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GMA's pardon bears the '666' mark of the Beast
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star 2007-11-04
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Outrage over the hasty grant of executive clemency to ex-convict Joseph "Erap" Estrada has driven some people I know towards seeking Biblical insights and answers.
"Are we now a cursed land like Sodom and Gomorrah to be so infested with leaders like the ex-convict and the woman who hastily pardoned him?" An indignant one asked.
Another, who is a studious reader of the Bible's Book of Revelations, saw in the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) pardon the mark of the Beast that will unleash Armageddon. The Book of Revelations prophesied that the Beast will usher the final confrontation on earth between the forces of Good and Evil. The Good Book had also warned mankind about the mark of the Beast — the numbers 666.
Thus, '666' became Christendom's guide for recognizing the emergence of the dreaded Anti-Christ.
This Book of Revelations avid reader noted: "Do you realize that '666' also marks the executive clemency that GMA extended to former president Joseph Estrada? Estrada was detained for 6 years and 6 months and GMA's pardon came 6 weeks after Estrada’s conviction by the Sandiganbayan."
Could this be a simple case of coincidence or truly a sign from the Almighty? Considering that the reigns of Estrada and Arroyo constitute the worst moral and economic decline of our nation, can we rule out the significance of the Biblical '666' warning?
While it may not necessarily mean that GMA and Erap will ignite the events described as Armageddon, who knows if the Almighty is not using the '666' mark of the Beast as a guide for His Filipino flock — a sort of alert signal that a terrible abomination is happening in our land.
Combined, the Erap and Gloria regimes triggered the worst skid of our economy and breakdown of law and order since World War II. Under them, we saw the unchecked rampant operation of jueteng, the root of national corruption, and the extensive distribution of illegal drugs, the scourge of modern society.
From 1998 up to today, we have witnessed the alarming erosion of the family unit by worker's migration. Economic mismanagement forced many fathers and mothers to abandon their families here in order to seek a living wage in other countries.
Every overseas Filipino worker (OFW) is a condemnation of a president who failed to provide proper jobs at home. The ultimate insult to injury is when this largely perceived illegitimate president brags about GDP growth, unmindful of the fact that easily 40% of the GDP she touts is delivered by OFW remittances.
In this Arroyo era, the utter disregard of the value of human life and judicial due process manifested in the murders of over 800 unarmed political activists. No less than the CBCP president has acknowledged the moral bankruptcy of the Arroyo regime.
Indeed, we have chalked more than enough national sins for the Almighty to send two of those angels that were dispatched to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.
Filipinos who aspire to save this country should reject anything that is associated or rooted to Estrada and Arroyo. If we ever get to determine the change in the country's leadership in 2010, we should develop a new brand of leadership that is 100% free from the corrosive tentacles of the Estrada and Arroyo regimes.
I say if we ever get to change our leaders in 2010 as constitutionally mandated because many signs point to an earlier day of reckoning. There are more than enough reasons to impeach GMA. The AFP continues to have its internal turmoil. The poor people’s misery gets worse with rising oil prices.
We must have a moral revolution. The only problem is – Speaker Joe de Venecia (JDV) and GMA just don't add up to what will bring about this moral revolution. Hoping for JDV and GMA to be the champions of a moral revolution is to be as hopeful as wishing for democracy to bloom under regimes run by Hitler or Stalin.
Only the Filipino people can save this country now from its downward spiral that is leading to the path of irreversible destruction. The good Filipinos — those who can still discern truth from lies, honesty from corruption, and good from evil — must assert themselves at this time and set the tone for a moral revolution.
They must first set the moral standard; identify the norm that will reverse our moral decay. Then, the right leaders who will faithfully carry the new standard must be identified.
Removing the Biblical element from the equation, the best thing that can happen to us really is to exit from this era of the Estrada and Arroyo regimes, the hallmarks of our nation's ruin.
If we go by this yardstick that the next leader must be totally chaste from the sins of the Estrada and Arroyo regimes, we’ll arrive at the realization that we have very few good men and women to choose from — whether in the administration, Opposition and so-called Independents like Sen. Gringo Honasan and Rep. Egay San Luis.
Is the Filipino nation up to it? Are we capable as a people to rise above our bad leaders and save our country?
This is the time for every Filipino to look into his heart and scan the future that he will leave for his children. Will he fight the good fight for them now or will he cop out and let them do the fighting when their time comes to run our country?
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