Manariwa

Introduction

To fully appreciate 2022 and understand the exchange of fiery volleys we see and sometimes personally encounter as individuals and as a globalized society, we need to review the major role that one important character – a hero to many and a villain to many others – played in our history as a nation since 1965.

Part 2 of “2022” should have come after our newly-elected president’s inauguration; but we need to address a vital issue that may help many to fully grasp the undercurrents of present events. We step back to answer my former-student Joanna Alonzo’s query as to why someone who had protested in the streets of Manila and condemned the former “dictator” Marcos Sr. ended up working at the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), an agency in his Cabinet, and has now supported Marcos Jr.’s candidacy.

My Story

The story begins at the time our family moved to Mandaluyong in 1965 after I had graduated from elementary in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. Although I still missed the rustic life in the “city of gentle people”, at 13 and living in the burgeoning capital region so close to historic and eclectic Manila, life offered many enticing and exciting challenges far from serene Visayan landscapes. And so, with a coveted scholarship at Philippine Science High School in Diliman, Quezon City along with many probinsiyanos, I soon became a street-smart lad, a Quiapo and Cubao “mall rat” and, sometimes, a serious scholar. School became my second family; but that is another story.

On December 30 of that year, our parents brought us — my sisters, Beth, Marian, Marilou and me — to the inauguration of the newly-elected President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr. in Manila. My father, Emilio, an agriculturist from UPLB working in government, had done radio and print journalism on the side back in Negros. At breakfast, we would listen to his daily radio broadcast, “Pagpalambo sa Atong Kinabuhing Baryohanon” (Enhancing our Rural Life). He also contributed human-interest stories to dailies and magazines. So, with camera on hand, he led us as we trooped to Luneta Park to join a huge crowd for the grandiose event. (Read Marcos’ inaugural speech here to get a glimpse the state of the nation then.)

Marcos, the Nationalista Party candidate, had won against the incumbent president and Liberal-Party standard-bearer Diosdado Macapagal. Our parents had rooted for Marcos because my mother was an Ilocana from Villasis, Pangasinan where they had met and married during the war and where my father served as a guerilla in the Resistance Movement. He knew the exploits of Marcos as a guerilla fighter and organizer in Northern Luzon against the Japanese. Another obvious reason they supported him was the fact that my mother, Inocencia, was a Marcos.

Some memories remain fresh; however, footages of that event can somehow revive much of the emotional rush of a yet incomprehensible reality displayed before us then: the thunderous roar of a 21-gun salute, the jubilant rhythms of a military parade, the triumphant tunes of the marching bands, the rumbling of tanks and army vehicles, and the resplendent colors of banners, uniformed soldiers and citizens in native apparels. Imelda’s statuesque image in her native terno certainly added some glamour and spice to the scenario. The three children, Imee, Bongbong and Irene, stood by their barong-clad father who exuded confidence and composed elation. Like me and my sisters, they smiled and looked on with the same curiosity we had.

For those who may frown at this narrative, I write as the child I was, minus the jaded and distorted angst and ill-wills of adulthood that would enter my soul in about five years. Yes, what I saw was mesmerizing, for what I had only read and heard about became 3-D mystifying reality that we often miss in our high-tech, virtual comfort-zones today.

Yet my father was not satisfied with the already awesome display of history-in-the-making. He decided to take us to Malacañang Palace to fully savor the celebration of the promised tomorrow: “This country will be great again!” Who could fault a veteran soldier who had valiantly fought a war and was now seeing a fellow soldier leading a nation to recovery and progress? We walked all the way to San Miguel District and were met by a guard or two at the gate. Seeing a family of eager well-wishers, they let us in. The feelings and thoughts we may have had as innocent children are now beyond recall. For we were not only entering the sprawling residence of the leader of the land, we were part of a glorious occasion at the seat of political power where many had ruled this country since the colonizers came. Now, I write as I am.

