I just returned from a visit to the Philippines. While I was there, the two hot topics of conversation were:
1. Pope Francis' visit to the Philippines - People went crazy over Pope Francis, and even though he had left when I arrived, everyone still talked about him. One cab driver spoke of how beautiful it was that the there had been a storm when the Pope was in Tacloban, Leyte, to give him a "taste" of how Super Typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda may have been.
People were proud to report that 6 million people attended the Pope's Mass in Manila. They talked of the exhilaration of seeing him drive by briefly, even after waiting for hours.
People also talked of how happy the Pope looked as he said Mass under the rain. They proudly recalled how he had abandoned his schedule of activities to be with street children.
And people also talked about what the Pope had said: Catholics don't have to breed like rabbits.
I had a cabbie who proudly informed me that he and his wife had only two children, who were now on their own. The girl was married, he said. Before she got married, she had opposed the RH bill (birth control) in the Philippines, but that once she was married, she changed her mind and didn't want a string of kids. This same cabbie also talked of his younger sister having a dozen children, so that there were 14 in that household. He said when he visited them with a huge loaf of bread, the bread disappeared as if he were feeding fish in the pond.
My friend, Val Sandiego, whose dance troupe had the honor of dancing the Sinulog in Manila in front of the Pope, gave me some medals blessed by the Pope. He talked about preserving the costumes they wore at the performance. He was particularly proud that when he lifted up the statue of the Child Jesus toward the Pope, the Pope accepted it. Val pointed out that the Pope later wore a religious garment from the Philippines (chasuble?).
2. The Mamasapano Massacre - The second hot topic was the Mamasapano Massacre of the 44 elite Special Action Force (SAF) policemen, as they went after two terrorist bombers in Mindanao on January 25, 2015. The SAF killed Marwan (Sulkifli Adbhir), who had a $6 million US FBI bounty of his head. The other terrorist, Abdul Basit Usman, with a $1 million bounty on his head, was hurt but escaped. He is said to be hiding in Mindanao with 10 bodyguards.
However, the loss of the 44 SAF, during a time when a peace agreement was about to be signed between the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) and the Philippine government, has halted the agreement. Heated government investigations are going on. A gruesome video showing the slaying of a SAF fighting for his life, taken by a member of the MILF or BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters), has surfaced recently. People are particularly angered at the brutal killing and desecration of the bodies of the SAF members.
Read also
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- Typhoon Haiyan: Jews in the Philippines - 1940 & 2013
- Post-War Cebu Life - More Memorabilia Photos of Cecilia Brainard
- Creative Writing: The Importance of Sensual Writing
- Syrian Revolutionary Poem & Destruction of Khalid bin Walid Mosque
- Creative Writing: Journal Writing and my Pink Lock and Key Diary
- Creative Writing: Your Writing Work Space (In My Case, Where My Cats Hang Out)
- Photos grabbed from the Internet
Cecilia
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