ALEX LACSON
I was born in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental in 1965.
I received my elementary and high school education there – my elementary in a public school, my secondary in a small catholic high school.
In the 1960s and 70s, Kabankalan was the province’s epicenter for social protests and rebellion against martial law, landlessness, oppression, and injustices by some abusive sugar hacienderos.
For four years in high school, I served as an altar boy or sacristan to the priests of Kabankalan. I became particularly close to one young priest, Fr Itik Dangan, who became a brother, a mentor, and a friend to me. We played a lot of basketball, chess, and watched a lot of movies. He taught me how to play the guitar.
But Fr Itik was a rebel priest. He was one of the founders and leaders of KKK – Kristiyanong Katilingban sang Kabankalan (Christian Community of Kabankalan), a group of peasants and farm workers.
Fr Itik brought me to many far-flung barrios where I assisted him while he offered mass to poor peasants who couldn’t give any coin during collection.
When the mayor of Kabankalan was ambushed by NPA rebels, Fr Itik, along with Fr Brian Gore and Fr Niall Obrien, was arrested and jailed.
Two weeks into graduation in high school, I was suspended for a week for leading the school class walk-out protest, after the faculty and school administration refused to take action against a faculty member’s husband, a haciendero, who pointed a gun at our classmate, a 16 year old lanky introvert, who was the CAT guard on duty at the school campus gate that day.
I was the CAT Corps Commander and the Student Council President. I was persuaded to believe that it was my duty to seek justice for my classmate who peed his pants when the gun was pointed at him.
My classmates and I did the only thing we could do – stage a class walk-out rally. Almost all students in campus walked out of their classes, and joined us. It was a few years before the Edsa People Power in Manila.
Two weeks later, during our high school graduation, I had to settle for salutatorian. But I was first honor from first year upto the last two weeks of fourth year high school, when I led the class walk-out rally. My grade in deportment went down badly.
It was in Kabankalan, in my teen years, when I learned that good and evil are real. They are not easily visible to the naked eyes, yes, but they are as real as the air and gravity.
Evil may come in the form of greed, selfishness, abuse, oppression, injustice – – which cause harm, injury, pain, suffering, or destruction to others.
It was in Kabankalan that I decided that I wanted to be part of the forces of good in this universe.
I want the good to prevail in society.
Good & Evil are Real
Good and evil are real, according to Saint Thomas Aquinas. They exist in our personal lives. They exist in our society and in the world.
The good is expressed in kindness, compassion, love, generosity, fairness, justice. The bad comes in the form of selfishness, greed, cruelty, cheating, stealing, lying, abuse, oppression, injustice.
The good brings benefits, happiness, and advancement. The bad or evil brings problems, suffering, and destruction.
What is good for one may become bad for another. What is good for one family may become bad for many or the society.
The bad becomes evil when it violates the Ten Commandments, like stealing, especially when the stealing becomes brazen and systemic, like plunder, that it causes much suffering, problems, and destruction not only to a few but to many.
Greed is the perverted love of worldly things, says Saint Augustine. This perverted love of worldly things comes not from the Lord, from the devil.
Self-love or selfishness is the root of all evils in society, said Saint Augustine and Saint Aquinas.
Selfishness is a spirit that comes from the devil.
Greed, like selfishness, is also a spirit that comes from the devil.
The one thing that’s causing so much evil in Philippine society today
In 1785, for William Wilberforce, it was the slavery of the Negroes in Great Britain. Under slavery, all kinds of abuse happened – denial of one’s dignity, freedom, exploitation, including rape of their women and daughters. After seeing the evil practice clearly, Wilberforce devoted his life to the passage of a law that would stop and criminalize slavery. The British Parliament eventually passed the law in 1833, three days before his death.
What about in our country today?
What is the “single thing” that is causing the most evil in Philippine society?
No doubt, it is the political dynasties.
They have the power, the money, the police.
