At the mammoth rally called by Cardinal Sin in 1996 against then President Fidel V. Ramos’ Cha-cha, activist and other organizations were merely asked that banners and streamers be lowered when the prayers started. There were no loud announcements about who was welcome and who was not although it was par for the course that those politically attuned to Cardinal Sin and former President Corazon Aquino would be given prominence.

With regard to government red-baiting, including supposed plots by the New People’s Army to disrupt the protest, Cardinal Sin merely pooh-poohed these and said that he and “Joma” (Professor Jose Ma. Sison, the founding chairperson of the reestablished Communist Party of the Philippines) had already written to one another and he had the latter’s assurance that the communists were not planning anything that would spoil the objectives of the gathering.

Not a few non-Catholics or the more ecumenical and broad-minded among them were embarrassed by the ill-disguised preeminence given to the Catholic religion, for example, by having the stage prominently reserved for the bishops, priests and their lay assistants. Many wondered about the declared “inter-faith” nature of the event.

Unfortunately, last Sunday’s prayer rally failed to write finis to Malacanang-led schemes to overhaul the 1987 Constitution for its diabolical ends. Sadly, it appears to have even emboldened Mrs. Arroyo and her equally power-hungry cohorts to try again, once the furor dies down and the institutional and socio-political forces ranged against Cha-cha appear to be faltering.

Mrs. Arroyo did not waste time in serving notice that she is still bent on pushing Cha-cha, although she is coy about when and how, in light of overwhelming rejection of the Congressional con men’s attempt to foist the constituent assembly on the nation. This is certainly reminiscent of her infamous “I will not run” declaration before the 2004 presidential elections. (Hmm, didn’t the good bishops say something about the quest for truth?) Meantime Mrs. Arroyo’s allies have given the CBCP a veritable “up yours” to show what they think of the bishops’ limp-wristed attempt to rally the faithful against con-ass and other unresolved issues.

At end of the day, the Arroyo regime is still around, badly battered but seemingly able to undertake some more clever moves to avoid a knock-out punch from its opponents.

Lessons for all regarding leadership in the anti-Cha-cha struggle and indeed, in the movement for genuine and meaningful reforms short of a sweeping social and political revolution, are there to be learned.

The good bishops, witting or unwitting heirs to the savvy religio-political leadership earlier displayed by the wily Archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin, were neither calling for a revolution nor even just a revolt. They didn’t have to but clearly, they had squandered a moment of kairos**.

* *The term “kairos” is used in theology to describe the “appointed time in the purpose of God,” the time when God acts. In rhetoric kairos is “a passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved.” (E. C. White, Kaironomia)

*Published in Business World, 22-23 December 2006

 Save as PDF