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	Star Editorial: Rizal and the Bacani Scandal By Carmen N. Pedrosa Star [Philippines] June 14, 2003 I happened to be reading on the secret teachings of the Original Christians who were then known as the Gnostics, when the Bacani scandal broke out. I could not help but wonder how and why the the religious teachings brought to the Philippines by the Spanish friars could have been so mangled and depart from those early teachings. The Gnostics taught redemption not through a set of rules which we must follow to be good. It is about discovering our own essential nature which is good already so that we can live spontaneously. An earlier book by the authors, Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, The Jesus Mysteries is an international bestseller. The authors allege that the Roman Church spent over 16 centuries systematically destroying the evidence that these early Christian teachings ever existed. By the time the Spanish friars came to the Philippines in the 16th century, Europe was in intellectual ferment and many were questioning the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church but they never really got around to discovering Gnosticism. That had to wait until the recent archaelogical discoveries at Nag Hammadi in Egypt. * * * It is said that the Spanish friars came here to escape the trauma of reformation. Here in the Philippines, they found a shelter to pursue their authoritive and reactionary doctrines. What has that got to do with us now in the second millenium as a backward country? It is my opinion that we have to go back to those days if we are to understand why we are what we are today - so resistant to change. Indeed, as some Filipinos have already said elsewhere, it affected the development of Filipinos profoundly and its effects are still felt to this day. The focus of the Bacani scandal may be on the sexual but the episode is about much more than meets the eye especially because of Bacani's links to El Shaddai and his high position in the Church. As a prince of the Church, it was he who gave 'legitimacy' to El Shaddai. Without him, El Shaddai would have been dismissed as another cult. * * * It may be that if Rizal lived today and the Gnostic texts were available to him, he would have been able to reconcile his discovery of intellectual freedom from the Spanish Masons with his deep religiosity. The Gnostics would have appreciated his search for authentic religion - the concept of God and justice in this world. He said as much in his Ultimo Adios. Before his execution in Bagumbayan he wrote: "Vibrant and clear note to your ears I shall be. Constantly repeating the essence of the faith I keep.I go where no slaves, no tyrants, no murderers dwell, Where God alone reigns, where faith does not kill." * * * For the Gnostics, the original Christians, the gospel or good news is not a story written in a book. Rather they taught that the gospel is the Gnosis. There is more than mere coincidence that the Bacani scandal should break out in the month of June which is regarded as Rizal's month, his birthday falling on the 19th.. I think it has a specific purpose and it isn't about the the proclivities of an erring bishop, although that question has to be resolved justly. It may be an optimistic view but I think that Filipinos are finally entering a phase in their history when they will be less vulnerable to the machinations of domineering Church officials who remain impervious to the separation of Church and State. I will never forget how it was that as initiators of constitutional reform through people's initiative we sought a dialogue with Bishop Bacani. From across the table, he growled "there is nothing to discuss." Instead he accused us of being manipulated and was interested to know "who is behind charter change?" We were so taken aback by his arrogance but it was my husband, Ambassador Alberto Pedrosa who replied, "I can ask the same question of you. Who is behind your opposition to charter change?" Touche. * * * I agree that the 'good' bishop must not be condemned prior to the conclusion of the investigation by the Vatican but as James Litton * * * Political will. At a recent dinner with friends, I realized that even among fairly intelligent Filipinos, there is a lack of under-standing or commitment to political reform. I am reluctant to admit that this is part of religio-colonial culture of a bygone era. This is what I mean by the damage done by the long and forced dependence on authority that make us incapable of breaking with the past without which there will be no passage into the modern age. Moreover, Filipinos in general hope the country can muddle along and somehow get it right without hard work and sacrifice. They very rarely have the courage of being non-conformist. Well, folks that is not the way to a strong republic or become a strong person or a strong anything. * * * There was also a suggestion in the same dinner that we poll among the guests, whether they thought President GMA would run or not in May 2004. This was really sad. As more politically aware Filipinos, we are expected to lead. Instead we are