They are in full control of the government – Congress, LGUs, Cabinet positions, police, electoral machinery.
They make the laws, control the police that implement the laws, and heavily influence the courts that interpret the laws in their favor.
They make the budgets, both in the national and local. They decide what infrastructure projects to have, both in the national and local.
And they flaunt their stolen wealth ostentatiously, extravagantly, without care or caution, as if to tell the rest of the suffering Filipinos, “We are different from you. We are higher than you.”
Their greed and corruption, as exposed in the news, are brazen, systemic, and staggering, if not revolting.
Political dynasties are the embodiment of selfishness, greed, plundering, and corruption.
Their corruption denies our people of adequate medicines and medical facilities in public hospitals, of classrooms and textbooks for our youth, of protective infrastructures against floods, super typhoons, and other calamities.
Their plundering is the immediate cause of our country’s poor infrastructure, bureaucratic inefficiency, corrupt justice system, insurgency and criminality, widespread poverty – which are the combined reasons why foreign investors refuse to invest in the Philippines, why there are less jobs available for our people, for our graduates.
Their plundering is destroying the hope of the Filipino youth for a better future.
Their plundering is causing much suffering to millions of poor families in the country.
Their plundering of people’s funds is causing the most suffering, problems, and destruction to our people.
In the context of the ghost flood control scandal, to demand na panagutin sila, ikulong, at pagbayarin is not enough.
We must work to change the system!
Reform the system that has allowed the political dynasties to plunder our national treasury.
Reform the system that has allowed the political dynasties to become the one thing that is causing the most evil in Philippine society.
But we should do it only in the ways of love and peace.
Hatred destroys. Only love truly builds and heals.
As God’s servants, we are called to fight evil and make the good prevail.
St. Paul wrote to the early Christians, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
This is not merely an advice.
It is a directive for all believers!
This is a call to action for all Filipinos who believe in God.
This call to make goodness prevail in our society is not only for the saints, heroes, or those in positions of power – – but is addressed to all who follow Christ.
We, all the believers and followers of Christ, are being called to fight and overcome evil with goodness.
We who follow God are called, not only to pray, not only to attend daily or Sunday masses, but to resist evil that exists outside the church, to fight and defeat evil in our society.
St. Teresa of Avila said, “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which He looks with compassion in this world.”
We are the minds, the bodies, the hands and the feet that God want to use to fight and defeat evil around us.
This call to goodness is asking all of us not to remain silent, not to remain spectators. It is asking each one of us to summon and show moral courage to stand up and speak up, to fight for what is good, to choose right over wrong, light over darkness, love over hate, and hope over despair.
We have the duty to make the good win in our time, as Jesus Christ fought for the good when He was on earth in human flesh.
Christ wants us to act and fight that love, compassion, truth, fairness, and justice may prevail.
Please join the forces of the good.
Join the forces of God.
Together, let us make the good prevail in our society.
Remembered your talk in the CFC Mission Core Teaching night one time, as you spoke about countering the INC block voting with a Catholic version where intelligent Catholic voters go all out to educate the voting poor, which actually dictates the results of our elections. The poor, eager to get a meal, would accept bribes and other ayudas just to get by for a few days, and corrupt politicians know this and take advantage of their situation. This has been the cycle of our political realities, and discussed ways to break this system.
The INC vote is to gain political patronage from politicians they support, and it is as simple as that. They have to get INC members appointed in the judiciary, education, social services, and do deals with the government by prominent INC businessmen. Although the idea of a Catholic vote is a hard nut to crack, almost impossible in fact, as we Catholics can’t even unite in simple issues, there has to be a way, as we face an existential future in our present ongoing situation.
As we all pray for truth and justice to prevail, patriotism like yours is very much needed by our country today, and we need to stir things up in this ongoing struggle. May we be guided by the Light of Jesus and the protection of Mama Mary, and through concrete actions and incessant prayers, we may be worthy of their saving miracles.