Velarde supportive of presidents - from Cory to GMA

MANILA, Philippines - We are writing in response to the column of Ms. Amy Pamintuan entitled “Destiny” which came out on the August 24, 2009 issue of The Philippine STAR.

In that column, Ms. Pamintuan wrote that “Bro. Mike Velarde’s moral recovery credentials are weakened by his avowed continued support for the president, but at least he does not bite the hand that feeds him.”

We would like to inform Ms. Pamintuan that our servant-leader, Brother Mike Velarde, has always been supportive of all presidents from the time of the late Mrs. Corazon Aquino up to the present, and thus should not put color to the fact that he continually offers his guidance and support to Mrs. Arroyo, our current president. After all, St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, exhorts us to support our leaders most especially by praying for them.

And while it is very true that indeed, it is not in the character of Brother Mike to “bite the hand that feeds him,” we would like to say that Brother Mike does not eat out of the hands of the president either — which Ms. Pamintuan seemed to imply in her column. On the contrary, whenever the president is invited to our gatherings which Brother Mike leads, it is he who “feeds” her — particularly with spiritual food.

As for Ms. Pamintuan’s claim that the “property where his (Brother Mike’s) spanking new church now stands was made possible with the help of a reported behest loan of nearly P150 million from the Arroyo government,” I would like to state for the record that Brother Mike has no behest loan whatsoever from the government. The only loan he obtained from the Pag-IBIG Fund was for his buyers on his condominium project, which was fully paid in record time.

I would appreciate it very much if you could print these corrections regarding the items mentioned in the column of Ms. Pamintuan. — WILLIE BUYSON VILLARAMA, Special Assistant to Brother Mike Z. Velarde