Yes, my family gate-crashed Marcos’ party – a surreal privilege of finding ourselves among dignitaries and celebrities relishing the majority mandate Marcos obtained (52% vs. 48% of about 7 million votes). My father walked right to the new president and shook his hand. So did my mother, who introduced herself as a Marcos from Villasis in Ilocano, to which Marcos acknowledged in his dialect. We, the kids, also took our turns to congratulate the Apo. I remember that we stayed a while and viewed Pasig River flowing by the terrace where we loitered and ogled personalities. We saw the new Vice-President, Salvador Lopez, as well as movie stars, Luis Gonzales and Gloria Romero, who had portrayed Ferdinand and Imelda in the movie “Iginuhit ng Tadhana” (Marked for Destiny). (Click here to see the full movie, where Bongbong Marcos portrays himself and delivers a clearly prophetic speech.)

The promise of a “great country” was not quite clear to me as a child; but I looked forward to better and brighter things to come. Besides, an adolescent spends much of his time reading, playing and day-dreaming.

The period of transition from 1965 to 1970, my high school years, ushered political, social, cultural and economic changes that would continue until 1972 when Marcos declared Martial Law. The curious, shy boy who had seen firsthand the hopeful beginning of an era also saw a nation’s descent into chaos, now through the eyes and mind of a young adult indoctrinated by a foreign ideology, along with so many other youth. Unfortunately, it placed me opposite the leader whom my parents still adored. My father worked in government in the president’s cabinet, and I was then a student at University of the Philippines where Marcos had finished law.

I joined my first street demonstration in freshman-college during a boycott of classes to protest a 10-centavo oil-price increase in February 1971. Not knowing much beyond the walls of academia, I went along for the ride and to be with friends, as we marched and chanted passionately under the stately acacia trees of Diliman Campus. (We were clueless rats dancing to the tune of the ever-invisible pied piper of mob rule.) We piled chairs, rocks, branches and roadblocks to form a barricade across the campus entrance at University Avenue. Still carefree at 18, I had but a shallow understanding of socialism and communism, much of which came from my high-school buddy, Clarence Agarao, who loved to lecture during Art Class workshop. That day at the barricades turned out to be a momentous landmark for me, for the university and for the whole country. (In 1968, the Communist Party headed by Jose Maria Sison had launched its plan to overthrow the government. Radical teachings quickly spread through the cities and villages. Universities and colleges became fertile grounds for the growing movement. Every protest march of identified subversive groups was monitored by the State as a potential arena for infiltration by armed rebels.)

Like many, I plunged into a rabbit hole that day when my good friend, Pastor Mesina, was shot at the barricades by a furious professor who took the law in his hands and confronted protesters with his Carbine and shot protestors. My friend’s eventual death galvanized the enraged campus community, which took over the whole university and established the Diliman Commune¹. The ensuing violent confrontations between the professors, students and residents on one side and the police force on the other became the seeds of a more violent nationalistic unrest in the next two years, until Marcos finally declared Martial Law in 1972 to stem the tide of communism that was strangling the country. But for 2 years prior to military rule, we marched freely on the streets shouting against the “Hitler, Diktador, Tuta” in Malacañang and against American interventions.

My father never said a word against my stand; but my mother was often concerned for my safety. However, my uncle, who was an army colonel in Cebu, felt insulted when he saw my newspaper-wallpaper with a communist slogan insulting his commander-in-chief. On the day Martial Law was declared, I was bedridden and prevented from joining protest rallies. That probably saved me from trouble, for many activists were rounded up and jailed for abetting the rebellion. Many other close friends died for the cause which I also espoused. Many of us then, up to now, blamed Marcos for the country’s plunge into complete chaos, as well as for the deaths of many citizens. The following years allowed the nation to enjoy peace and order under military rule. I finished college and worked in government.

I graduated in October 1976 with an engineering degree, along with a personal degree from a four-year-long course in search of life’s meaning. Since 1972, I had spent more time reading at the Social Sciences and Humanities Section of the UP Main Library than at the Engineering Library, studying philosophy, culture and religion. (The rest of my time I spent browsing at the Conservatory of Music Library.) One day, I looked at my library card and realized I had borrowed 8 books out of 10 in favor of the former. (Of course, the Main Lib had more pretty girls to gaze at than the Engineering Lib, so I had a bonus.) From my freshman year, however, Christian groups had been actively evangelizing in campus; but the call of radicalism drowned that of Heaven. It was when I finally read the Good News that I found the answers that ended my search, although it was merely the beginning of another long, painful journey of discovering deeper truths.

