Category Archives: Ink

Words are more than just a combination of letters

14
May

Palace: Attack v. Meralco a diversion =P

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There are a few things we can learn from the Fortress’ reactions to the pictures and the new witness-of-sorts in the NBN-ZTE deal. There are two deputy spokespersons who goes by the names Anthony Golez and Lorelei Fajardo, and their shenanigans always show a semblance of truth, even if that word is not in the official Fortress dictionary.

As a background, this supposed witness supposedly saw Gloria Arroyo, her husband Mike, and her Comelec chair Ben Abalos playing golf with officials of ZTE at a golf club in Szenzhen, China. The said golf course was near the ZTE headquarters, and the trio went there after a golf game.

The first salvo came from Golez, who said that the witness should charge Gloria Arroyo in the courts. Of course, let us pardon Golez’ ignorance of the law (even if ignorance is not an excuse, as per Civil Code), and tell him gently that we cannot sue Gloria criminally since his amo enjoys immunity from any suit. And to remove that immunity, she has to be impeached first. But, the House of Reprehensibles will never do that, however substantial the impeachment complaint is. Golez tries to be cute, but he instead insults every consciously-thinking (there are those who chose not to think) Filipinos.

Oh, he continued trying to be cute, first by stating that the meeting with ZTE officials were official. Mr. Golez, if it was official, how come it was not reported in the media? How come there was no press release? Second, he said that the picture hasn’t prove anything malicious, that there was nothing wrong with Gloria playing golf with her husband. Well, this proves that delicadeza is dead, a Filipino value that is left forgotten, for it hinders corruption. Mr. Golez, there is nothing wrong with a president of a country courting foreign investors. But to do so in secret is not right. And who paid for the golf game? Can you show us some receipts, please?

The second salvo came from Fajardo, the most effective spokeswoman that Gloria has ever hired. First, she admitted that her amo met with ZTE officials, confirming part of what that witness had said: that Gloria did had a meeting with ZTE officials, and insisted that it was not a secret. Ms. Fajardo, please read my comments to your colleague’s failed attempts to be cute, you might learn a thing or two.

And what she had said next implicitly stated the rationale for the Fortress’ attack against Meralco: it is a diversion, plain and simple. She said that the public should not be diverted from the true issue at hand, which is high power rates. Kaboom! There you go!

Gloria Arroyo must be paying top bucks for these two. She gets what she pays for. We are paying for them? We are f*cked!

12
May

Earning brownie points at Meralco’s expense

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Members of the Government Service Insurance System should sue Winston Garcia for outright stupidity. And for acting against their best interest.

GSIS takes “contributions” from government employees every month, and GSIS invests these so that it can provide pension and death benefits to its members and their beneficiaries. GSIS holds a stake at the electricity distribution monopoly. A company declares dividends (in cash or stock) when a company has surplus earnings. So whenever Meralco declares dividends, the GSIS earns.

meralco logoThat is why I am astounded by Garcia’s complaint that the Meralco rates are high, and that Meralco is overcharging its customers. See news reports here (ABS-CBN), here (GMA), and here (PDI).

As general manager of GSIS, Garcia’s primary concern should be the money of its members. His main tasks are to ensure that the members’ funds are in good hands, invest these funds soundly, and pay benefits on time. In short, he works for the interests of GSIS members. Isn’t it for the best interests of GSIS members if Meralco pays high dividends? Will it not benefit GSIS members if there is a large return on investment (ROI)?

As a member of Meralco’s Board of Directors, Garcia has a say on Meralco’s direction. And if he claims that the government owns 35% of Meralco, they why did he and other government directors allow Meralco to operate as it is operating now? And if he claims that Meralco is deliberately witholding documents from him, why can’t he just oust the current management team instead of saber rattling in the media?

I don’t think his comparison between Meralco and VECO should even be given credence. Unless he can prove that Meralco and VECO are both apples, the comparison is unfair. Besides, who owns VECO? Read this:

VECO is owned and managed by the Aboitiz and Garcia families of Cebu.

And Winston is part of that Garcia families. So there.

