Leila De Lima gets the Yellowtards back in bed with the Roman Catholic Church

It seems the Philippines has not progressed much since the days when kings and queens were proclaimed so by the Roman Catholic Church. It hasn’t been a week yet since former Senator Leila De Lima had been released on bail and she is already getting the all-too-customary “blessing” from a Catholic priest all-too-willing to fill the role. Here she is with failed Opposition presidential candidate Leni Robredo being given the prayover treatment by Archbishop Rolando Tirona of Caceres, Naga.

What exactly is the message to Filipinos De Lima together with Robredo are presuming to bring across? Is it that they are endorsed as the “good guys” by no less than God himself?

Piety signalling is evidently a hard habit to break in Philippine politics. In the campaign leading to the 2022 national elections, Robredo herself made full use of her connections with the Church to paint a saintly and prayerful persona. Yellowtard “social news network” Rappler obliged all this by running “news” reports showing Robredo striking that familiar pose under the magical hands of those various priests and nuns.

The headline of the Rappler “report” authored by Robbin M. Dagle screeched “More than 500 priests, nuns endorse Robredo for president”! Dagle, in this “report”, made sure to name names…

Their group, “Pari Madre Misyonero Para Kay Leni,” forms part of a growing movement in the Philippine Catholic Church to endorse the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem. Other Catholic groups endorsing them include the De La Salle Brothers of the Taft Community, who founded one of the Philippines’ leading universities, and leaders of the popular organization Ligaya ng Panginoon, which is supporting a candidate for the first time in nearly 50 years.

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, as leader of the Diocese of Kalookan, also earlier gave his blessing to efforts by lay groups in south Caloocan, Malabon, and Navotas to endorse Robredo and Pangilinan. David is also president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, which has not released any statement about specific 2022 candidates.

Robredo went on to suffer a crushing defeat in that “important” election — one that pitted the Yellowtard-Communist Axis which she presumed to lead, having been given a mandate to do so by God himself, against the “evil” administration tandem of Bongbong Marcos and running mate Inday Sara Duterte who rule as President and Vice President today. In a PhilSTAR piece of his own, noted Yellowtard columnist Boo Chanco too extoled his readers to do the “right” thing calling on them to “pray for God to intervene and let VP Leni lead now”.

Was God really on the side of the Yellowtards in the 2022 election campaign? Is He on their side today? The answer to the first question came to pass and the answer to the latter remains to be seen. But if we go by the data, we arrive at a more confronting answer — confronting to the Yellowtards, that is. The data is telling us, “God” is with the Filipino people — because His “will” is consistent with the people’s will as consistently manifested in the results of elections of yore.

benign0

benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.