Pope's Yolanda visit hijacked
When the Vatican announced that Pope Francis would be coming to the Philippines, it took great pains to emphasize that the only reason he would be coming was so he can be with the victims of Yolanda, the strongest typhoon ever to hit land on record. Yolanda cut a huge swath of destruction across the Visayas on November 8, 2013 with Tacloban bearing the brunt of the devastation.
With the Philippines being the only predominantly Roman Catholic country in Asia, the pope must have felt he needed to bring solace and comfort to the victims, however belatedly. As announced, the pope would be coming on the third weekend of January 2015, more than a year since Yolanda. He did offer prayers and commiserated with all Filipinos shortly after the typhoon.
It was emphasized that the pope would be coming only to be with the Yolanda victims because his Philippine trip is actually just a side trip. The real reason why he would be in this part of the world in January is because he is scheduled for a three-nation swing through Asia, with the Philippines not being part of that itinerary.
The only reason Pope Francis would make a sidetrip to the Philippines was to be with the Yolanda victims. This has to be emphasized over and over, apparently in order for Filipinos not to harbor great expectations about the visit. Being predominantly Roman Catholic, it takes only very little for Filipinos to go nuts over the papal visit.
Having then laid the basis for the visit, the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines quickly made known the limitations it intends to impose, such as only a limited number of victims would have the opportunity to have lunch with the pope, and that VIPs and politicians can pull neither string nor rank to be where they are not supposed to be during the visit.
In other words, the visit would be very brief and the schedules very tight. This would be no ordinary visit where the rule of thumb would be as much fanfare as religion and protocol would allow. This would pretty much be a fly in, make the sign of the cross, and then fly out affair. Besides, with the Philippines, particularly Cebu, hosting the International Eucharistic Congress in 2016, there would be plenty of time hobnobbing with the pope, who surely would be coming for that.
Or so we thought. Because all of a sudden, when the final and official itinerary was released to almost coincide with the first anniversary of Yolanda, it now seems that the pope would not be coming just to be with the Yolanda victims. Leaping out of his final and official schedule were several very non-Yolanda activities, foremost of which is a courtesy call on Noynoy Aquino in Malacañang.
Worse, the word also went out that the pope will no longer be coming for the Eucharistic Congress in 2016. That means his Philippine side trip from a three-nation swing through Asia in January 2015 would be pretty much it. What the heck happened? Who hijacked the pope's Yolanda trip to include other schedules like a courtesy call on Noynoy? Couldn't these non-essentials be the reason why the pope's greatly anticipated visit in 2016 for the Eucharistic Congress got scuttled?
I thought VIPs and politicians were not on the radar for the pope's Yolanda visit. There would have been plenty of time for that if he would have come for the 2016 Eucharistic Congress. As things turned out, not only was the Yolanda trip hijacked to accommodate the VIPs, who certainly would pack the Mall of Asia in all their finery and glitter, but the politicians as well, who all will be in Malacañang with their pockets stashed with fat donations from God knows what source.
Remember, this was not a scheduled visit. The Philippines was never on the pope's agenda this year. The pope will be in this part of the world for another reason. The only reason the pope is making the side trip is because of Yolanda. Yet, he will be meeting only with about 200 real victims of Yolanda. But because of the pull of rank, power and influence, the pope will now be meeting with far more people who never experienced what Yolanda was really like.
For example, why would the pope even pay a courtesy call on Noynoy when even Noynoy himself visited Tacloban only twice -- first to give out bottled water, and a second time to scold local officials for the failures of the national government. Noynoy had a third opportunity to visit Tacloban on the first anniversary of Yolanda but he avoided the city, for no other reason than he hated coming face to face with the reality of his government's inadequacy in dealing with Yolanda.
There is another reason why the pope probably made a mistake in allowing himself to be lured into paying a courtesy call on Noynoy. Has nobody ever whispered into the ear of Pope Francis that the guy he will be paying a courtesy call on is the very person responsible for ramming the Reproductive Health Law down the throat of Asia's only predominantly Roman Catholic nation?
It is not that I begrudge these other people their golden opportunity to be with the pope. It is just that we were made to believe the pope merely wanted to be with the Yolanda victims, that those who wanted more of his time will just have to wait for the Eucharistic Congress. And then we can have a ball with our pope. But apparently the pope's Yolanda visit was hijacked. And as a result, even his Eucharistic Congress presence may now be jeopardized, if it hasn't been already.
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