—

I agree that electricity rates are high. There are many factors to consider why we have high rates, and one of them is the high cost of crude oil. To that, we can’t do anything; it’s market forces at work. Also, your electricity bill includes VAT. So technically, you are being VATed several times on just one bill: oil is subject to VAT, electricity is subject to VAT, even systems loss is subject to VAT.

And there, this regime can do something, but it won’t. It can reduce the VAT rate to 10%, but it won’t. Because the finances of this regime depends on the taxes that we all pay. So it wants Meralco to lower its rates; I suggest that this regime instead revert the VAT rate for oil and power to 10%. Asa pa ko.

What the regime did was to lower Napocor’s rates. Did you know why we had RVAT? The law that slapped us 12% tax on almost everything we buy? Back in 2004, as par of her win-at-all-costs strategy, Gloria Arroyo lowered Napocor’s rates. The net effect was ballooning of Napocor’s debts, most of which were guaranteed by the government. It brought about budget deficit, and to cover such deficit, we got 12% VAT. Currently, Napocor’s debt is worth half a trillion pesos, which we poor Pinoys are paying through our taxes. And lowering such rates will not help easing that debt. Short-term, we might have a lower electricity bill, but long-term, we are burying three generations of Pinoys in debt.

—

Meralco should instead counter the regime’s propaganda with transparency. Open its books without reservation and qualification. If it has nothing to hide, it should have nothing to fear. But wait. The truth shall not set you free here in this country. Just ask all of those whistleblowers out there.

I suggest you read Tongue In, Anew’s Meralco v. Mafia for a technical background on Meralco’s current political woes. It should also give you some insight on the regime’s (and its factotums Garcia, Ermita, Bunye, etc) possible motivation for attacking Meralco.

30
Apr

Who’s afraid of Joint Resolution 10?

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Is the Senate treading on dangerous grounds?

In a surprise move, Senate Minority Floor Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. filed Joint Resolution 10 (with 10 senators as co-sponsors) that calls for convening Congress into a Constituent Assembly to revise the Charter. The resolution specifically called for a federal form of government. Surprising because (1) the Senate has always been against the Charter change initiatives (in any form) of the Arroyo regime and (2) most senators are against Charter change.

Now there are fears that this is a Trojan horse, or an opening that this regime can exploit. Are these fears justified?

The danger lies in the fact that anything can happen in the Senate. For one, the head of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments is Richard Gordon, who is consistently pro-Gloria, though his political ambitions might actually stall any Charter change proposal from now till May 2010. Second, as I had pointed out here, anyone can always change his/her mind and vote the other way.

So for example, if there would be proposal to convene the Constituent Assembly, here is how the voting would go:

Yes
Edgardo Angara
Joker Arroyo
Pia Cayetano
Juan Ponce Enrile
Richard Gordon
Gregorio Honasan
Manuel Lapid
Ramon Revilla Jr.
Miriam Defensor Santiago
Juan Miguel Zubiri

No
Benigno Aquino III
Rodolfo Biazon
Alan Peter Cayetano
Francis Escudero
Jose Estrada
Panfilo Lacson
Loren Legarda
Ma. Consuelo Madrigal
Francis Pangilinan
Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
Manuel Roxas II
Manuel Villar

The possible NO senators who can switch to yes are:

* Legarda – Cmon, she can switch sides like it is her second nature.
* Roxas – He always plays safe, so voting Yes will not be a surprise.
* Villar – He knows how to switch sides at the right times.
* Allan Cayetano – We don’t know what’s on his mind, but I will not be surprised.

So if the votes needed is 50%+1, all the administration has to do is to get at least four NO votes to switch sides. It would be dicey if two-thirds vote is needed (I am not sure).

Some senators have signified that their support for the resolution was qualified – Pangilinan said he is for it after 2010. So there must be nothing to be afraid of.

Besides, I don’t think Gloria Arroyo needs Cha-cha to survive beyond 2010. It would be nice if she could be prime minister without term limits, but that would be impossible, given a lot of ambitious people on the wings. The best that she could ask for is for a friendly to win in 2010 (it can be done, right, Garci and Bedol?), a friendly who would guarantee that she won’t be prosecuted come July 2010. Also, Merceditas Gutierrez would still be Ombudsman by that time, and the Supreme Court would be packed by her appointees. The House of Representatives would remain friendly. So what is there for her to worry about?

