Throwing stones
The recent appointment by President Duterte of Eduardo Manalo as special envoy for overseas Filipino concerns has raised the hackles of not a few Filipinos all of whom are quite predictably critics of the president, which is to say they never see anything good in a presidential utterance or deed. And quite interestingly, not one of the criticisms against Manalo ever dwelt on his ability to carry out the responsibilities of his new position.
To a man, critics pounced on Manalo for his being the leader of the politically influential Iglesia ni Cristo, a several-million-strong Christian denomination that often votes as one on the behest of its leader. Critics are quick to point out that his affiliation with the Iglesia ni Cristo makes his appointment a violation of constitutional guarantees on separation of Church and State.
What the critics conveniently forget is that religion could not have been a factor in this or all previous appointments made by Duterte or any other president for that matter, otherwise no appointment could ever be made at all, it being a fact that, except for atheists, almost every person has some affiliation, one way or another, with some religion.
In fact, if the truth be told, Catholics far outnumber any and all appointments to the government, whether in this presidency or in the previous ones. Yet, nobody ever raises any objection to this disproportionate appropriation of appointments when viewed from a religious standpoint, When a Catholic gets appointed, there is hardly a peep from Muslims, different Christian sects, even from the Iglesia ni Cristo.
That is because appointments are normally seen matter-of-factly by most people. The only exception, it seems, are the Duterte critics who always see something amiss or sinister in his every word and move. I am a Catholic and I do not see anything wrong with the appointment of Manalo as a special envoy, not even if he is the leader of Iglesia ni Cristo.
The problem with injecting religion into anything that moves within government is that it reduces everything to nonsense. It destroys everything positive and constructive in the task of government to do what is best and in the interest of the people. There will be nitpicking about motives as nothing beats religious biases in arousing suspicion in even the most innocent of actions.
If there is anyone who is violating constitutional guarantees on separation of Church and State, it is the critics of the president for lending their religious biases to an otherwise normal presidential function. What is normal and above-board, they make wrong, illegal and suspicious. They are the ones confusing Church and State where no delineation was required in the absence of one.
The critics of the president neither have a legal nor logical leg to stand on, which makes their anguish even more pathetic and their sleepless nights even more agonizing. They have grown desperate. It is still a long way to go before an ever popular Duterte steps down. In the meantime, the opposition is totally bereft of any viable successor. Not Leni, not Drilon, not Trillanes, and certainly not De Lima. So it's off to just throwing stones at anything that moves.
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