30 Pesos of Sliver

China is a belligerent nation.  Not content with its already large landmass China wants to break free and stretch her arms into the Sea.  Specifically China has laid a claim to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.  These islands are well within the bounds of the Philippines and are the Philippines territory.  

China's brash act prompted much heat from the Aquino administration which filed a case with the UN. The UN ruled in favour of the Philippines.  During the presidetial election campaign the Spratly Island situation was also a topic of much debate.  Duterte's solution was bold and forthright. He vowed to jet ski to the islands and plant the flag of the Philippines.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/rodrigo-duterte-pledges-to-jet-ski-to-a-disputed-south-china-sea-island-20160503-goknao.html

Shortly after winning the election Duterte visited China. It is during this visit that he made his famous "Good-bye America" remarks and began strengthening the Philippines ties to China.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced his "separation" from the United States on Thursday, declaring he had realigned with China as the two agreed to resolve their South China Sea dispute through talks. 

Duterte made his comments in Beijing, where he is visiting with at least 200 business people to pave the way for what he calls a new commercial alliance as relations with longtime ally Washington deteriorate. 

"In this venue, your honors, in this venue, I announce my separation from the United States," Duterte told Chinese and Philippine business people, to applause, at a forum in the Great Hall of the People attended by Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. 

"I've realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to (President Vladimir) Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world - China, Philippines and Russia. It's the only way," Duterte told his Beijing audience.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-philippines-idUSKCN12K0AS

Now this week he has reversed course completely regarding the Spratly Islands.  From this:

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/08/24/1616870/duterte-there-will-be-reckoning-over-south-china-sea-ruling

to this:

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/150837/duterte-set-aside-un-tribunal-ruling-maritime-dispute

and now to this:

https://www.rt.com/news/384560-duterte-philippines-flag-china-friendship/

So much for that campaign promise.

The decision to not raise the flag isn't necessarily a sign of weakness or betrayal to Philippines.  After all China is sensitive and would see such an action as aggressive. It could be interpreted as a shrewd diplomatic move.  Why upset a new friend?

But this move combined with his decision to negotiate with the NPA rebels rather than wipe them out, to seek the help from ISIS financiers Saudi Arabia in securing peace in Mindanao, and his blindness to the threat of ISIS in the Philippines it looks like a betrayal.

Or stupidity of the worst kind.

Why should anyone trust Duterte in the first place?  He has said he is on the road to perdition.  He has admitted to killing men. He says good-bye America and then he asks for their help fighting terrorism while ignoring the US Embassy's terror alert for the Central Visayas. He claims to want to do what's best for the Philippines yet he declares that Abu Sayaf  are not criminals.

Men who kidnap and behead innocent people aren't criminals?

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/795092/duterte-abu-sayyaf-are-not-criminals

It's hard to draw any solid conclusions from all this.  Duterte is a loose cannon who does what he wants and says what he wants.  If he wants to change his mind then so be it. Let's just hope that he hasn't decided to sell out the Philippines to China for 30 pesos of silver.

The Passion Play at Pampanga is a Magical Mystery Show

The following article is five years old but is definitely worth revisiting.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/174011/photos-of-tourists-posing-with-crosses-on-good-friday-anger-netizens

Anger and ridicule among netizens on Monday were targeted against women in skimpy shorts, believed to be tourists, posing with wooden crosses erected during the long Lenten break meant to remember the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. 

Both incidents, as confirmed by Domingo and Javier, happened on Good Friday in Angeles City, Pampanga, which, for years has been the site of various re-enactment of the Crucifixion. Some devotees went as far as having themselves nailed on the cross like Christ as part of their yearly penitence. 

Even Javier was disgusted over the blasphemous acts of these tourists. In his Facebook account, his caption for the jump shot: “Angeles Pampanga. Good Friday 3.30pm. The site of a Passion Play and the reading of the ‘Siete Palabras’. Kailangan talagang gawin ito? Even non-believers will cringe at the sight of this blatant show of disrespect and impropriety.”

