Two significant personalities, I should say, are setting examples for us today that whatever happens, life must go on.
As adults, we often have to reconcile ourselves to many unanswered questions. Until we discover that all our searching will never exhaust the many mysteries of life. We continue to take delight in making fresh discoveries, but we also realize that coming to terms with “not knowing” is an important part of life’s journey.
When we are burdened, worried and afraid we can feel that our own faith is insignificant, as small as a mustard seed. Jesus assures us that the Holy Spirit is working in and through such faith, no matter how small it is.
Our hope can appear to diminish to the size of a mustard seed. The parable says that such hope is enough for the Lord to work with.
Former policeman and judge Jaime Santiago took his oath before Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Friday morning after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed him the new director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) effective Friday, 14 June.
Santiago served as a Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge. Before joining the judiciary, he was a cop at the Manila Police District (MPD). He was known for being a sharpshooter.
He replaced Medardo de Lemos, who was picked by Marcos to lead the NBI in 2022. De Lemos, a long-time career official, retired from the service.
Aside from serving in the Manila RTC, Santiago had a stint as presiding judge at the Tagaytay City RTC. He also served as a judge of the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court, according to his profile from the Philippine Judicial Academy.
For three years, from October 2003 to December 2006, he was an assistant city prosecutor under the Department of Justice. He was also formerly deputy executive vice president of the Philippine Judges Association and former president of the Metropolitan and City Judges Association of the Philippines.
As a cop, Santiago served as the deputy chief of the MPD’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.
In the force, he received several awards such as Senior Police Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year when he was at the then Western Police District (WPD), as one of the Ten Outstanding Policemen of the Philippines, and an Act of Heroism Award given by the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).
His life story made it to the big screen in the movie “SPO4 Santiago Sharpshooter.”
A year after obtaining his civil law degree from Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU) in 1993, Santiago passed the bar exam with a grade of 81.65.
The new NBI director was also a criminal law professor at the Philippine College of Criminology and Emilio Aguinaldo College.
Meanwhile, one of the gwapings of PMA “Matatag” Class of 1971, Col. Gregorio Honasan, was joined by former military officers belonging to the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) and Magdalo group to form a new political party, the Reform PH Party.
Officially launched Monday afternoon at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City, the party is led by former senator Honasan, its chairman, and former Philippine Navy captain James Layug.
Honasan and Layug were leaders of RAM and Magdalo, respectively. As expected, the Reform PH Party leans heavily on the ideals of its two root factions.
Their slogans are “We Belong” and “Unity through Reforms” from RAM, and “Our Dreams Shall Never Die.”
We pray the Lord will continue to bless these two — Jaime Santiago in his new role as leader of the bureau of investigation and the honorable Gregorio Honasan — as they quest to be of service to God, country and people. I know their faith in God and in Jesus will guide them all the way.