We fervently pray…

IT may not have been a really disappointing year but it was neither exactly the year we dreamt of. After the raised expectations of 2010, the year 2011 just seemed to get worse the further it went on. War raged on. Crimes continued to be committed with impunity. Strong winds blew with ferocity, and rains fell, triggering deadly floods. And bad things just kept happening due to either human folly or bad luck, or a combination of both. Then as the year was coming to a close, another destructive natural disaster struck and led the nation to its  darkest holiday season in recent memory. But now comes the time to reflect on the year past and pray for the year to come.

So we pray first for peace. Both soldiers and non-combatants are dying in the North and in the South. The war down South, in particular, saw a shocking spasm of violence that resulted in high casualties in Basilan and Zamboanga. The government of President Aquino found itself pressed into an escalating conflict with the Muslim extremists in Mindanao but could not afford to ignore the continuing attacks of the New People’s Army elsewhere in the country. The fighting wouldn’t stop and some of our brightest and bravest soldiers came home in flag-draped coffins.

This cannot go on. We pray for ceasefire and conciliation with the communist rebels as well as with the Muslim separatists, for only then can the nation be said to be truly at peace with itself. We also pray for a stop to the rising wave of dangerous, violent crimes done by people with very little, if any, regard for the lives of others, just for a car or a few thousand pesos. Most of all, we pray for an end to a culture of impunity.

We pray for vigilance. In a year where even nature seemed to turn against us, we seek the solace of safety. While the weather itself cannot be controlled, we do expect our government agencies tasked with tracking it to be vigilant and effective. If there is anything we have learned from terrible tropical storms like 2009’s “Ondoy” and 2011’s “Sendong,” it is that government needs to prioritize the allocation of funds and resources for both the detection of dangerous weather disturbances as well as for flood prevention. Then it needs to make sure those displaced by the typhoons will be provided shelter as well as sustenance. The Aquino administration needs to listen to experts and seek to mitigate the effects of devastating and deadly storms, perhaps by resolutely enforcing the logging ban and reviewing the development of hinterland areas. It is time to exhaust all measures to make sure we will never be caught so badly unaware by yet another weather disturbance.

We pray for justice. The Filipino people deserve a justice system that not only works but one which has the nation’s best interests in mind. Filipinos deserve a Supreme Court they can look up to and a government they can believe in. With the Judiciary and the Executive locked in what seems to be a no-win situation, we pray for a swift and fair impeachment trial and for equanimity from both sides of the aisle. We pray that all Filipinos, rich and poor, young and old, go about their lives with a newfound respect for the rule of law and an intelligent obedience to the laws of the land. We ask that all those who enforce the law do so with a healthy respect for civilians and with an understanding for the reasoning behind those same laws. Let the guilty, regardless of who they are, be punished.

Finally, we pray for prosperity. We ask this for all Filipinos, but most of all, for those who have nothing. More and more Filipinos are sliding down into poverty. A sluggish economy keeps unemployment high. Once again the Aquino administration should lead the way to create more jobs. This is the only way to truly fight the growing specter of poverty, the only way to lift Filipinos from poverty and give them the decent future they seek.
We pray for all this because, even at the deepest end of our sorrow and despair, we Filipinos remain hopeful that better days are coming. This is the most resilient and brilliant part of our identity as a people, our ability to overcome doubt by simply believing that things will get better—and to do what we each can to make sure that happens. Now is the best time to continue to believe in the will and the hope of the Filipino people, right here in the New Year, right here in the very beginning of 2012.