Sister Mary Mananzan is not your ordinary nun. She was once the President of GABRIELA.
Yes, the militant group pushing for and the defender of women’s rights and now one of PRRD’s harshest and most vocal critics.
Perhaps, out of frustration that the OtsoDiretso suffered a humiliating defeat at the 2019 midterm polls, the militant sister and former President of St. Scholastica’s College called for a new People Power, to oust President Duterte.
Sister Mananzan’s statement did not escape the radar of PRRD supporters and elicited angry and sarcastic reactions.
However, one particular reaction on Facebook that got my attention came from lawyer Bruce Rivera, a staunch PRRD supporter.
In a Facebook post, Rivera lashed at Sister Mananzan for clinging on to the belief that People Power is the solution to change the country’s leadership they did not agree with from the very beginning.
Rivera admitted that he used to believe Sister Mananzan’s idealism and supported People Power 1 and 2. However, he realized that People Power 2 was also wrong in a sense that we reduced the will of the people to opening a mere envelope and letting mob rule replace the rule of law. Now, we have become a culture that is judgmental, hypocritical and self-righteous.
Rivera remarked if Sister really have wisdom, she would have realized that and would have concluded that ELECTIONS Is the real power of the people. And the only way to protect that power is to ensure it is honest, clean and credible. You should know as a nun that there will never be consensus building using a mob rule forcing an issue.
Rivera asserted that in May 2016, the real consensus building happened. It was through an election wherein the people has spoken in a peaceful manner without the shouting, marching and singing of corny songs. Duterte was our consensus.
Rivera wrote that he prays God will enlighten the sister with WISDOM (all caps) because clearly she has none of it.
You may read Atty. Bruce Rivera’s full FB post below now.
SISTER,
I pray that God will enlighten you with WISDOM because clearly you are deprived of it. With all humility, let me tell you why.
I have been in all three People Powers. I cheered for two of them and boy, I was wrong. The first one made Cory Aquino the President. I was 13 then and the exuberance of youth made me cheer for change. It was the first time I felt proud to be Pinoy. I embraced the color yellow and ate up all the information fed to me by the returning ABS-CBN. I watched The Dangerous Lives where I saw how media demonized Marcos. I saw the comedy Abangan ang Susunod na Kabanata where propaganda reduced the family to a bunch of crazed gun-toting idiots. That became my reality. You see, I am not a Marcos loyalist but I am no longer a hater. The first People Power made me a hater. And it also saw Cory, her ineptness, how she empowered both the Reds, the Church and the oligarchs. It started the quagmire we as a nation suffer today.
The second people power removed Erap Estrada. I cheered for it as well. It made GMA President and honestly, I could not care less because I was just busy trying to build up my own niche. But when I became a lawyer, I realized that People Power 2 was also wrong in a sense that we reduced the will of the people to opening a mere envelope and letting mob rule replace the rule of law. Now, we have become a culture that is judgmental, hypocritical and self-righteous. We presume guilt just because we saw it on TV and act with impunity like the God you tell us to worship. My God is just and forgiving, sister.
The third People Power was just a bunch of drug-crazed hooligans trying to scare a female President who succeeded the one People Power 2 managed to depose. This time, the powers that be wanted to use People Power to change the mistake of a People Power. The last People Power taught me the best lesson yet, the People Power is not really a power of the Filipino people. It is a tool used by the oppressors to maneuver their way to change historical directions to suit their narrative.
You see, Sister, if you really have wisdom, you would have realized that and would have concluded that ELECTIONS Is the real power of the people. And the only way to protect that power is fo ensure it is honest, clean and credible. You should know as a nun that there will never be consensus building using a mob rule forcing an issue. It is because, if you notice all the People Power we had, it was just a group of people, all agitated, with time to spare, all living in imperial Manila, trying to decide for the rest of thw 7,107 islands what is the best for our country. And because it was an mob rule in Luzon, the leaders you manage to install are also from Luzon.
So last May 2016, the real consensus building happened. It was through an election so clear and apparent, it was difficult to deny or cheat. There was no shouting, no marching, no singing of corny songs. The people quietly went to the solitude of a voting precinct and made a consensus. Duterte was our consensus.
And if you cannot respect that, the least you can do is repeal that consensus in another election. There is no magic in your brand of people power. As God has told me, love is the greatest power. I love my country to respect its choice. Do you?
Your comment?
Source: Bruce Villafuerte Rivera