We can see in the Gospel today the compassion of Jesus for suffering humanity, which resulted in more and more people coming to Him, and even today, the outstretched arms of God’s Son on the cross is a never-ending invitation for us to seek refuge in Him.

What in the past was called Confession is now called the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We should reflect that a mortal sin is not an isolated act but rather the culmination of a series of minor infidelities, so reconciliation is a gradual return to God over a period of time, with the reception of the sacrament as the high point, a time to celebrate our joy and gratitude in being one with God again.

This conversion, a newly found commitment to the Lord, must be constantly renewed. There is an enduring need for reconciliation if we want to love God with our whole strength and our neighbor as ourselves — the command of Christ to each of us when He said, “Do this, and you will live.”

Should we listen to Jesus or the prompting of some politicians or government officials who seem to care less for our country and people, particularly our less fortunate brethren, the local fishermen?

Remember, the first disciples of Jesus were fishermen.

Perhaps we could reflect if reconciliation is possible with those foreign poachers who continue to commit violations when they enter the Philippine area of responsibility, particularly in the West Philippine Sea, or WPS.

Is a far bigger violator in the WPS being ignored by the Philippine government?

In a recent forum, fishermen from across the country asked if the Philippine government was aware of Vietnam’s massive reclamation and increasing poaching in the WPS.

Filipino fishermen in Palawan report that Vietnamese poachers use dynamite to fish in the WPS, including in the Philippines’ EEZ close to Palawan, causing unreported massive destruction to marine life and destroying the primary source of livelihood of thousands of Filipino fishermen.

Vietnam has also been ramping up its dredging and landfill work in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, creating another 330 acres of land since December last year, a US think tank said in a report.

Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies said Vietnam’s expansion is much larger than the 120 acres it had created between 2012 and 2022, thus making Vietnam second only to China regarding island buildup in the Spratly Islands.

In 2018, the Philippines’ Department of National Defense, or DND, reported that Vietnamese fishermen were the most frequent fishers in Philippine waters.

An annual DND report said the Philippine military detected 47,000 incidents and challenged 40,000 foreign vessels passing through the Philippine territory.

Our suffering fishermen ask, “Why is the current DND secretary quiet on this issue?”

Vietnam accelerated and expanded its dredging and landfill work at several outposts in the Spratly Islands in the second half of 2022, creating over 420 acres of new land and bringing its total in the last ten years to 540 acres.

The work includes expanded landfills at four features identified by AMTI earlier this year and new dredging at five additional features. The scale of the landfill work, while still falling far short of the more than 3,200 acres of land created by China from 2013 to 2016, is significantly larger than previous efforts by Vietnam and represents a major move toward reinforcing its position in the Spratlys.

As Filipinos, we must ask what is the Philippine government doing about Vietnam’s massive illegal reclamation and poaching in the WPS that are directly damaging the livelihood of our less fortunate Filipino fishermen.