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Dear friends,

Today is the long awaited Barangay Elections in the Philippines. It has been postponed many times but is now a reality. All Filipinos live in a Barangay. The historical significance of this fact is largely ignored by us. Going back to our past, we must remember that our ancestors traveled from the Malay peninsula aboard a Balangay (Barangay) boat. Every one in that Balangay has a role — from the captain, rowers, lookouts, cook and many more. Every one had to perform its role so that they may reach their objective of coming ashore to our archipelago. Now, as we go out and vote for our Barangay officials, let us remember the characteristics of those whom we will elect.

Let us ELECT those who:

E – Elevate the status of the marginalized. It cannot be denied that there are many poor people in our country. Maybe some of them are victims of their own complacency, but for sure majority of the poor are victims of government corruption, and excessive politicking of our politicians. We need leaders who can bring those who are in the margins to the main page.

L – Love God and others. The Greatest Commandment among the the many commandments in the Bible is to love God with all our being, and to love others as we love ourselves. We should strive to be the person who fulfills this commandment every day. We pray that this would be the goal of our government officials.

E – Espouses moral values. In Deuteronomy 17:17, one of the qualifications that God put forth for kings of Israel is that “He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.” Let us elect leaders who fear the Lord and are not immoral.

C – Commit to a better tomorrow. Leaders should be people who envisions a tomorrow better than today and yesterday. Again, Deuteronomy 17:16b says that the king “must not…make the people return to Egypt…for the Lord has told you,” You are not to go back that way again.” Yes, let us elect leaders who can bring us a better future.

T – Trust in the Lord. Deuteronomy 17 also requires the king to read the Word of God “all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left.” We need leaders who are exemplary in their faith and conduct..

Let us pray for our country, and let us pray that the next set of leaders that we will elect today will guide the Barangay ship in rough or calm waters, and bring it ashore to a better land.

May God bless us all!

Sincerely,

Rev. Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Office of Communications
Central Philippine University