When we finished our requirements, my friends and I went to the UP property custodian to rent graduation togas for the commencement exercises in April 1977. Out of nowhere, he asked us if anyone wanted to rent the toga that Marcos had worn when he graduated in 1939. True or not, I thought my parents would be delighted at the idea; so I took it. At the Commencement Exercises, Imelda came and delivered the keynote speech, while President Marcos sat, watched and most probably reminisced on his college days. (Either I was hounding the man or he was hounding me.) A couple of graduates interrupted Imelda’s speech with shouts of “Marcos, Hitler, Diktador, Tuta!”. A few years back, I would have sympathized and might even have joined the chant; but I had become a believer and was already working under Marcos at NEDA.

Undoubtedly, UP gave me a life of boundless truth-searching. There is truth in artistic beauty, in biological processes, in physical phenomena, in historical narratives, in philosophical principles, in political theories and in divine reality. I have good friends engaged in these and other fields; and we often have endless talks. And all those times discussing together and searching alone have led me to conclude that there is an ultimate, absolute Truth often discarded or bypassed by many. Even among believers, science, philosophy and religious dogma creep in and set up a mental-and-spiritual barricade that prevents real understanding that is organic to our whole human-being-ness.

The next 6 years trained me to become a more ardent Bible-student and a budding preacher while serving in government. Desiring to obtain formal education in biblical studies, I attended a 5-month World Evangelism Course at the A&M Church of Christ, College Station, Texas. The call to preach became stronger by the day while I was building a professional career. At NEDA, I spent 2 years involved in the national economic plan (macro-level) to prime the economy through infrastructure development in major industries, such as: Water Resources, Transportation, Power Generation and Distribution, Communications, Mining, Shipbuilding and Agriculture. Though I only had basic technical training for such a gargantuan task, I still saw myself as a vital part of the whole machinery that would spearhead and realize the promise to make the country great again. From all views, it was indeed a grand and viable blueprint to achieve that noble goal. I felt thrilled and honored to be part of it. And indeed, we saw with our own eyes the visible, initial successes of the plan through the infrastructure that mushroomed and that still function today all over the land. Yet, the enemies of the State pressed on with their own agenda.   

A Nation on the Decline

I spent the period 1982 to 1986 raising a family and working. Now employed at Development Bank of the Philippines since 1978, I saw at micro-level the large national goals being addressed by private investors in shipbuilding, steel manufacturing, mining and other industries across the nation. The growth of the economy and the continuing infrastructure development allowed the countryside to gain momentum, although the violent rebellion in many parts remained a major problem. However, the economic decline that began in the early 1980’s would eventually plunge the nation into negative growth in 1984 and 1985. This led to the DBP nursing projects and loans that were no longer viable, as many of the big borrowers were defaulting and leaving non-performing assets. Many would blame the crisis on the government. However, there were other unheralded factors, such as Marcos’ growing desire to build up ASEAN as an independent force in global economy, a step that US did not take favorably. Subsequently in 1983, when Marcos announced in Toronto the establishment of the Asian Dollar based on gold our government possessed, US saw a potentially-powerful competitor to their almighty dollar and took measures to stop Marcos. Likewise, the ad hoc partnership formed by the oligarchs and the left (apparently led by Marcos’ arch-enemy, Ninoy Aquino) would find a rallying point in the latter’s unsolved murder in 1983, a crime that was planned and utilized by hidden forces to foment hatred and rebellion against the former. The rest is history that will not rest.     

