considerations. We must return to God and build a nation under God.”

Alejandrino is a political analyst. Former House Speaker Jose de Venecia called him ‘a political genius.’ When I told Alejandrino what JDV had said, he shrugged, “All my ideas are not mine, they are inspired by God.”

I asked him for his prognostics in 2016.

He said, “Poe is a product of media hype. She is too raw, erratic in her judgment and choice of advisers. There is a growing awareness Aquino has not been able to solve the major problems of this country and that someone with more experience is needed. Even jeepney drivers understand this. Their daily income has been reduced to a pittance by the traffic mess.

Binay is hounded by corruption. The people are tired of corruption.

There is a person who can win but needs to hurdle some obstacles. He needs to choose his VP carefully.

The other political parties don’t really have a mass base. They are just amorphous groupings of personalities.

Whoever wants to win needs the marginalized sectors. That means reaching an agreement with the Katipunan, which is the only party with a mass base. If the Katipunan organizes quietly all the way to the barangay level, it will tip the balance.

Mar does not seem to favor constitutional change. He is making a big mistake. His only chance of winning is the automated voting system. Even if he doesn’t want to cheat, can he control his cowboys? And if there is cheating, will the voters accept the results? We could be headed for failed elections.”

Alejandrino ended, “I have no political ambition. When BayanKo and Katipunan have achieved their principal objective, I shall get on my horse, fetch the woman I love, and ride away with her into the sunset of Manila Bay.”