The people? No. If the people wanted her out, they would have done so since 2005. Besides, it is easy to say to a pollster that they don’t support Gloria, right? Besides, who would replace her, as her supporters would say? (I dunno if they are ignorant to know that there is a vice president, or they are pretending that there is no vice president.) So no.

And, if all things fail, she can always go make herself a dictator.

—

Federalism suits our regionalistic thinking, and at the same time suits those with lesser ambitions (aka warlords, political lords, and/or gambling lords). And, as former National Treasurer Leonor Briones pointed out, the financial aspect of such a setup is troublesome and will surely bog down any discussion on that matter. And, THERE WILL BE THREE LEVELS OF TAXES. Surely you want that, right?

Our Charter is imperfect, and needs changing. If it has to be revised, it should be done after the 2010 elections.

28
Apr

To blog is to influence

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The Marocharim Experiment wrote about resistance and blogging, and the seeming disinterest by most bloggers to post political commentary on their blogs.

He said:

Please disagree with me on this one: I think – and this is a completely subjective and personal observation – that most bloggers do not utilize their blogs enough as a vehicle to (at the very least) exact a political influence among their peers. It’s not that people don’t see the importance of political blogging, it’s just that people do not exercise their political views and commit them to a blog entry.

First, we cannot control what bloggers would post in their blogs. As someone who dabbles in political commentary myself, I always rant offline (and sometimes online, too) about the seeming apathy by the majority over the major political and social issues of the day. I have learned (and continue to learn) that diversity governs the blogosphere, and that diversity allows for apathy. I could be so intolerant of people who shrugs off politics (there’s a post by someone about being turned off by the political discussion part of iBlog 4 and all I could say via Twitter was “Tsk”), but what could I do?

Bloggers are within their rights to post what they want. It may be frustrating on the part of a political blogger, but what can he do?

Second, while we could not control what bloggers would say, we could influence others to think about political and social issues, to talk about them, and to post about them. We do this by presenting the issues, why they are issues, and why these issues matter to them. We do this by explaining what would happen if they continue to be indifferent.

Third, my pet peeve: taking a neutral stance all because a person is lazy or refuses to think. It is so easy to say “I am neutral;” it becomes harder when you are asked to explain your stand. Then things crumble after that. You will then find out that the neutral stance was just an excuse not to participate in the political/social discussion – an escape from one’s duty to take part in governance. As a political blogger, you can engage people into a meaningful discussion, listen to their reasons, point out their mistakes, convince them that they need to participate.

So, despite the seeming indifference, if you believe in your cause, you push it, you continue discussing and explaining, you write again and again, you beat the horse till it is dead. It might be easy to just surrender, but that would not make you any different from the others, right?

23
Apr

Sumilao, Calatagan, and social justice in the Philippines

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It’s been weeks since the Sumilao land case has been satisfactorily resolved (hopefully), we have another, almost similar case under the radar screens of mainstream media and the blogosphere.

This time it is a 508-hectare property at Calatagan in Batangas owned by the late Ceferino Ascue. The land was put under agrarian reform in 1990, two years after the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law was enacted. The land was distributed to 318 tenant-farmers under the Operation Land Transfer (OLT) provision of Presidential Decree 27; 818 Emancipation Patents were distributed.

The farmers tilled the land and cultivated rice, corn, vegetables and other crops for the ten years, paying land amortizations to the government.

Five years (1995) after the land was put under agrarian reform, the heirs of Ascue sold the property to Asturias Industries (sounds familiar?). Not only did the heirs ignored that fact that they no longer owned the land at time of sale, the Register of Deeds of Batangas did not annotate the distribution of that land in the land title.

Asturias Industries then began its campaign to get the land. It applied for a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) and an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for a 2336.8-hectare land including the Ascue Estate in July 1997.

Asturias used those documents to question the distribution of the Ascue Estate under PD 27, claiming that the distribution was made erroneously, since the land was never used for planting rice and corn, and that Ascue did not recognize any tenancy arrangements.

The Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer (PARO) of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) began its investigation of Asturias’ complaints. Task Force Baha was formed, and it found that “(1) procedural lapses attended the OLT coverage; (2)significant portions of the OLT-covered area were planted to sugar cane; and (3) the landowner did not recognize tenancy relations with the ARBs (agrarian reform beneficiaries).” A validating team from DAR Region IV Office noted that “it cannot be established beyond reasonable doubt that the property is planted to palay or corn and tenanted.” It then recommended the nullification of the emancipation patents.

DAR Undersecretary Conrado Navarro sustained Asturias’ complaints in August 4, 2000, basing his decision on the following:

(1) the landholding was not primarily devoted to the production of rice or corn;

(2) the tenancy relations was not clearly established and

(3) the land long ceased to be agricultural as it is “mineralized.”

This case was appealed to the Office of the President, the Court of the Appeals, and the Supreme Court. The SC upheld the DAR decision in 2005.

Everything that went for Asturias were legal. But were they right?

—

Social justice is a curious concept, an alien one to most of us Filipinos. It is almost utopian: fair treatment to everyone, and impartial sharing in the benefits and resources of the society. I myself can’t explain it with confidence and conviction.

That said, agrarian reform is a pillar of Philippine social justice as part of the provisions of the Charter (see Article XIII, Section 1). As always, the spirit of the law doesn’t matter; as long as we can get away from it, we twist the law to our advantage. It has become apparent that you can actually use the law to give some semblance of legality to what is morally wrong (going against the spirit of the law).

Having said that, what can I say about the Calatagan case? I just find it ironic that we are having a so-called rice crisis now, and 500 hectares of agricultural land became mineral land in a poof. Also, every thing that Asturias did were legal. But were they right?

—

Read a briefing on this case here.

21
Apr

Resisting tunnel vision

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There has been ongoing debates on what to do with regards to the current situation in the Philippines.

A certain portion of the population (25% of the population, assuming that 50% is against Gloria Arroyo, and 25% supports her with open hearts and empty stomachs), I believe, thinks that it is better to look ahead instead of dwelling in the now. And within that 25%, there is a call to stop the current forms of resistance (resistance is futile and inconveniences everyone) and instead channel all energies towards the 2010 elections.

Some of the current “proposals” suffer from tunnel vision, I’m afraid. In medicine, tunnel vision refers to the failure of an individual’s peripheral vision. It means that a person can only see directly ahead.

In this case, tunnel vision refers to man’s propensity to look ahead without regards to the past and the now. Specifically, the propensity of some people to ignore or dismiss the present (and the past) and instead plan ahead so that what is happening now will never happen again. There is nothing wrong with that; I think it is good thinking, to think of what needs to be done to correct the current mistakes.

However, what I am totally against is tunnel vision, and for several reasons.

One, ignoring the current situation means allowing injustice to proceed without hitches. When things could be better and are not due to incompetence, wanton disregard of laws and rules, or just plain apathy to the common good, not doing anything is being complicit to the injustice of the situation.

Two, planning for the future generation is well and good, but what about the present? Sure, planning for the future generation is well and good, but that would be useless when the present has all but destroyed the things that the future would need. With widespread land conversion (to escape agrarian reform or to increase taxes on land) and deforestation, for example, what planning can save the future if we don’t stop the plunder now?

Three, what happens today has a direct effect on what will happen tomorrow. If we want to ensure that tomorrow will be better, we attend to the present. We continue what we think is good, and correct what we think is wrong. After correcting what is wrong, then we plan so that it will never happen again.

Lastly, if there is a fire, you put it out, you don’t plan on how to put it out, you just put it out. Right?

I am all for planning for the future. What I am against is the thinking that we should just plan ahead instead of dealing with the present. It is short sighted and detrimental to the common good and to the future.

—

Is resistance futile? No, unless we surrender to the current situation and instead hope for the best.

Why should we resist? We resist because injustice needs to be fought. We resist because it is our duty to correct our government from its their excesses. We resist because we have to preserve what we have. We resist because we have to preserve what we have for the future.

—

This is a DigitalFilipino.com Club sponsored post for Budget Hotels in the Philippines.

14
Apr

(Is there a) Deal or no deal?

