The impeachment complaint against Sara Duterte did not occur in a vacuum; it occurred at a time when prices are rising, people are getting anxious, and the world is getting restless because of war. It is at such a juncture that the spectacle of impeachment feels not only misplaced but even offensive.

It is impossible for me to look away from the timing of this impeachment complaint. While people are growing increasingly anxious about how to stretch their resources as prices continue to rise with every tremor in the Middle East, the country’s stage is occupied by a high-stakes confrontation that feels more like a power play than reform.

The idea that this is purely an anti-corruption move would have been more believable had the same fervor been applied to the most glaring and longstanding cases of large-scale plunder. What we are witnessing is more akin to a selective hunt that is loud, visible, and politically expedient.

There is something deeply troubling about how corruption is being waved as a banner at this particular juncture. If this were a genuine movement, it would not hesitate to pursue even cases involving billions of pesos lost to public funds, even if they point to some of the most powerful people in government. Yet these cases somehow die a silent death under the rubric of technicalities, delay, or even complete silence. It is impossible not to sense a pattern.

Meanwhile, the rest of the country grapples with the aftereffects of decisions made far beyond its shores. Oil prices rise, transportation fares increase, and the prices of basic commodities quietly rise. Sellers in public markets raise prices with trepidation, knowing that each increase digs deeper into already-depleted pockets. People calculate in their minds and find they’re coming up short. In this kind of environment, the government is expected to be omnipresent, stable, and focused. But it feels like it’s elsewhere.

What makes this situation harder to stomach is the juxtaposition. On one side, there is the sense of urgency—real, immediate, and felt in every household budget. On the other hand, there is the sense of theater—long-winded processes, statements, and strategic alliances that seem to lack urgency. The chasm between these two realities is growing by the day, and in this chasm, people’s disillusionment is growing.

I find it hard not to see this as a priority problem. Leadership, at its heart, is about deciding what to prioritize when, in fact, everything is a priority. To prioritize political self-preservation and self-interest over economic security and people’s welfare is not just a miscalculation; it is a dereliction of duty. It is a signal, intended or not, that power is being safeguarded more than people are being cared for.

There is a cost to this, however, which cannot be measured in pesos and cents. When people begin to suspect that the fight against graft is being used as a means rather than an end, they begin to doubt. And when people doubt, even the most sincere efforts are viewed with suspicion. The end result is people becoming cynical, less willing to believe, less willing to hope, and more willing to opt out.

The future does not need grand declarations. What it needs is a change of focus, away from selective pursuits and towards consistent, impartial accountability. What it needs is for those with power to confront not just their rivals but also the deeper, more entrenched challenges that have been draining public resources for a long time now. What it does need, above all, is a focus on what needs to return: the reality of the people who demand little more than a life of stability, fairness, and a government that remembers whom it is supposed to serve.

THANKS be to God, we can still be considered as a strongly Christian country. Especially in this Lenten season we can see churches filled with people praying and doing all kinds of penitential practices. Yes, there are also those who take advantage of the Lenten break to go to the beaches, but on the whole the strong faith and piety of the people cannot be denied.

Just the same, we should always feel the need to further strengthen our faith in Christ. Now that we are facing rapid and confusing developments, complicated challenges that can test our Christian consistency, we cannot afford to keep our faith in Christ stay at its current state. It has to grow, deepen and broaden.

Strengthening our faith in Christ can mean many things. But one clear way we can do that, considering the current conditions of our world, is for us to dedicate time to study, reflection and reading. This, of course, will be a challenge, as time is scarce. But we can always find time if we are truly interested in strengthening our faith. It’s a matter of setting priorities.

Let’s just see to it that our study, reflection and reading about the current developments are motivated by our love for Christ which actually is equivalent to our love for others, whoever and however they may be. We have to convince ourselves that it is only with Christ that we can be truly updated with the new developments, and able to handle them properly.

Obviously, we have to know what to study, reflect on and read, since there are many materials around and not all of them are good or relevant. So much has been published and not everything is valuable and useful. It is important to know how to choose and to consult others about what is worth reading.

Pope St. John Paul II once said in this regard: “In my reading and in my studies, I always tried to achieve a harmony between faith, reason, and the heart. These are not separate areas, but are profoundly interconnected, each giving life to the other.” (JP II, Rise, Let us be on our way.)

Pope Francis also offered this idea about the importance of literature which he considers as “essential for believers who sincerely seek to enter into dialogue with the culture of their times, or simply with the lives and experiences of other people.”

Strengthening our faith in Christ such that it can effectively tackle the challenges of the times definitely would require us to continue reading and studying. The habit of reading has many advantages.

Among them, it helps us to express ourselves better and acquire the “gift of tongues.” It helps us acquire a wider vocabulary and develop broader intellectual abilities. It stimulates our imagination and creativity. It also improves our ability to concentrate, reducing the levels of cognitive decline and calming stress and anxiety.

By strengthening our faith in Christ in this way, we can effectively animate with the Christian spirit the many sectors in our society, like politics, business and entertainment, that are showing signs of going to the dogs. We can truly sanctify the world and direct it to its proper goal.

We have to help one another in this important need of ours to make our faith in Christ relevant to the current conditions of our world.

One thing that I have read in the old Plain Truth Magazine was a quote of that American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman and he said Its only those who neither fired a shot nor hear the groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood. more vengeance …War is hell! And looking at the reality now, this quote resonates louder and more relevant than ever.

From the 1980s I have seen footages and read stories of War. Then, it was simply depiction via Radio Broadcasts and colored pictures from Newsweek, Time, Asiaweek and Life Magazine. Up to this very day it seem that Man has not lost appetite for wars and it had grown in intensity in exponential degrees.The said deadly conflicts are mostly unfolding in foreign soil, most of whom are deadly and at times long drawn . The wars of our time of the Latin translation says , Bella Nostri Temporis ,had been quite a regretful thing.
The failure of countries to resolve conflict and religious intolerance, to me, had been the primal war-starter.

They are not just battles between armies; they are ruptures in the lives of ordinary people—families torn apart, children growing up in fear, and communities erased in the name of power or ideology. This time around it’s also about OIL.

Yet, its true, Wars are sad realities . Why are we sad? The human lives lost in the crossfire as combatants and innocent bystanders weigh heavy in my heart. And that economic devastations are true, even then.

When Man allows its beastly nature rule over reason, it creates a regrettable decision, it sheds off its humanity and become a violent animal, unbridled by morality, willing to kill and annihilate its fellow humanity. And that my friend is the reason that Wars create, losers, because a killer is cursed and that in one way or another, the leader of the war must deal with a reckoning of sorts, it is really, really sad!