Yt Framework

LIFE’S INSPIRATIONS: “… I will be their God, and they will be my people…” (Hebrews 8:10, the Holy Bible).

INC CELEBRATES 98TH ANNIVERSARY: A hearty congratulations and best wishes are what I wish to extend to the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) on July 27, 2012, its 98th founding anniversary. The INC celebrations this year, which were kicked off by its July 7, 2012 Tondo, Manila, Guinness world record-breaking medical mission, will focus on preparing INC members for its centennial celebrations in 2014, to be led by Tagapamahalang Pangkalahatan Eduardo Manalo. Mabuhay!

SANDIGAN TO ISSUE ARREST ORDERS VS. GMA, ET. AL.: I am willing to bet my neighbor’s dog that, in a few weeks from now, the Sandiganbayan will issue a non-bailable warrant of arrest against former President Arroyo in connection with the plunder case which the Ombudsman filed against her and other officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). It is really just a matter of time before this warrant is issued by the graft court.

I mean, with the plunder charge having been filed, the Sandiganbayan will have no other option but issue the non-bailable arrest warrant. Arroyo and her co-accused may file dilatory motions at this point, but they cannot prevent the issuance of the warrants forever. Any lawyer knows this. When that time comes, it will surely be back to detention for her, but then, she won’t be alone anymore. The other PCSO officials will be joining her.

“SOMETHING DRASTIC” TO FIGHT DENGUE: The 16.43 percent increase in dengue cases afflicting Filipinos for January 1 to July 14 this year, and the increase in number of fatalities from that disease for the same period, is just the tip of the iceberg, really. The scary truth is that dengue is bound to hit more and more of our countrymen in the years to come, unless we do something drastic to fight it.

What is this “something drastic” that we must do to fight dengue? It is going back to God in a concrete way, by reading His Bible, meditating on it day and night, and obeying everything that is written in it. Dengue and all the other ailments which give high fever are all end-products of two things, if we are to believe the Bible: refusal to listen to God (or, in other words, refusal to read His Bible) and refusal to obey Him.

DENGUE AND ITS SPIRITUAL DIMENSION: For how can cleaning the surroundings and injecting vaccines fight dengue when the Bible is saying, in its Deuteronomy 28:15 and 22, that because we no longer listen to God and no longer obey Him, “The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation… with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish…”? It is imperative then that we must view dengue in its spiritual dimension, and fight it with the Word of God.

ISSUES ON “INSIDER” AND “OUTSIDER” CANDIDATES: There are two issues on the debate about an “insider” or an “outsider” being appointed as the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and no less than President Aquino already recognized them even before the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) interviews began.

The first is, if it is the view of the President that the so-called “insider” candidates have been a part of a system that made the problems in the judiciary possible in the first place, or, at the very least, were unable to do something all this time, will appointing these “insiders” really bring a fresh start at the Supreme Court?

On the other hand, since an “outsider” candidate is concededly lacking in the required knowledge and information about the problems confronting the judiciary precisely because he or she was never a judge or a justice in the first place, will not this “outsider” waste precious time groping his or her way around if appointed as chief?

REACTIONS? Please call me at 0917 984 24 68, 0918 574 0193 or 0922 833 43 96. Email: batasmauricio@yahoo.com.

BY ATTY. BATAS MAURICIO