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Is there a deal or no deal?

Nine former Magdalo soldiers (all of them Philippine Army) recently pleaded guilty to charges of coup d’ etat, and they were handed down prison sentences from 9-40 years. The actions by Gambala and Maestrocampo surprised some people, and some speculated that a deal must have been made between the Arroyo regime and the nine.

The regime isn’t helping in quelching these speculation. Hermogenes Esperon’s reaction to the court sentence was to tell the nine to accept it. He then floated the pardon trial balloon, while members of the House of Representatives play good cop/bad cop.

And then the convicted former Magdalo soldiers asked for pardon days after their conviction; they even said sorry. A Fortress executive says that they will not granted pardon immediately; maybe a month or so?. Anyway, even Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno wants them pardoned. A few days later, the regime is seriously thinking the effects of granting pardon. And finally, the Department of National Defense and the AFP recommended that the nine be pardoned.

Given the regime’s action regarding Joseph Estrada, do you think granting pardon to nine former Magdalo soldiers is remote? Given the Arroyo regime’s actions and words for the past few days, it is not remote. I believe there is a deal, and we’ll know for sure in a few months. The best indication that there is a deal can be best glanced from one of the motives by the nine to do an about-face: they wanted to be with their families. If there is no deal, they won’t be doing an about-face. They were promised a pardon so that they could be with their families.

My only hope now is that history will not repeat itself. During the negotiations between Roy Cimatu (representing the regime) and the Magdalos on July 27, 2003 (to end the Oakwood mutiny), the agreement was for the Magdalos to return to barracks and surrender under the Articles of War. Ramon Farolan wrote about the recollections of former columnist Max Soliven regarding the Oakwood mutiny (he was present in the negotiations). Let me quote Soliven:

What bothers me is that the mutineers or rebels whatever may be tagged on them, are being double-crossed. Nobody intends to glorify them as heroes or justify their deed, certainly not this writer. But since I was in there with the negotiating group, I’ll have to speak out about what was agreed…

Being charged in civilian court was rejected by the mutineers. They surrendered themselves to military justice, under the Articles of War—in sum, court martial…

Military justice is what they were unanimously pledged by the government panelists—not prosecution in the regular justice system. Otherwise, they might not have surrendered. And you know the consequences of a firefight and the detonation of the explosives they had planted all over the place.

Was anything written down? A surrender agreement? Of course not. But we must consider that an individual’s ‘word of honor’ is supposed to be as binding as a piece of paper. Palabra de honor was what was invoked in the end. Gen. Cimatu pledged himself as an officer and a gentleman, and so did the rest of the government panel …

Are rebels, putschists or mutineers ‘scum,’ not worthy of being given such pledges? Nonsense. Word of honor binds those who give them, not the accused or the imprisoned. Cimatu and the government officers and officials involved should honor this deal.

Why is it so important for the President and her government to honor this commitment? Because if it is not upheld, who knows, what real trouble will be provoked among the far bigger number of men ‘outside’ who did not participate in the so-called coup or mutiny? I kid thee not, they are there, waiting to see whether reforms are instituted and whether heads upstairs will roll …

The Chief Executive and Commander in Chief must at least show sincerity under what was stipulated in the final agreement, the Articles of War. What about Lina’s filing of cases? Perhaps, this even falls under double jeopardy, not just a double cross.

I repeat: the Oakwood Five leaders asked for leniency for their men and even full reinstatement for their followers ‘without hitches.’ This was not conceded in the final public announcement. But the deal on the Articles of War was clearly and unequivocally announced to the media and the general public …

– Max Soliven, August 4, 2003

I hope they will not be twice betrayed.

—

Ellen Tordesillas called the nine’s actions as pathetic. As much as I agree with her points, I cannot begrudge the nine if they were willing to support this regime and eat their words just to be with their families. But this point by Ms. Tordesillas will haunt them forever:

Since with his appeal for presidential pardon, he is willing to support a liar, a cheat, and a thief, I’m wondering what is Gambala going to teach his son about truth and honesty.

I’d like to share with him something from the book, “The Kite Runner”. The narrator in the book, Am, tells about the time when he was a boy, the mullahs in Afghanistan said drinking alcohol is a terrible sin. He relayed the lesson to his father, who drinks.