The “EDSA People Power Revolution” in 1986 that ousted Marcos arose from a peaceful resolution of a political and military stand-off between government and protestors because Marcos would not heed the call of his Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Fabian Ver to disperse the people violently. The US sent Air Force jets to fire warning shots at the Palace and gave notice of the deployment of US Marines to force the issue. (To a fighter pilot, a bogey is an enemy fighter-jet; in this case, the bogey is the whole Air Force or the US.) Clearly, a civil war would have ensued had Marcos not sacrificed his position in order to avoid bloodshed. Like a vanquished warrior before a mighty foe (for one who helps your enemies is nothing else but a foe), he requested to be flown to Paoay, Ilocos Norte; but the Americans flew him and his family to Hawaii as exiles. And that is how the US has maintained its economic dominance in Asia and the rest of the world, until recently.

When Cory and company succeeded Marcos, I was one of those who welcomed them, believing the whole mess we were in was entirely the fault of the “dictator”. (The reality is far from what is sold in mainstream media. But that is for another time.) By then, my desire to work as a preacher could no longer be held back. Leaving government was the only option.

Starting in 1987 when I retired from government up to the present, the nation shifted from one leader to another in a seeming musical-chairs period that brought essentially nothing more than mediocre progress – short of the elusive greatness I had hoped for — until recently when the incumbent president revived the infrastructure development and brought renewed confidence in foreign and local investments. Then Covid-19 set us back probably a decade or so, although many feel they are better off and privileged to have high-tech conveniences; but, in reality, they are merely mesmerized by the artificial and limited economic opportunities provided by rapid communication and access to information, as well as many social, cultural and entrepreneurial opportunities derived through social media. Urban blight is still a huge burden. The countryside remains under- or undeveloped. The gap between rich and poor widens. All these become apparent every time natural calamities and disasters — and even human-made crises — occur. The ongoing, globally-set climax in our journey to our Promised Land, we have discussed in another article series. 

Kapuluan is ripe for rest and refreshing, the two golden promises of Yah the prophet Isaiah revealed for our times.      

A New Tomorrow

Today, we find ourselves with a fresh opportunity to reach out for greatness and renew our hope to fulfill our dreams and reach our destiny under a new president. Will he, Marcos Jr., be as good or as bad as his father, Marcos Sr.? Is he a “thief-and-killer” like his father, or is he a defender of our rights and freedoms and a champion for our common goals like his father tried to be? 31 million voters saw hope in him while 14 million did not. What he has become since 1965 is essentially public knowledge, seen either by people as red-hot, pink-warm or black-dead. But what he can offer to the nation in terms of his knowledge and experience will rest upon us all, as one free nation, as we navigate under his leadership through dangerous waters with all the wisdom, strength and courage we can muster as a unified force. But all our efforts will be in vain if we do not clearly discern why Yah has allowed us to go through those 6 decades of preparation for His ultimate plan to bless and uphold our nation as His Lupang Hinirang for His destined purposes today and the coming years.

My story is repeated a thousand times in the lives of many in various ways and different generations. I share it not to brag about what I know or what I have gained but to extol the grace and the power of Yah to raise His people from darkness, defeat and destruction, as individuals and as a nation. For He desires to give us goodness, honor and life, not despair, shame and death. Kapuluan has a genuine and Yah-appointed role to fulfill as a prepared nation for His purposes; and what that role is, we will consider in future articles.    

Whereas many may blame their leaders for the difficulties and failures they encounter in life, and rightly so; ultimately, the people appointed by Heaven to rule upon us can only serve effectively according to the collective effort we must dutifully perform in order to uphold the laws that serve as our protection against enemies who wish, precisely, to topple the leadership by violating those same laws. Bayanihan is a unified, collective principle, not a divided, disruptive process. The threat of disorder and rebellion through lawlessness and anti-bayanihan acts (often supported by foreign ideas and elements, the same way ancient Israel was often led astray) must be addressed, beginning in the mind and heart. Laws rule the mind; but love and compassion rule the heart. A leader who does not possess these will fail his nation. Martial Law literally saved us from falling into the clutches of a godless and heartless form of government under communism. Thanks to Marcos, Sr. and the whole government. In reply to those who shout: NEVER AGAIN!, we must say NEVER IN YAH’S LAND! The imperialists have fallen and are falling one-by-one by His word. And along with the wicked industrialists, ideologists and idolaters, they will all fall.

As to the allegations against the Marcoses regarding hidden wealth, I am quite sure we will all get the final satisfaction by the new president himself. I have my own vetted narrative but it would not be as accurate and as credible as the one he will give us. Bongbong never addressed the issue during the campaign period, rightly so. But he has time to answer all the allegations thrown against him. Is that revisionism? No, it would be revelation of the truth, as we have done here and previous historical series of Kapuluan. And though it is not his job to do that as president, he needs to gain the trust and support of the rest of the people to unite our nation in the truth. His youthful promise to give “plenty of bigas and ulam” can only happen if the people plant and work to reap and, together, enjoy the fruits of the land. BBM is not a farmer or a fisherman; but he can mobilize the nation manage its economy and resources to benefit all. For only then can we move forward to the new path to glory set for us by Heaven and attain our destiny as His nation of priests. As president, therefore, he has 6 years within which he can serve and also prove that what his father had done and left as his own legacy will come full-circle through his own son and namesake, Marcos Jr. Much rests on his shoulders as a leader, but not as much as the nation bears as Hinirang. Yet his success through our unified support will determine how we all fulfill our heavenly calling as a nation. Hence, those who oppose his leadership will not only end up opposing the government and the people but Yah Himself.   

For those who cannot wait, listen to an old man: I waited 57 years to come within arm’s-length to the fruits that will allow all to have life and enjoy it to the fullest in these islands, in spite of all the many past obstacles. Our parents fought a disastrous war in their own ways; and we fight our own intense battles today. But now I clearly see Yah’s faithfulness at work through the entire narrative made clear to us. From 1521, we have seen the whole journey of Kapuluan and our noble ancestors. (Check out the series “1521 – 2021”.) Unless we see Yah’s hand moving through the whole narrative, and in our own individual lives, we will continue to drift in the wild seas of life, hounded and battered by His enemies. Only He can take hold of our hands and save us from drowning.

Am I taking myself and my experiences so seriously? Of course, I do, because my Creator deals with me personally, face-to-face — before Ruach dwelling in the believer and before Yahuah at the coming Judgment. My firm faith tells me that Yah will fulfill His promises and, in doing so, He will bless us as one nation by the same faith that we have for Him as individuals. 2022 begins our glorious journey to our divine calling as Kapuluang Ophir. (Click this link to read the series (“King Solomon, King Hiram, Columbus, Magellan and the Search for Ophir, the Land of Gold“)

The Book of Life

This story is more than a personal narrative, just as the gospel accounts of Mark and Luke were not mere news-reporting. Behind and within the stories humans create with words and with their own lives lie eternal truths waiting to be picked out like gold nuggets along a river bank. But most people merely see shiny gravels or pebbles they mindlessly disregard. Gold has value, but unless we see it and know its worth, we will not desire it. So with Truth. And so, many of us merely pick up semi-precious stones or gems, believing they make us absolutely rich. Many then spend their lives preserving the wealth they think they possess.

Remember, the streets of New Jerusalem are of gold “as clear as crystal”. And there in the Heavenly City, we merely walk on it – whether real, precious gold or mystical gold. What we see and understand as humans only has real value through having spiritual awareness of our being (that is, having Yahusha’s mind), so that we gain the character as organic, physical humans and inherent, spiritual divines. For we are children of Yah; formed out of dust and made in His image.

In short, I use plain words to write a part of my life story which people read as words through the values they hold — philosophical, cultural, theological or spiritual. What I may value as gold may appear but fool’s gold to another. But Yah knows the real value of our words and of our life and writes them down in His own terms in the Book of Life. It is true for anyone who would choose and treasure His golden truths from Scriptures on the path of life.

The road on which a nation trods is no different. The great events in our history contain truths that we have missed or refused to see and understand, often because people have stolen the literal gold meant for us to own; or we were blinded not to see how wealthy we truly are. So it goes with how we see humans. We either see them as friends or enemies, as heroes or villains, as champions or losers.