no better than the politicians vying with each other on who will be the candidates in May 2004 hoping that a good man or woman would be elected 'president' despite all evidence that this will not happen under the multiparty system of an unrevised 1987 Constitution. We have not learned the lesson of how Erap became president. This is no doubt in response to the encouragement of Cardinal Sin that everybody run regardless of the flawed structure of elections. That is perhaps also the reason why Flavier, Drilon, de Castro, Magsaysay, Lacson, Legarda, will not hear anything of constitutional reform or even debating it in a plenary in the Senate. What (?) And quash their ambitions to be president! * * * At other times, I would not have objected to what might have been a harmless exercise but the times call for absolute commitment and the weapon for battle in a democratic set-up is how well issues are conveyed to the masses. But if the more educated sectors of society are not committed, how can they expect to teach the masses? This preoccupation with whether President GMA will run or not is not only whimsical, it is dangerous mind-setting. It detracts from the focus of cultivating new politics which behooves preoccupation with issues instead of personalities. Indeed, debating whether GMA would run or not is counterproductive to all the work being done by others to make the masses more politically aware. * * * Again by sheer coincidence or was it coincidence (?) - who do I meet but Senate President Franklin Drilon himself, at lunch with Vic Frenandez, PR for former President Erap and now also for Loren Legarda at the new Paseo Uno Café of Mandarin Oriental. He pronounced that constitutional reform is 'dead in the water' in the Senate. As I have already said on other occasions, Senator Drilon himself told me constitutional reform was urgent. Unfortunately he changed his mind later. I thank him for his candor when he narrated that when he and Speaker Jose de Venecia met with Cardinal Sin, the latter had been non-committal. To Joe de V that was good enough to make him proceed to work hard for constitutional reform at the earliest possible time but not Senator Drilon who interpreted Sin's non-committal as being against. * * * To me, Cardinal Sin's position towards constitutional reform as interpreted by Senator Drilon, is the best clue that his advocacy for 'constitutional convention' which would postpone constitutional reforms up to 2010 is a subterfuge and really intended to stop it from ever happening. Cardinal Sin's opposition to constitutional reform is well known (as with the Church's partiality to Bishop Bacani). It reinforces the impression that church influence on the affairs of state of the Philippines that many of us would like to believe belongs to the past, is as strong as ever. Although some church officials worked to protect human rights during the Marcos dictatorship, the Catholic hierarchy's long standing alliance with the State and powers that be in Philippine society dates back to Spanish colonization and should be deplored. As more sincere Philippine political watchers would admit what the Catholic hierarchy says, goes and in some occasions it even passes off as state policy. * * * Carolina S. Ruiz-Austria and Lara C. Javier of Women's Legal Education, Advocacy and Defense Foundation in an article posted in the Internet by Dean Jorge Bocobo are indignant that the blame is now being put on the victim. In an imaginary letter to Jose Rizal, they remind the national hero that his project (CNP: freeing Filipinos from the clutches of the Spanish friars) has been a failure. As in the Bacani scandal, "the victim gets publicly exposed without any sense of how or if at all justice will be rendered and the accused gets a vacation abroad," they wrote. * * * "In the Philippines, Catholic priests exercise a lot of power and influence just as they had for centuries. For years, abuses in the Catholic Church against women and children have been downplayed. It never comes easy to challenge a priest let alone a powerful bishop. As of now, the victim has not even dared file a criminal charge against the bishop and has opted to be quiet and rely on the church's investigation. Her situation calls to mind the usual way cases of Catholic priests have been treated in cases of sexual indiscretion and abuse - a mere slap on the wrist. In this case, the first step taken by the Church hardly even comes close to a 'slap on the wrist'. It's vacation abroad. (We hope we, the Catholics aren't paying for it) ", they add. * * * They are angry that "the victim lies fully exposed and at risk of public condemnation and media attention." They would admonish those who love this country to consider 'this issue as a wake up call to progressive elements of the Catholic Church.' "The church should not serve the ends of its abusive leaders but instead represent the best interests of its members. Bacani's accuser as well as other women and children victimized by the Catholic clergy and hierarchy deserve justice in this life as much as the here after." E-mail: cpedrosa@edsamail.com.ph
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