Behold the Ides of March, beware

Suddenly, it is March. I am forewarning those in power, from presidents to the lowest village functionaries. This is the month of assassinations, murders, betrayals, arrests, convictions, and serious setbacks and defeats. Men in high places, from Biden, Trump, Putin, Xi and here PBBM, PRRD, and controversial figures like Quiboloy, Teves, and all those who face controversies and brouhahas. Watch your back, your sides, and your front.

I don't really relish being a prophet of doom but in 44 BCE, Julius Caesar was warned by a fortune teller on his way to deliver a speech in the Roman Senate, to beware the "Ides of March". He didn’t give importance to it and was murdered later that day by a conspiracy of 60 senators, led by his close friends Brutus and Cassius. Four years later, his adopted heir, Octavian, later renamed Augustus Caesar, avenged his death by executing 300 senators and their underlings. In 1599, William Shakespeare wrote a masterpiece, a tragic drama titled “Julius Caesar” and in 1948, Thornton Wilder wrote a 246-page novel "The Ides of March". Both were a success

History reflects many records evil things that occurred in March. On March 17, 1957, the most beloved Philippine president, Ramon Magsaysay, died in a plane crash in Mt. Manunggal in Cebu. He was born in 1907 and died in 1957. He was only 49 and the seventh president. There were a lot of unlucky sevens in his numerology, as the square root of 49 is 7 and he died on March 17, 1957. It appears that the number 7 and the month of March are incompatible. Many aviation accidents happened in March. On March 27, 1977 (number 7 again), the worst tragedy happened when two Boeing 747s collided in the Canary Islands, killing 577 people.

Of course, nothing is more powerful than our God but it appears that he allowed all these to happen for some reasons. March 2020 was also a bad month for the world. In the US, deadly tornadoes hit Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, while there was a terrible earthquake in Utah and massive flooding in Indiana. In 2020, the first COVID-19 case was identified in New York on March 1. Later that month, New York became the worst-hit US state with 20,875 cases. On March 1 the CEO of GE Jack Welch died. That month alone, 3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits. If one would look at the annals of human history, it would be discovered that March is the most accident-prone month. It has the most number of suicides, murders, and high-profile deaths.

In March 2020, Italy, Spain, and India ordered lockdowns of their respective territories, as COVID-19 hit their populations in staggering numbers. India ordered 1.3 billion people to stay home. Italy closed the Lombardy Region and Spain's economy halted, bringing untold misery to their people. The UK was also badly hit and that month, both Prince Charles and Prime Minister Boris Johnson tested positive for COVID-19. With the COVID-19 pandemic devastating the world economy, millions lost their jobs. Many disasters and calamities also took place. The Australia forest fires destroyed millions of acres of forests. California also raged with bush fires, destroying homes and properties worth billions of dollars.

Mark my words: March is also a month of political turmoil in geopolitics. On March 16, 1968, US troops executed 584 children, women, and men in the infamous My Lai massacre as part of the maligned Vietnam War. On March 1939 Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and seized the provinces of Bohemia and Moravia. In March 1917, the Bolsheviks ousted Czar Nicholas II and later executed his entire family by firing squad. Let us just be extra careful and pray harder.

Thus, I am issuing this gentle reminder. Stay calm, stay away from crowds. Always drive carefully. Examine the documents before you sign. Be careful in talking to people. And pray hard to the Lord, to save us from all the machinations of the devil. It is better to be safe than to be sorry.