Where to begin?  Let's start with Javier, the man who took those photos, accusing the tourists of blasphemy.

The whole of what happens during Easter throughout the entire Christian world, but especially in the Philippines, is a horrendous blasphemy. I say especially in the Philippines because throughout the country on Good Friday devotees scourge themselves with whips and crucify themselves in a national ritual of sympathetic magic. 

Sympathetic magic, also known as imitative magic, is a type of magic based on imitation or correspondence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_magic 

The crucifixions at Pampanga are not part of  a simple "Passion Play" where the events of the Passion are reenacted so that the onlookers can see the Gospel before them.  It is a "Passion Play" like the passion plays of Osiris which reenact religious mysteries with the hope of accruing a benefit from God.

Devotees undergo the hardships in the belief that such extreme sacrifices are a way to atone for their sins, attain miracle cures for illnesses or give thanks to God. 

“I am used to it already,” said Alex Laranang, 58, who was nailed up for the 14th time. 

Laranang, a short, sunburnt man who sells baked buns to bus passengers, said: “It is just like a needle going through my hand. After two days, I am ready to go back to work again.” 

So far, he told Agence France-Presse, his suffering has been rewarded as his wife and children enjoy good health and he continues to make a decent living. 

“I am doing this for my family, so that no one will get sick and that my livelihood will continue. I am just a poor man. But I don’t ask God to make me rich,” he said.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/381571/filipino-devotees-reenact-crucifixion-of-christ

That is pure and simple blasphemy more than tourists getting up on a cross and striking a Jesus Christ pose for Facebook.  

"It's just like a needle going through my hand. After two days, I am ready to go back to work." What a way to negate the horror of the cross that Jesus Christ endured.  "Ah man it was nothing. I've been crucified 14 times." Alex Laranang is deluded and blinded by Satan.  Like all of us he needs to embrace the simple Gospel of faith in Jesus Christ.

The scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ was crucified once for all and that he rose from the dead for remission of our sins.  To commemorate this event we don't crucify ourselves or reenact the events of the Passion.

I Corinthians 11:24: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 

I Corinthians 11:25: After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 

I Corinthians 11:26: For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

The Lord's Supper, the breaking of bread symbolising His body and the pouring out of the wine symbolising His blood, are the ONLY means Jesus Christ gave us for remembering his passion. Anything else, especially crucifying yourself, is blasphemy. 

That's really enough.  Why even mention more?  This display is blasphemous.  End it. Don't participate in it.  Don't even look at it.  But there is one more thing. That thing is the commodification of the Passion from the one and only event in history that secures the salvation of mankind into a play, a spectacle.

It was the 27th crucifixion for sign painter Ruben Enaje, 52, one of the most popular penitents from San Pedro Cutud village. He began his yearly rite after surviving a fall from a building. 

Enaje screamed in pain as men dressed as Roman soldiers hammered stainless steel nails into his palms and feet. A wireless microphone carried his voice to loudspeakers for everyone watching to hear.

A wireless microphone carries his voice, his screams,  over loudspeakers for all to hear. This guy is the star of the show. He's up on the cross screaming and everyone is looking at him. Waiting to see if he will bleed and struggle.  Watching to see how he will endure the pain of the cross. Listening to hear if he will call out "My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?"  

Enaje is not Jesus.  He is not saving the men watching him. The onlookers are separate from him. In contrast Christ was on the cross in our place. Those who watched Jesus on the cross were either objects of his love for whom his death secured salvation or objects of his wrath for him his death meant nothing but condemnation. Those who watch Enaje being crucified are simply an audience with no stake in what is happening to him. The crucifixion of Enaje has no cosmic significance and means nothing.

The Passion Play at Pampanga is a show plain and simple and those people posing on the cross for Facebook are merely standing in the place their favourite actor played out his part.  People all over the world visit the sites where famous films were shot.  You can go to North Africa and see the film sets of the original Star Wars.

