Burning in our inferno,O God have mercy

(Part II – Dan Brown’s ‘Inferno’ inspired by Dante Alighieri’s ‘La Divina Comedia’)

Dante Alighieri, a 13th century Renaissance man wrote La Divina Comedia, a trilogy composed of the allegorical poetry of the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso symbolizing his life against the constant political dissensions in his city of Florence.

Described by the English translator of this Italian masterpiece, Allen Mandelbaum, as a “salvation - bent intellectual, zealously prophetic,” Dante actively participated in the victorious Battle of Compaldino and Caprona, which became an essential part of the Inferno and its 34 “canto.” Dante’s comedy is very seldom comic but is a summa of Dante’s long experiment with the counter stages of life, where his political involvement became the political content of La Comedia’s Inferno, regarding the struggle for power within the Florentine republic between the forces supporting the Papacy and forces supporting the Holy Roman empire.

Dante’s diagram of the moral

topology of ‘Inferno’

Dante Alighieri drew a one page diagram of the moral topology of “Inferno” showing a stack of discs or plates, one on top of the other each clearly labeled with the grievous sins of mankind. Crowning the drawing is the republic city of Florence. The top plate is “limbo,” where the souls of people went before Jesus Christ lived on earth. His crucifixion redeemed mankind and opened heaven. From the second to the fifth plates are the labels: “the lustful,” “the gluttonous,” “the avaricious,” and “the wrathful.” The sixth plate is marked “heretics,” while the seventh “the violent”­— against their neighbors (tyrants and murderers); against themselves (suicide), and against their professions (squanderers).

Midway, the sins identified are “against God,”— blasphemers, sodomites, usurers. The eighth is the “ordinary frauds” descending below: “panderers and seducers,” “flatterers,”“simonists,” “diviners, astrologers and magicians,”“hypocrites,” “thieves,” “fraudulent counselors,”“sowers of scandals and schisms,” “falsifiers” (of metals, persons, coins, words.).

The last list attached to Lucifer’s hell is labeled “treacherous frauds”: Cain (traitors to kin Abel), Antenora (traitors to country or party), Ptolomea (traitors to guests), Judecca (traitors to benefactors.)

After the storm

Ninoy’s 30th death anniversary yesterday also marked the passing of tropical storm Maring, which left a heavy toll on human life and properties placing Central Luzon (CL) provinces under a state of calamity. Paradoxically, 60 percent of the economic growth of the entire country is focused at CL, with the National Capital Region (NCR) and Calamba, Laguna and Batangas or CALABARZON, according to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Balicasan.

In the recent Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emergency Technology Research Development (PCIEERD) economic survey forum, Sec. Balicasan announced that the Philippines has the lowest total investment share (GDP 2010-2012) compared to India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Our economic growth barely exceeded population undermining political and social stability. The economy should be shifted to a higher growth path. It is time P-Noy and the 16th Congress which just opened should heed the solutions suggested. “Inclusive growth doesn’t come by chance, but with deliberate policies that expand opportunities, through a long term, not mere short term process.”

“Floodgates opened” banner of Philippine dailies yesterday may remind us somewhat of the “gates of hell” have been unlocked in the Philippines, when the Napoles “pork barrel” scandal exposed the worst corruption committed now at the doorstep of the Senate and Congress.

The sins of our fathers

One can say that newspaper columnists today strongly stir the conscience of politicians of our times, just as Dante’s Inferno exposed graft, fraud, depravity, perversions of popes and kings in 13th century Italy and France.

Hell has truly broken loose gauging from titles of columns and editorial these days: “Pork chops,” “Pork masterminds scot free,” “Pork barrel scam, a Perfect model of corruption service,” “Why P-Noy stands by pork barrel,” ”Its high time people marched against pork” etc. Philippine STAR’s front page last Saturday screamed “200 lawmakers in P6-B pork mess,”with the large photo of an irate Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Maria Gracia Pulido Tan holding up the executive report. The 24-page COA Executive Summary report stated that several NGO beneficiaries of the lawmakers were non-existent. Several NGOs were even incorporated by some congressmen, senators or their relatives. Records of fund release and procurement were not kept “Everyone simply looked away” otherwise, the lawmaker would threaten to slash the budget of the protestors or would make it difficult for them during budget deliberations. Threats of dredging up old controversies of their agencies would also crop up.

