Commemorating 16 March 1521

“While the union of Church and State is officially no more today, thanks to the constitutional ban against it, the contemporary Philippine scene is still embellished with Catholic clergy meddling in politics.

The year 2021 will mark the 500th anniversary of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines. That was a time when the Spanish conquistadores and their accompanying friars slowly but surely converted the inhabitants of the archipelago to the Catholic faith, through the proverbial sword and cross.

Ferdinand Magellan, who led the first known batch of Europeans on Philippine soil, was a Portuguese, but he was to all intents and purposes a conquistador nonetheless. His voyage may have been a maritime quest for precious spices, but it was also a voyage of conquest supported by the Church. Let it not be forgotten that back then, Spain and Portugal divided the known world between them, with the Pope blessing the agreement. No contract can be as majestic as that.

So far, Church officials are already preparing to celebrate the event with a planned kickoff from the Iberian peninsula to a retracing of Magellan’s voyage to the Philippines.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is not against the celebration of the event, but he is not interested in playing a role in it. For him, 16 March 1521 was when abusive Spanish friars arrived in the archipelago to dehumanize the Filipinos.

That image of the abusive Spanish colonial era friar is best illustrated by the villainous Father Damaso in Dr. Jose P. Rizal’s masterpiece “Noli Me Tangere.” The national hero paid dearly for that affront to the political establishment of the period.

Actually, President Duterte has good reason not to be interested in the commemoration.

The 500th anniversary of a historic event in the country warrants some kind of commemoration, but 16 March 1521 should not be remembered solely for the advent of Christianity in the Philippines, but likewise for its collateral consequences.

Aside from the arrival of abusive Spanish friars on Philippine soil, 16 March 1521 should also be remembered for the introduction of both a government in the islands anchored on the union of Church and State, and a foreign language designed not so much for easing communication between the conqueror and the conquered, but to emphasize the social divide between educated Filipinos with close connections to government authorities and those who were not as fortunate.

16 March 1521 also brought to the islands a lamentable social hierarchy where the poor had absolutely no chance at improving their lot. That’s because at that time, education, that great emancipator from poverty, was reserved exclusively for the wealthy and the powerful.

The union of Church and State in Spanish colonial era Philippines created a dichotomy where the State subjugated the Filipino through the use of force and the threat of death or imprisonment, and where the Church bound the natives to a life of submissiveness through constant threats of perpetual damnation in hell in the pontificated afterlife.

While the union of Church and State is officially no more today, thanks to the constitutional ban against it, the contemporary Philippine scene is still embellished with Catholic clergy meddling in politics and, in some instances, subverting the duly-constituted government.

Although two-faced friars preach tolerance and forgiveness, their actions speak louder than their words. There are news reports of friars accused of being sexual predators, a clergyman praying for the President to fall ill, and a priest profiteering from church weddings.

The friars held sway in the corridors of power during the inept presidencies of Corazon Aquino and Benigno Aquino III. Under the present political dispensation, the friars are condemned to the anonymity of the sidelines. That is why the friars are angry with President Duterte.

It is saddening that the Padre Damasos of today still long for their return to political power. Their consuming desire for it is manifested in friars who use the pulpit to preach disobedience to the government, and in priests and nuns who are deeply involved in left-leaning communist groups masquerading as well-meaning non-government organizations.

Suffice it to say that recent news reports indicate that some of the funds donated to Catholic charities have ended in the hands of red groups.

Let the commemoration of 16 March 1521 take place as it ought to, but it should also be a remembrance of the social and political ills that came with it.