Get ready for the 500th year of Christianity

I just learned that Office of Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino has appointed Cebuano industrial designer Kenneth Cobonpue as the head of the Visayas Quincentennial Committee. The quincentennial celebration happening in 2021 celebrates the 500th anniversary of the circumnavigation of the earth. I’m glad that Kenneth Cobonpue has been given this role for after all, this is a very important celebration not just for the country, but for the entire Catholic world because 500 years ago, it was also the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. But God made sure that three ships from Spain would reach these shores to establish a new colony and Christianize this part of the world.

One of the roles of Philippine Christianity is supposedly to evangelize the faith. But as history teaches us, the first Filipino saint was San Lorenzo Ruiz who was martyred in Nagasaki where Christianity would have taken root; however, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japan's most powerful lord in the late 16th century, banned and persecuted the “Kirishitan” of Japan. I saw the famous Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum and Monument which were built on Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, Japan. The martyrs were canonized by the Roman Catholic Church of the Christians. They were executed on the site on February 5, 1597. I heard that Pope Francis might be visiting Nagasaki next month in November.

One of the main tasks of the Visayas Quincentennial Committee includes coordination among all the local stakeholders and the regional government agencies. The quincentennial celebration will highlight the milestones of the 500 years of the victory of Lapu-lapu and his warriors in the Battle of Mactan, an event that serves as among the inspirations for our heroes and martyrs during the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

Also, one of the goals for the quincentennial commemorations in the Philippines is to reinvigorate Filipino nationalism, unity, and international comity through history and culture. This will also highlight the rich cultural heritage and the world of our ancestors prior to the coming of the Spaniards. It’s just too bad that our President Rodrigo Roa Duterte can only remember that bad things that happened to the Philippines during the Spanish colonial rule. Even the Catholic hierachy played its role helping their Spanish leaders in controlling Filipinos in our own land. This cannot be denied.

But history has taught us all great lessons about those years. Christianity has remained and today, overseas Filipino workers (OFW) have filled up the pulpits of churches deserted by European Catholics and we are really re-evangelizing Europe with our own Christianity.

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Last week, Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo was dared by Bayan to go to Malacañang using commuter transportation rather than his official vehicle. Panelo accepted the challenge and so a few days ago, he started his rush hour commute at 5:15 a.m., taking a roundabout route from Quezon City to Marikina and then on to Manila. Somehow, Panelo hit a snag so he took a ride from a motorcycle provided by a good Samaritan who gave him a free ride all the way to Malacañang. He got into his office almost four hours later and insisted that there was no transport crisis in Metro Manila. But admitted that they had a traffic crisis.

First off, I never thought that the national newspapers would headline this dare against Sec. Panelo. But apparently people were serious in checking out this incident which in truth proved nothing at all, but that Metro Manila’s notorious traffic have remain for the last ten years in Metro Manila. At this point, no one really has come up with an honest-to-goodness solution to Metro Manila never ending traffic.

At this point, it is high time for the Duterte administration to seriously consider doing what Indonesia has already decided, by moving the Indonesian capital from Djakarta to Kalimantan in Borneo. I suggest that the capital of the Philippines be moved to the most neglected island of Samar. Yes, Samar today is covered with a lot of forests and by moving the nation’s capital to Samar, it would not only do good to Samar, but for sure it would decongest Metro Manila because almost all top government offices are found in Metro Manila.

I’m sure that many of my readers would disagree with my view on this issue, but as we all know, Samar is normally the entry point of many typhoons that come into the country. This makes it good for the nation that it is the site of the new capital so that readiness would become a priority for this government and future governments.

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