It's a show.  Plain and simple.  You could broadcast this on television and save a lot of people from making a trip to Pamapanga. I guarantee high ratings. 

The Difference Between USA and the Philippines Responses to ISIS

This has been one very active week for terrorists in the Philippines.  ISIS affiliated group Abu Sayyaf was caught on the island of Bohol looking for tourists to kidnap.  It is clear that ISIS is neither stopping nor slowing its operations in the Philippines.

Meanwhile Duterte is off to Saudi Arabia looking for help in the peace process in Mindanao.  Never mind the fact that Saudi Arabia supports ISIS and its ideology. He is out of the country looking like a fool asking for help to stop ISIS from the very people who finance ISIS while the Chief of the AFP is at home looking like a fool denying that there is any terror threat. 

If only the Philippines would follow the lead of the USA, and earlier in the week Duterte called on them to help fight terrorism, then maybe ISIS would be eliminated and Philippines could begin the slow and steady climb to first world status. Imagine if in the USA there were still rebellious Indian tribes raiding towns and scalping innocent people once in a while. This is what's going on in the Philippines.  Rebellious Muslims looking for a piece of land to call their own are raiding towns and kidnapping and killing innocent people.  

It is way past time for the Philippines to do something about its Muslim problem. And the only way to handle that problem is to kill them all.

Addhttp://newsinfo.inquirer.net/795092/duterte-abu-sayyaf-are-not-criminals caption

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/888414/afp-chief-saw-no-terror-threat-day-before-bohol-clash

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/740646/Donald-Trump-president-US-ISIS-destroy-military-policy-mattis-army-Islamic-State

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/889069/us-hits-is-with-largest-non-nuclear-bomb-ever-used

The Philippines must get on the ball.  They must wake up.  They must get their heads out of the sand and realise there is no negotiating with ISIS.  They are here and they are ready to kill and be killed for their cause of establishing a worldwide Islamic Caliphate.

God help us all if the leaders of the Philippines think this is all a joke.

Early Morning Good Friday Procession

Every Friday morning at 4:00 am during Lent Filipinos hold a procession through their neighbourhoods which showcase the stations of the cross. They carry candles and sing as they walk the streets. The priest sings loudly through a huge megaphone as well as reciting all the prayers as they stop at each station.  

When I lived downtown this was progressively weird, annoying, and then expected. Thankfully I wake up everyday at 4:00 am to take out the dogs.  Where I live now they only do the procession on Good Friday.  Below are pictures of the crowd this morning.

The last picture is more than a little ironic.  These Roman Catholic devotees are going through the motions of their ritual thinking such worship is acceptable and pleasing to God and contributes to their salvation.  All the while they are standing next to a sign that references John 3:16 which Martin Luther called "the  heart of the Bible, the Gospel in miniature."  If only these people would listen to the simplicity of the Gospel and reject their foolish and Godless traditions then they would be saved.

John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Lament for A Modern Day Robinhood

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/888787/death-of-abu-rami-is-sort-of-bad-news-for-some-sulu-folk

Cryst have mercy on his soule,

That dyed on the rode!

For he was a good outlawe,

And dyde pore men moch god.

-A Gest of Robyn Hode, The Eighth Fytte

The death of Muammar Askali alias Abu Rami is, in a way, bad news for some communities in Sulu that had benefitted from the ransom money he got from kidnappings.

Oh the poor communities of Sulu! Now how will they eat?

This brave young man kidnapped innocent tourists and demanded ransom from their country's governments. And not for himself! Oh no this brave young man did it all to feed the people.

In previous phone interviews made by the Inquirer with Askali, he confirmed receiving P250 Million ransom for German couple Stefan Viktor Okonek and Henrike Dielen; P20 Million for the liberty of Filipina Maritess Flor; and P30 Million for Kjartan Sekkingstad. 

