OUR COMMITMENT TO MANIFEST GOD’S KINGDOM GOES ON

(A Pastoral Statement on the Inauguration of President-elect Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.)

We believe, that God is at work to make each person a new being in Christ and the whole world God’s Kingdom in which love, justice and peace prevail. The Kingdom of God is present where faith in Jesus Christ is shared, where healing is given to the sick, where food is given to the hungry, where light is given to the blind, and where liberty is given to the captive and oppressed. (5^th Article, UCCP Statement of Faith)

On June 30, 2022, our nation will be a witness to an anticipated elaborate, resplendent and tightly secured inauguration of the country’s 17^th president, Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. who won by a seemingly overwhelming margin over his presidential rivals in the May 9, 2022 elections. This historic event happens amidst a situation beleaguered by a deep-seated economic poverty, political divide, hopelessness and anxieties. It takes place at a time when we are faced with inordinate challenges as to how our country would be able to rise above the never-ending tempests that haunt us every so often.

Certainly, our country is very much in need of a true servant-leader who can bring us to a future where peace, harmony and abundance reign and the sacredness of life truly respected and lived out. We all dream to see a nation where “the wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.” (Isaiah 62: 5)

The incoming president will surely take up a very tall order considering the despicable task of rebuilding a disintegrated people and a loathsome challenge of restoring our sinking nation back to full life. As he takes up the cudgels of the country’s leadership, the incoming president is faced with a reality of scattered dry bones that count on the new breath of life. That is an astounding task that require great amount of courage and commitment, much more prudence and sensible leadership.

For his first 100 days in office, we expect the incoming president to listen to the voice and heed the urgent demands of the most vulnerable and oppressed sectors of our society: the poor and disadvantaged farmers of the land, the exploited workers, the dispossessed urban poor families, the overburdened migrant workers, the browbeaten fisherfolks, the deprived youth and the ill-treated women in society. The whole nation looks forward to the resumption of peace talks, to end all forms of human rights violations and senseless extra-judicial killings, to undeserved red-tagging and unjust vilifications of those who advocate for justice, truth and peace.

We can only hope and pray for our people’s fortitude and dauntlessness even as we also strive to work together towards contributing to the rebuilding and restoration of our beloved nation back to orderliness. More importantly, the institutionalization of social justice, egalitarian economic development and sustainable peace processes.

We commit to continue our service and solidarity with the poor and the victims to manifest and incarnate God’s kingdom in society and in the world. As God’s prophetic voice we are to “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9).