Today, Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, a Baptist Pastor-turned-legislator, pious and close to God, delivered a speech to declare that the Ondoy tragedy is an Act of God.
I would not debate on the issue of God and disasters. I won’t even go into this ‘holier-than-thou’ stance and claims that our so-called wicked ways led to this divine punishment. What I do know is that storms are getting deadlier because of climate change, a phenomenon caused by humans, by our lifestyle. From what I see, too, garbage – plastics, in particular – clogged the Metro’s drainage, waterways, & creeks, and thus aggravating this problem.
But I will tell you more about Rep. Abante. Talk to him and you’d get the sense that he seriously believes that he’s the voice of God, to the point that he treats his flatulence as a wisp of the Holy Ghost. He can silence you (Oh, that he did to several LGBT activists in a hearing of the House human rights committee), and he struts as if the post-deluge sun shines from his bottom. His breath smells of incense.
Rep. Abante used to be the Chair of Congress’ Human Rights Committee. He blocked the passage of an anti-discrimination bill that protects the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. He’s also rabidly against the Reproductive Health Bill. As the current chair of the Committee on Information in Congress, he also championed a pro-censorship measure, the Right of Reply Bill.
For all his piety, he was put in the Hall of Shame of Human Rights Watch, a prestigious international human rights NGO based in New York.
But look – Rep. Abante may be close to God, but he’s no Noah. So when the floodwater was rising in Manila, when hundreds of families in his district were scampering to find floating devices, a Philippine Coast Guard rubber boat was reportedly deployed to fetch Rep. Abante’s son and his barkada in Philippine Columbian Sports Club in Paco, Manila.
That must be the so-called ‘Act of God’ that Rep. Abante is talking about, the one he’s really familiar with – when public officials play god, and use their power to push for their own interests over the survival of the people.
Today, Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, a Baptist Pastor-turned-legislator, pious and close to God, delivered a speech to declare that the Ondoy tragedy is an Act of God.