But where does the ransom money go? 

The source said Askali used part of the money “feeding communities.” 

“They need the money to silence the community to get their loyalty. That’s how it works there in Sulu,” he said. 

Those who called themselves his friends had tried to stop him:

“And before this report about Bohol came out, we had several friends who sent Malaysian-made noodles to him, and advised him to leave the kidnapping and beheading,” the source said.

 But he in his zeal for the poor would not be deterred.

“And I guess he went to Bohol to get new captives,” he added. 

The source said Askali and his group would not be bringing firearms with them if they went to Bohol for a vacation.

How selflessly did he and his band of merry men travel about the provinces looking for men to take captive for ransom.

Oh how he selflessly dipped his blade in blood and beheaded those whose governments would not pay the ransom which helped to feed his beloved community.

And oh how now shall the poor folk in Sulu live?  And how will that band of merry men survive if they have no money to buy the cooperation of the community? Will the poor remain loyal to the poor?

Will that band of merry men merrily dissolve now that their Captain is gone into that good night?

The beauty of Sulu is slain upon the high places. Oh how are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle!

Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fount of tears that I might weep day and night for the death of this young man who spilled his blood for his community's sake. 

Until their last days the fire of his loss will remain in the hearts of the poor of Sulu.

May Allah have mercy on his soul who beheaded the innocent to feed the poor.

Senator De Lima is Sad She Can't Participate in Idol Worship this Good Friday

Disgraced Philippines Senator Leila De Lima is in a deep sadness this Good Friday.  Why?  Because they have crucified her Lord?  She must be a very devout Christian. A real worshipper of Jesus Christ her Lord and Saviour. Right? Wrong!

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/888909/good-friday-brings-deep-sadness-to-de-lima

“For the first time in my life, I won’t be able to join the Good Friday procession in our home parish. I will not be there to touch the image of our dear AMA, the Santo Entierro, and say my most intimate prayer,” De Lima lamented. 

“The mere thought of missing this annual spiritual experience, this lifetime “panata” of mine, produces a revolting emptiness inside me. It’s like being cast away in an abyss of despair,” she said.

She is sad because she can't engage in her annual ritual idol worship. 

Easter is one of the greatest time for national cosplay in the Philippines.  All across the country devotees scourge themselves with whips and some even go so far as to crucify themselves half naked like Jesus with their crucifers dressing up like Roman centurions. Most however join Good Friday processions showcasing the stations of the cross.  What De Lima wants to touch and pray to is an idol of the dead body of Jesus Christ that looks like this:

https://bicolanopenguinswonderlog.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/good-friday-procession-in-fatima-parish-iriga-city-2/

That is the exact idol from her parish. Though there is a lot of variation in this particular idol the idea is the same: a wooden idol of the dead Christ ensconced inside a gold-trimmed glass coffin.  

The usual highlight of Good Friday is the Santo Entierro ("holy interment"), which is the name of both the rite and the wooden or resin sculpture of the dead Christ lying supine used in the ritual.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week_in_the_Philippines#Santo_Entierro

Where do they even get the idea for this idol?  Jesus was a poor man and though he was buried in a rich man's tomb he was wrapped up like a mummy and buried in a stone sepulchre in the common manner of the jews. He was not buried in a gold-trimmed glass coffin. The image is so horrific in its gaudiness and its unbiblical and blasphemous denial that he who was rich became poor for our sake. It is an image straight out of Snow White

not the Gospel.

John 19:40: Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 

John 19:41: Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.

John 19:42: There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

De Lima is sad that she cannot touch the wooden figurine of a dead Jesus and say her most intimate prayer.  Why?  Because her religion is a sham religion that relies on images and pictures.  She does not worship God in spirit and in truth. She worships him in the flesh and in lies. So does every other idolater.

The Santo Entierro idol is not a witness to the incarnation as the Seventh Ecumenical Council declared about images. It is a false image that bears witness to man's deceitful imagination which is only evil continually.  Her deceitful imagination even leads her to believe that she is being crucified.

http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/13/17/missing-lent-in-hometown-crucified-de-lima-to-spend-week-in-silent-reflection

“Beginning Wednesday evening, and up to Easter Sunday morning, I would prefer to be alone. I shall entertain no visitors as I intend to spend more time for prayers and reflections. I’ll be on a sabbatical within a sabbatical,” De Lima told ABS-CBN News in a letter. 

“This is my reflection: I’m carrying a cross now and going through a crucifixion. In carrying my cross, I feel no disgrace or regret at all, but a renewed and fortified spirit to fight to the end,” said De Lima, the highest elected official so far detained on drug charges under the Duterte administration.

De Lima needs to stop striking a Jesus Christ pose.  Come on down off that cross Senator.  We could use the wood. If De Lima needs an idol to worship God then she is not worshipping God.  And if she is not worshipping God then it is no wonder that God does not answer her prayers.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/881176/de-lima-prays-for-liberty-by-holy-week

Willful Ignorance

In a previous post I proposed that Duterte might be waking up to the very real threat ISIS poses to the Philippines.  It looks like I was wrong.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/888414/afp-chief-saw-no-terror-threat-day-before-bohol-clash

The Bohol fighting between government troops and suspected Abu Sayyaf men erupted on Tuesday a day after Armed Forces Chief Eduardo Año said that the military did not see any terror threat in the Philippines despite the recent warning by the US Embassy in Manila to Americans to avoid going to Central Visayas. 

“We have to be vigilant. We would like to encourage the public to report suspicious people, suspicious objects or circumstances so the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) can take immediate, fast counter actions,” Año told reporters during a pre-departure press briefing of President Duterte at the Davao International Airport on Monday. 

“But right now, we don’t see any terror threat,” the military chief added. 

President Duterte likewise downplayed the US travel warning, saying the government could handle any terror threats. 

“Kaya natin ang threat of terrorism. Why should you worry about the (US) embassy? I should be worrying about my country, not the (American embassy),” the President said. 

In its travel advisory on Sunday, the US Embassy cautioned Americans against traveling to tourist resorts in Cebu and Bohol in Central Visayas, citing “unsubstantiated yet credible information” that terrorists might kidnap foreigners there.

How is it that neither the chief of the armed forces nor Duterte didn't "see any terror threat" when both the US Embassy and the chief of the PNP confirmed that there is a threat? The Philippine Army has an intel problem.  They cant even see what is so plain to the entire world. 

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/606521/news/nation/bato-dela-rosa-confirms-threat-in-central-visayas-but-says-pnp-ready-for-it

How can Duterte be so blithe regarding the threat warning issued by the US embassy? 

 "Why should you worry about the (US) embassy? I should be worrying about my country, not the (American embassy),” the President said." 

He should be worrying about his country.  He should be worrying about the threat that ISIS poses to the stability of his country. When the US Embassy issues a threat warning he should not brush it off as being of no substance. With information drawn from the CIA, the NSA, and numerous other black-ops organisations US intel is highly reliable. 

It's not just the US embassy that recognises the threat ISIS poses to the Central Visayas.

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/clashes-in-bohol-spark-concerns-that-abu-sayyaf-may-be-moving-into-central-philippines

In 2014 Barack Obama made the grave mistake of underestimating ISIS as the JV team but he was wrong as they have proven to be resilient and effective killers. They have stated their goals for all to see.

ISIS makes no secret of its ultimate ambition: A global caliphate secured through a global war

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/11/middleeast/isis-syria-iraq-caliphate/ 

ISIS is in the Philippines and they are not going away. Until the president and the army take their heads out of the sand this threat will continue to grow.  They won't stop until they are dead or they have won. Send the whole army into Mindanao and destroy them all before it's too late.

Listen, and understand. ISIS is out there. They can’t be bargained with. They can’t be reasoned with. They don’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.