MISTAKES OF THE PAST - B: 29th Sun in OrdTime

First Reading: Isaiah 53:10-11 (17 October 2021)

“If he offers his life in atonement, he shall see his heirs, he shall have a long life and through him what the Lord wishes will be done” (Isa 53:10-11).

This statement is the last Isaianic oracle on the Suffering Servant that depicts a figure who will bear the guilt of Israel’s past sins. The first statement of Isaiah to begin his oracles (cf. Isaiah 40−55) situates this predicament: “Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service has ended, that her guilt is expiated, that she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins” (Isa 40:1-2).

With these words, Jerusalem would inherit the sting of her people’s previous offenses. Thus, she needed to be expiated through an innocent servant, who would heal and renew the whole nation by his suffering as Isaiah specified: “it was our pain that he bore, our sufferings he endured ... he bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed” (Isa 53:4-5).

As this person was likened to a sacrificial “lamb led to slaughter or a sheep silent before shearers” (v. 7), there should be no sign of guilt in him nor “have done no wrong” (v. 9) to fit this divine mission of being a “reparation offering” (v. 10) to God for Israel’s sins.

In the Philippine context, the filing of candidacy for the presidency in the 2022 elections just ended. Unlike societies with strong party systems, the Philippine political arena is concentrated instead on personalities and their platforms. Political parties are only secondary, or even immaterial, to the victory of a presidentiable. Thus, the main attributes of a candidate matter most and stand to be the primary barometer for the selection of the main leader of the land.

In this regard, the Old Testament is helpful in guiding voters in their choice. As Isaiah emphasizes the purging of the mistakes of the past to set the future of the nation into a right direction, it is important as well to look at the so-called track records of these personalities. Have they exhibited good governance in their history of public service? Have they behaved rudely in the eyes of the public, shunning statesmanship, disrespecting freedom, and disregarding the value of human life? Have they been accused of involvement in criminality and graft and corruption? Have they been linked with individuals known to be gamblers, opportunist merchants, and dynastic power players? Have they been propagating immoral means in achieving order and progress, even tying up with nations with imperialistic agenda?

As far as I am concerned, any candidate with a clear connection to the Marcos dictatorship and the Duterte administration falls short of these criteria. We should not forget that the former recorded thousands of human rights abuses during the Martial Law on top of amassing billions of pesos from public funds. The latter is no different at all given its pending international cases for state-sponsoring bloody extra-judicial killings that arguably number to 30,000 deaths. From the current presidentiables, I think that all of them, except Vice-President Robredo, have been linked to these two despicable governments either as patrons of these families or supporters of their advocacies.

As we, then, make our choice on May 9, 2022, let not the mistakes of the past be set aside, but be a guiding principle in forging a better future for next generations to come.

- Rex Fortes, CM