Tulfo’s preferential option

An aggrieved person may be right or wrong, but the Church, like what Tulfo is actually pursuing, should always take the side of the aggrieved party.

Admittedly, I am a fan of Raffy Tulfo’s, since his live broadcasts on radio, then to live radio-TV streaming, and now as a YouTube celebrity.

I love his down-to-earth, no-holds-barred style in radio annotating. The manner he slaps invectives against abusive cops, company bosses, nasty household employers and suspicious recruiters would make one chill in his seat uncomfortably.

Police enforcers or MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) personnel would immediately surrender the illegally confiscated licenses of drivers, employers promising to give their househelp the full salary backlog within the day, a barangay captain publicly apologizing live on air to an offended resident, or even simply prodding a person to fix the fence of a neighbor hit by the former’s motorbike — just to mention some of the issues he adroitly handles, and often right after a live phone interview castigating the offender.

Recently, upgrading the cases he handles to include love relationships and lovers’ quarrels catapulted him into being a social media sensation with millions of viewers.

With Tulfo’s curt and cryptic inquiries, leading questions and counsel, he could immediately effect a reconciliation with concrete guarantees, such as an estranged husband bringing the wife and kids out for a date, or, in fact, a de facto separation with property settlement between spouses when all the parties mediated by Mr. Tulfo seemed to have reached the end game.

Sibling quarrels and misunderstandings between parents and their offspring are quickly resolved on sight. And he makes sure everybody leaves the studio satisfied.

I myself am a marriage counselor, and would solve couple’s issues in about four to five sessions at a minimum. Tulfo can settle the conflicts in 20 minutes, in concrete terms and conditions, with a follow through from his staff. He would even dig from out of his pocket amounts to defray some costs, such as transportation, documentation and food of his studio guests.

And this is the secret of the success of his show — it delivers and delivers fast.

In his recent bout with teachers and bashers, for instance, on the abusive manner of discipline by one teacher on her student, bashers point to a proper decorum and authorities to redress the issue, for instance, the school principal or the Department of Education (DepEd) and not in Tulfo’s forum.

Precisely, the aggrieved student and parents know that to go through the said process of adjudication would take eons to near oblivion and, worse, when it is thrown to the floors of a court!

And the longer the process and the wait, the pain becomes softly hurting and later rendered calloused as the trauma buries deep into the aggrieved’s subconscious, especially when justice had been chronically elusive.

Now, we understand why the public are taking their chances with Mr. Tulfo.

Actually, Mr. Tulfo’s style in delivering public service points to a principle the Catholic Church has been espousing in its social justice advocacy, namely, a preferential option for the poor and the aggrieved.

The principle is simple: An aggrieved person may be right or wrong, but the Church, like what Tulfo is actually pursuing, should always take the side of the aggrieved party.

The other party, especially those who are moneyed and powerful, may be right, but they have the resources to prove it. The aggrieved or the poor, however, who happens to be powerless or marginalized does not have resources to prove themselves right. Hence, the Church takes their side.

Call it a bias, but it is a good presumptive bias.

Some sectors are pointing their fingers on the Southeast Asian Games organizers for not involving the private sector, hence, the glitches are all over, giving the country global embarrassment.

Well, the government overrated its capability to handle the gargantuan event solo, leaving off outside help.

Similarly, the volume of complaints from the public is extensive and innumerable for the government’s little hands to cuff. Somehow, we need the likes of Mr. Raffy Tulfo, who can address them fast, if not better.