The father made him sit on his lap for serious talk: “No matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft.”

The father continued: “When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.”

What will Gambala and the eight other officers tell their children about Gloria Arroyo?

9
Apr

The 2008 Philippine rice crisis?

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The current issue about rice is troubling.

My mom usually buys about 10 kilos of rice every week (feeding six, five of them boys, excluding visitors; add one if my older brother comes home;). A month ago, she got this variety of rice for Php 26 a kilo. The same variety now costs Php 34 per kilo. The price keeps on increasing by a peso per week, she told me last night.

Simple law of supply and demand tells us that there will be a price increase when demand is high and supply is low. The Arroyo administration claims that there is no supply problem, that there is ample supply of rice. Yet, a month ago, the Secretary of Agriculture, Arthur Yap told restaurants and fastfood chains to serve rice in half of the usual serving. Why serve half-rice if the supply is sufficient?

After several months of dilly-dallying on whether there is a rice crisis or not, the Arroyo regime began a crackdown on alleged rice hoarders. Despite these high-profile raids, the price of commercial rice continues to shoot up, and there is no end in sight for such increases. And legitimate rice traders are threatening to go on a rice holiday if the raids (that they consider as indiscriminate) continue.

The regime has yet to define its parameters for raiding rice warehouses. I mean, how many cavans of rice must a warehouse contain to consider it hoarding?

Also, the rice being sold by the National Food Authority is a bestseller nowadays. Let’s face it: life is hard nowadays, and even some of the middle class buy NFA rice to save.

The administration must show why are these things happening right now. If there is ample supply, the price increase should be not that substantial. But its actions betray the problem: asking Vietnam for assurances of supply, importing from the US, asking restaurants for half-rice servings.

If things come to an explosion, this regime has no one to blame but itself. Too bad transparency has never been one of its virtues.

Do you think there is a rice crisis?

—

This is a DigitalFilipino.com Club sponsored post for resume maker.

9
Apr

An Echiverri Kingdom

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Caloocan City is fast becoming an Echiverri Kingdom, with an Echiverri dynasty in the offing.

Its current mayor, Enrico “Recom” Echiverri, has a predilection for posting his face and name in every nook and cranny of the city (to be fair, most politicians share the same narcissism, Lito Atienza and Bayani Fernando to name a few). But he is not content with that.

When his son, Ricojudge Janvier “RJ” Echiverri won as national president of the Liga ng mga Barangay (a joyous occasion, indeed), a lot of streamers and tarpaulins appeared on city roads, including EDSA congratulating him. One extravagant example is hanging on the ENTIRE MMDA foot bridge at EDSA, in front of the Manila Central University. The tarpaulin is attributed to the City Assessor’s Office. I hope no public funds were used for that? Even so, it was an awful waste of money.

And then there are the barangay cabs carrying Recom’s and RJ’s name. RJ’s name is written as “Con. RJ Echiverri.” Note the Con. He is supposed to be head of the local Liga, and as such he sits in the City Council, making him a councilor, abbreviated as Coun. But why Con. in the cabs? It is not a typo – all of the cabs carry those. Your guess is as good as mine.

And now, there’s more.

Another son, Juan Crisostomo “Juris”, recently passed the bar exams. Immediately after that, tarpaulins congratulating him mushroomed along the city streets.

Note that RJ ran for congressman of 1st district in 2007 elections, but lost to Oscar Malapitan. Is it safe to say that Juris will run in 2010?

Echiverri should be wary of establishing a dynasty. His predecessor, Rey Malonzo, attempted to do that in 2004 – he, his common-law wife, and son ran, and all of them lost. It could happen to him and his family.

(Image from the Caloocan City Web site.)

4
Apr

Even the devil can quote the Scriptures

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My reaction this news report is this: even the devil can quote the Scriptures.

From Luke 4:1-13:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”‘

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”‘

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you”, and “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”‘

Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”‘ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

—

Incidentally, you may want to watch Repertory Philippines’ production of Altar Boyz. Read my impressions here. Guaranteed laugh, I tell you.