Yet each one of us walks the same lowly and narrow path to eternal destiny. Many think their material wealth and worldly fame make them truly wealthy when Yah finds nothing of value in their lives worth writing in the Book of Life and, thus, judges them unworthy to walk the streets of gold. For the truly rich are those who see and understand the Truth from the Sole Teacher given to us, Ruach Ha Kodesh, the anointing from Yahusha. (1 John 2:20-27) Without Him, we remain poor, blind and naked. In short, spirituality dead. (Rev. 3:16-18)

We may live different lives, one from another; but our paths run parallel toward a vision of national unity and progress. One may have a purely political or philosophical view of achieving that destination, another, a spiritual view. But somewhere down the road, we could find a clear and unified path we can all walk upon together that leads to one destination. Today, many people walk blindly through a political maze. But, as believers, we know there is always a Way out because the Truth cannot be tainted by humanistic ideas. It remains pure. We just need to learn how to discern it by unpacking it through Ruach’s wisdom.

For what happens in our life is no less true and important to Yah than what the gospel-writers had written about Yahusha, as long as Ruach is the One leading us. For we may read the Bible every day and meditate on the Word earnestly as we should; but we keep the faith and full assurance that Yah also reads the daily events in our humble and surrendered lives which the angels write down in the Book of Life. And, therefore, those (such as the drunkards that Isaiah wrote about) who do not earnestly read the Bible and faithfully follow its truths “precept by precept, line by line, here a little, there a little” truly have nothing about their lives recorded in the Book of Life that will please Yah when He opens it to find out what is happening to His beloved followers. Our prayers are text messages we send Him to keep our connection with Him. He reads a real-time, living Book in the making, just as we interact with each other through smartphones. The difference is that cyberspace is ruled by wicked gods not always sympathetic to us nor to Yah.

Are we speculating? Consider the Apostle Paul’s own written accounts of his missionary trips, his sermons and his personal letters. What do you think Yah will read about Paul in the Book of Life? Will it be far and different from the accounts that we now read in written history? Was Luke a useless writer, journalist or reporter, following Paul around and recording his words and deeds for nothing? What of the 4 gospel-writers who wrote about Yahusha? Was not His life itself the very model for how we should also live and how we should write our life in flesh-and-blood, that is, our daily living-offering of our pure bodies? (Rom. 12:1) Paul’s story then — and every true believer’s life story — is essentially the same one we read in scriptures and in the Book of Life. For if Yahusha were to judge us righteously, the truth that He shows us in His own life’s Gospel story and in Paul’s life-story must be right for ours to be also right. For His Truth is absolute and absolutely right. In truth, we do the doing and the writing of our personal-life account in the Book of Life. Angels merely record what they see us do and say. Are the holy angels fake writers and false reporters?

For the Word or Logos was with Yahuah and is Yah. He became flesh and dwelt among us. The earthly life we live as an individual and as a nation is no different from what Yahusha lived as a man and a citizen of Yshrael. Faith in His message will make the difference; for we either believe and live it or we do not. 

We Live and Write our Life into the Heavenly Chronicles

Today, some of our relatives and friends may not walk a parallel course to ours and may even cross our path because they hold different views and beliefs. That is why Yahusha offers us all One Way to Life — Himself. The gospel narrative contains the road map to the True North of Freedom He points to and which we must seek and follow. The Book or Gospel of Yahusha is His own Book of Life as a human He allows us to read to be our guide and source of Truth. Anyone who walks on His path or direction essentially writes a personal story that He will honor and include as the same account of our own story in the Book of Life of all redeemed people.

So why cannot a nation, as Yshrael was, be a holy or chosen nation bound as one according to Yahusha’s Truth? A leader, as we said, can be a wise leader receptive to the Truth and, thus, be a blessing to a nation by Heaven’s will. Or she can be a foolish leader blind to the Truth and, thus, be a curse to a nation. In turn, any citizen can be blessing or a curse to a family, a society or a nation. We all walk either as one or we all go astray by the one who leads us.

