Papa, Tatay, Amay* The Pope in Tacloban The great people of Tacloban, who survived super-typhoon Haiyan and continue to “make do” more than a year after tragedy struck, will finally get some well-deserved “royal treatment” from someone who they could call Papa, Tatay, or Amay. I expect many Taclobanons to weep and cry in joy when Pope Francis’ plane lands in Tacloban for they will see someone who went out of his way to go to them, to minister to them, to say mass for them. Hopefully, there would be golden opportunities, however short, for the Pope to listen to them and their stories as well. Pope Francis could have just requested for a delegation of survivors to join him in Manila. But not this Pope. This Pope felt he had to go there both as a leader and as a minister. The inclusion of Tacloban in the Pope’s Philippine itinerary – although fraught with logistical and administrative challenges – is something that our kababayans in Eastern Visayas will forever remember. It is an unmistakable sign of the Pope’s pastoral concern that he is willing to travel far from Manila to one of the poorest regions of the country. In going to Tacloban, Pope Francis is arguably giving our own leader a lesson in mercy and compassion. It is as if he is telling President BS Aquino: “Look at me. I came all the way from the Vatican, went to Sri Lanka, then to Manila, and then to Tacloban just to meet these great people who hunger for mercy and compassion. Why can’t you do the same? Are you scared of them?” The President last went to Tacloban about a week after Haiyan struck and vowed to stay on until he sees improvements. But he hurriedly left Taclobanons when news came out that the Supreme Court had struck down the pork barrel system he used to control Congress. He would later brag at his State of the Nation Address that things are improving in Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga, and other places where tragedies struck. Of course, we now know better as we witnessed Haiyan survivors come to form a movement called People Surge, helping expose the man-made disasters arising from untold inefficiency, incompetence, corruption, and criminal neglect in Haiyan-affected areas. The President and his sycophants were said to be so concerned that protests would hound him if he were to mark Haiyan’s first anniversary in Tacloban, the administration had to move the official commemoration to Guiuan. The Papal visit’s theme “mercy and compassion” cuts through the embellishments and PR spin of the BS Aquino administration. It reminds us of the crude and craven way the authorities have long been treating poor and working Filipinos: Brutal demolitions for slum dwellers in Metro Manila, arrests and detention for leaders of farm workers in Hacienda Luisita and other haciendas, the hundreds of ways blue-collar workers are deprived of a living wage, the train fare increases that affect commuters, the high taxes slapped against the middle-class, professionals and small businesses, and so on. But while Pope Francis is not a wizard or a magician, he has taken the role of “Pope of the Poor” and “People’s Pope”. This is why people gravitate towards him and look at him with trust and confidence. This is why Catholics and non-Catholics pine for a chance to see him, listen to him and to be listened to by him. It comes as no surprise that Filipinos are bringing up to him their issues and concerns: If Pope Francis could help broker the successful talks between the US and Cuba, why should peace advocates in the Philippines not try to ask him to intercede for the resumptions of formal negotiations between Manila and the National Democratic Front? If Pope Francis has talked against “trickle-down” economics, why should Filipino workers and farmers not ask him to bless their campaigns for wage hikes and land reform? If Pope Francis has spoken clearly on corruption being worse than sin, why should young Filipinos not ask him to animate the country with a message of unflinching hope and rebellion against a hopeless-corrupt system? The cynical and apathetic content themselves with the whitewashing of Metro Manila’s urban chaos, thanks partly to the systematic hiding of marks of poverty and decay in places where Pope Francis would pass. We cannot stop them from plunging themselves into cynicism and apathy, but we surely don’t want them to force us into the same sorry mindsets which the Pope has in many instances publicly rejected and even called on the youth to rebel against. My realization is that there’s despair in the Philippines because since 2010, the nation has been denied a father-figure (or a mother-figure). This is a side-effect of having a cacique, haciendero, and spoiled brat of a president who has no sense of compassion, and of having yes-men around him to insulate and convince him that he is doing good when he is not. There’s no “father of the nation” ready to give solace and comfort. There’s no “father of the nation” ready to to listen to pleas from farmers, workers, the middle-class, and small businesses. Since 2010, the burger joints, gun stores, TV guestings, movie houses, and a “royal wedding” have become much more important . Today, a father arrives in Tacloban, to connect and to minister to some of our most-neglected kababayans. We thus shouldn’t be surprised if people cry and weep to see Papa, Tatay, Amay. * First published in the Manila Bulletin, 17 Jan. 2015
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 03:12:33 +0000
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