It’s also possible that resident auditors’ failure to expose the anomalies is that they have a “share” in the deal. The saying goes “Everybody’s doing it” or “Live and let live.” Then “ghost” NGOs have been tolerated by DSWD who does not do any ocular inspections. Alibis such as lack of staff or it’s not the agency’s mandate to evaluate show almost everyone washing their hands of the whole affair or blaming others. Where is our sense of responsibility and morality? It’s the people’s money.

Quoting STAR’s “As a Matter of Fact”columnist Sara S. De Guzman “The fund continues to be sarcastically referred to as ‘pork barrel’ due to the general perception that it is allocated to congressmen and senators to be used based on their unrestrained discretion, to fund pet programs or projects in their districts without any accountability. With an annual pork of P70 M for a congressman and P200M for a senator, it is worth all the investment. And with pork, politics has become a lucrative family business in the Philippines too.”

Quoting Randy David’s column in Inquirer (Public Lives), “At first blush, there appears nothing fundamentally wrong about this system, especially where one is dealing with a federal government that has its own priorities like in the United States. In practice, however, it tends to contradict the whole logic of rational budgeting. Instead of subjecting congressional insertions to careful scrutiny or debate, legislators find it easier to allow everybody to feed from the pork barrel. In the process some get more than the others depending upon how close they are to the appropriations committee.

“As chief executive, the President has the power to veto any expenditure item that he does not agree with. A few American presidents do this, particularly when a congressional insertion entails having to reallocate a huge chunk of the national budget. While P-Noy has the option to remove the pork barrel portion from the budget, he has to be mindful of the needs to marshal steady political support for his agenda in the remaining half of his term.”

Demons, not angels

Demons, not angels, seem to have plague this archipelago with constant ocean tragedies, prompting STAR “Sketches” columnist Amy Pamintuan to recall the 1987 Dona Paz (Sulpicio Lines) collision with oil tanker Vector, which caused 4,300 deaths in the Mindoro waters. The horrible negligence of the navy and coast guards resulted in having mere apprentice crew members, not having a lookout, and the rest drinking beer and watching TV. The Vector was not seaworthy, has no license to operate, and had no qualified shipmaster. With the absence of final ruling, Sulpicio Lines was allowed to operate until two decades after in 2008, the Supreme Court absolved it of liabilities.

The loose regulation of the maritime industry still persists with the recent sinking of 2GO ferry, M/V St. Thomas Aquinas as it collided with cargo vessel M/V Sulpicio Express 7, resulting in the loss of 80 passengers. The guilty government agency — the Philippine Port Authority, tolerates unqualified and undisciplined crew, poorly maintained aging vessels, inaccurate manifesto and sloppy record keeping.

From the ‘Inferno’ to ‘Purgatorio’?

In four months, Pope Francis has given more relevance to Christianity than his predecessors have done in the past 40 years. He ended his visit to Brazil by going down to the slums of Varhinia, notorious for its scale of criminality and violence. He told the crowd of rich and poor surrounding him no one could remain insensitive to the inequalities that persist in the world. No amount of peace building will be able to last nor will harmony and happiness be attained in a society that ignores, pushes to the margins or excludes a part of itself.”

To get out of our “inferno” into “purgatorio,” we have to get back our spirit of Christianity where we serve not the god of Mammon but the real Lord Jesus who walked with fishermen, spoke with beggars and lepers, and preached to rabble and rabbi. This we can do be lifting the dignity of our poor countrymen and restoring their self-esteem by developing a knowledge society and eradicating illiteracy.

(Part III – The Way to “Paradiso”)

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