What do President Benigno Aquino 3rd, Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle, and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao have in common? In this Year of Faith of the Roman Catholic Church, all three are

testing the beliefs of Filipino Catholics. And how their own fates turn in the coming months may well determine the faith of many Catholics in the Philippines.

As it did with the impeachment of resigned Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona, the Aquino administration has reportedly threatened to hold pork barrel funds to prod congressmen into passing the Reproductive Health Bill opposed by the Church.
President Aquino himself lobbied House legislators on December 3, rather than convening disaster agencies and local government leaders in the face of Typhoon Pablo.

Few Filipinos, if any, would admit thinking it, but many are probably wondering how the Lord in heaven would deal with Aquino after several very public tussles with His prelates on earth.

After receiving support from Church leaders and groups during the elections, Aquino not only pushed the RH Bill, but also unleashed his appointed head of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office to malign eight bishops with false accusations of having used PCSO donations to buy luxury Mitsubishi Pajero vehicles.

Even before that spat, just a month into the new government in August 2010, Archbishop Oscar Cruz accused Aquino shooting buddy Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno of jueteng payolas. Yet the President still let Puno oversee the Philippine National Police, the primary weapon in any campaign against the illegal numbers game. Aquino ordered then Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo to crack down on jueteng, but it flourished unabated. Puno eventually resigned, but only after Robredo’s death shed light on suspicious actions at the PNP and in the deceased’s apartment.

Of late, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, through the CBCP journal Impact, has taken serious interest in the alleged computerized cheating in the 2010 elections. Many bishops and religious groups fear that fraud may transpire with the Commission on Election’s decision to buy and reuse the 2010 counting machines, with much the same flawed procedures, including the lack of digital signatures and proper random manual audit of results. After this issue emerged in media weeks ago, the administration revived the RH Bill, which predictably grabbed the CBCP’s attention.

So now, the President is again at odds with the prelates, some of whom have accused the Palace of using pork barrel to grease the contraceptive legislation through Congress. If Aquino gets his way, with no Catholic vote or heavenly retribution visited upon him, his government and his party, then Filipinos may think that God approves of his actions, whatever the bishops may say.

Another leading Filipino is also seen as possibly running afoul with the God of Catholicism—and perhaps paying for it. After his shocking knockout loss to Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao has been in a very public spat with his mother Dionisia over his supposed switch to a non-Catholic denomination.

With this reported change of faith, the champion boxer is said to have altered his ringside rituals. He did not bring the rosary which accompanied him in all his past bouts. And Pacquiao reportedly missed going to the mass for the Immaculate Conception feast the day before his fight, as Filipino Catholics are required to attend. Notably, Protestant sects do not accord the Blessed Virgin Mary the intense veneration that Catholics do.

With this mother-and-son disagreement on national TV, many Filipinos are wondering whether Pacquiao’s last-second sixth-round debacle was a sign of displeasure from above over his drift away from a lifetime of Catholic devotion. If he fights again without his past rituals, the outcome will appear in the eyes of many Filipinos a pointer to heaven’s assent or dissent.

The third Filipino in the eye of the Catholic faithful is Cardinal Tagle. The highly respected theologian is not one to say that the results of the May elections or the next Pacquiao fight demonstrate unequivocally the verdict of God on the President or the Pacman. But Tagle will be much concerned about what happens to the faith of Filipinos as they ponder the fortunes of Aquino and Pacquiao.

Going by the Cardinal’s past pronouncements and exhortations, he will warn against presuming to know how heaven judges others. At the Wednesday Mass on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, held at the national shrine in Makati, Cardinal Tagle led prayers for congressmen voting on the RH Bill on that day. And he counseled that in the fiery debates on the issue, all sides must maintain decency, respect and love for one another. No pronouncements about retribution at the polls from him.

Even as the Lord speaks in His unique way to every person through the major and minor events of his or her life, the crux of His message is always a call to faith, hope and love in His all-embracing holiness. Answering that divine call, whether it leads to plenty or perdition, is the best way to show others where they may be drifting from the right path, not the ups and downs of their ambitions and aspirations.

In sum, whatever happens in the months ahead to the President, the prelate and the Pacman, God’s message remains the same: deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me.

Ricardo Saludo serves Bahay ng Diyos Foundation for church repair. He heads the Center for Strategy, Enterprise & Intelligence, publisher of The CenSEI Report on national and global issues ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ).