News Roundup 25 February 2023
Feb 25, 2023 • 5 min Read
The Catholic Church’s place was at EDSA in 1986, where should it be now? | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — Five days before the 2022 elections, framed by many as the most crucial since the 1986 snap polls, over 1,200 Catholic bishops, priests and deacons declared their support for then-Vice President Leni Robredo’s bid for Malacañang.
This unprecedented move came just a day after homegrown Christian sect Iglesia ni Cristo announced that they would be backing Robredo’s rival Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the dictator that the Catholic Church helped oust 37 years ago in what was known as the People Power Revolution.
Msgr. Melchor David, one of the convenors of Clergy for the Moral Choice that supported Robredo, said then that the Church “sorely needed” to show its concrete participation in what he called “a battle between true and false.”
Even top clerics framed the last elections this way.
Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said in a homily during a Mass a month before the polls “that the main issue in the field of politics has to do with spiritual and moral: the issue of ‘truth’ and ‘falsehood.’”
When El Shaddai’s Bro. Mike Velarde raised the hands of Marcos Jr. in an apparent endorsement, Most Rev. Bishop Teodoro Bacani was quick to disown it. Bacani, in an interview with ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo, said it was “downright wrong … because we know their records and to this day, they have not apologized [for] the anomalies of the past.”
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas went as far as calling Marcos Jr. a “threat” in an interview with Rappler due to the then-presidential candidate’s distortion of facts surrounding his father’s brutal martial rule.
The CBCP, itself, in a pastoral letter denounced “radical distortions” about Martial Law and the 1986 People Power Revolution as it called on Catholics to “not give up on our search and defense for truth.”
Shepherds of the over 85 million Catholics in the country spoke clearly about the elections and what they believed was at stake — and yet their flock did not seem to have heeded their call.
On the evening of May 9, 2022, as partial and unofficial results poured in at lightning speed, it became apparent that the Philippines would have another Marcos as president.
Full Story at: The Catholic Church’s place was at EDSA in 1986, where should it be now? | Philstar.com
Reconciliation without justice? Activists blast Marcos statement during EDSA anniversary | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — The family of the late presidents Corazon Aquino and Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III looked back at the the EDSA People Power in its 37th anniversary on Saturday, a movement which they said “restored” democracy in the Philippines after years of dictatorship.
Feb. 25, 1986 marks the end of multiple days of protest which ultimately led to the ouster of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the father of the current president.
“Today, we remember the heroism of the Filipino people who fought to end the Marcos dictatorship, thus democracy restoring democracy in our country,” said the family in a statement on Saturday.
“The EDSA People Power Revolution showed the world that it was possible for a courageous and truly unified people to reclaim the freedom that a dictatorship had denied them.”
It could remembered that opposition leader and former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. — one of Marcos’ staunchest political rivals — was assassinated in August 1983.
It happened two years after Martial Law supposedly ended in 1981, even if Marcos Sr. reserved decree-making powers for himself. Military rule from 1972 to 1981 resulted in the imprisonment of 70,000, torture of 34,000 and death of 3,200, according to Amnesty International.
Corazon Aquino rose to power and became the president after Marcos Sr. was driven out of Malacañang.
Full Story at: Reconciliation without justice? Activists blast Marcos statement during EDSA anniversary | Philstar.com
‘We stand against censorship’: DGPI vs Senate on ‘Plane’ | INQUIRER.NET – The move by some senators to ban the local screening of the American action-thriller “Plane,” starring Gerard Butler, due to its supposed negative portrayal of the Philippines is pointless, counterproductive, and against the right to freedom of expression, according to filmmaker Mark Meily, who is also president of the Directors’ Guild of the Philippines Inc. (DGPI).
“Even if we don’t show it to Filipinos, foreigners will still get to watch ‘Plane.’ They will still know what it’s about, including foreign audiences who aren’t so intelligent. This is actually a bigger concern,” said Meily in a recent interview with Inquirer Entertainment.
“Meanwhile, Filipinos who will not watch it in cinemas in regular situations will still be able to see it via the various streaming platforms, where most films—even those shown in cinemas—eventually end up,” he pointed out.
Meily also explained that the proposed banning of “Plane” does not actually help the local movie industry in its struggle to encourage more people to return to the cinemas. Jean-Francois Richet’s “Plane” features Butler as a commercial pilot whose plane crashes on Jolo island and its survivors are held hostage by extremists.
Full Story at: ‘We stand against censorship’: DGPI vs Senate on ‘Plane’ | Inquirer Entertainment
SEC warns vs investing in E-Ton Trading | INQUIRER.NET – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned investors against transacting with E-Ton Trading, which has been offering investments to the public without proper registrations.
The entity, which also goes by the name of Eton Phil Trading and E-Ton Trading: Profit Sharing, solicits four types of investment packages via Facebook groups.
The investment packages range from P5,000 to P100,000 with a promised return of 20 percent to 50 percent a month.
E-Ton also said that the investor could also earn a rebate bonus of 5 percent for fresh cash-ins. Plus, the longer the lock-in period, the higher the investor may earn.
Full Story at: SEC warns vs investing in E-Ton Trading | Inquirer Business