But rebellion is a reality we face. Even Moses had his murmurers. Yahusha had His bashers as well, and even murderers. Paul had his stone-throwers and persecutors. Today, we have trolls, rebels, cancellers, fact-checkers and media mercenaries. But those who put stumbling blocks along the Way will reap the consequences of their deeds. For the Truth never fails to fulfill its purposes. Sadly, falsehood also aims to attain its evil designs. Choose wisely where you walk and what you follow.

What we see and hear then we must understand through the gift of discernment Ruach gives; for He convicts or convinces us “of sin, of righteousness and of judgment”. Through Him we see sins in us and in others. We see righteousness in us and in others, especially those we read about in Scriptures. And we can then tell the difference between right and wrong and act accordingly.  This story and all others we read and hear contain the errors and goodness of people – blogs, news articles, novels, dramas, songs or films. They also teach us to separate the grain from the chaff. Hence, as true followers of Yah, we can plant our own life on fertile soil to reap a good harvest of Eternal Life.

My challenge is for the reader to read this account as if he or she were Yah Himself reading in righteous judgment. We cannot know whether the names of our leaders, relatives, friends and enemies are in the Book of Life or not. For Yah alone knows. But if we were to read like Him and were allowed to edit it and make the necessary corrections to make the stories right, what would you do? Certainly, those He includes in the Book of Life are not living perfectly as they should or as Yahusha had lived, for even Jacob, Moses and Peter had faults. But He guides them and teaches them to live right by the indwelling Ruach who reveals Truth and transforms humans by that Truth, gradually, from glory to glory. (2 Cor. 3:12-18) 

Such is the process of an individual as well as of a nation. Today, people are allergic to “revisionism” – a dirty word to them. But it is life’s way of opening up truths hidden by powerful enemies of our nation, especially the colonizers, who wanted and who still want us to remain ignorant. “Narrative shift” is a natural process of life. Changing one’s mind or view is a divine gift no one can take away. Otherwise, who will be saved? Paul once persecuted believers and his life’s narrative shifted to the truth when the King of Kings Himself “revised” his life in a miraculous vision. He was literally blinded in order to learn to see reality. Thus, he became a believer and an apostle of Yahusha. 

Hence, our main concern is not whether the names of our relatives, friends or even of our leaders are written in the Book of Life. In fact, our names now do not matter because those who endure will receive a new name known only to Yah and the person who receives it. We all are given the chance to write our story. We can certainly help people understand the importance of being included; but our main concern is for our own destiny. As a nation, however, providing an atmosphere for truth, love and compassion to flourish requires us all to read the lives and words of Yahusha and His prophets to learn how we can build a nation of believers and priests who offer their pure lives as He had done. For John said nothing impure will enter the gates of New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:26-27).

Yes, we are Hinirangs, literally the called-out ones or the ekklesia. But we need to be the Kingdom or Holy Nation of Yah ruled by His truth and righteousness, along with other peoples of the world. We begin the task of establishing that nation in Kapuluan with a unified effort under a unifying leader and government. You can be one with the many now awakening; or be one who remains as a lone voice crying against the creeping darkness that refuses to die and which will only disappear by the powerful Light of Heaven that will finally remove it along with fallen Creation in the last day.

John says in Rev. 20:11-15 that at the Judgment other “books will be opened”, aside from the Book of Life. What will Yah use to judge humans? It must also include a record of those who are not in that book but, perhaps, in the Book of Death and others. John writes the requirements for our names being added in the Book of Life because he was writing to believers who will receive eternal life. There must then be other books that contain the life stories of those who have failed to live up to Yah’s standards. He is the Judge and whatever He writes or reads or decides to do in the end, we can only accept. But while we can, we can still make a choice where our names will be written and how it will be written.  

Endnotes:

^{1https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/02/09/rapp-f09.html (An interesting opinion posted in the World Socialist Web Site presenting the ideological differences that molded the political realities that produced the Diliman Commune and the ensuing events leading to the declaration of Martial Law, and, perhaps, that affect even our present political climate.)}

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