Yearning for a Messiah

MY Jerusalem tour guide informed me a decade ago when I toured Israel that his Holy City has eight gates but that only seven are in use. The gate that has been closed for more than a 1, 000 years has been invariably known as the Mercy Gate, the Golden Gate and the Eastern Gate. It is also widely known as the Messiah Gate.

The Christian Bible tells us in the New Testament that it was through this Mercy Gate that Jesus last entered Jerusalem just before he was arrested and crucified on the week of Passover.

In the Old Testament, in the prophet Ezekiel 44:1-2, there is also reference to this Closed Gate in the passage: "Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the Lord said to me, "This gate shall be shut; because the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it, it shall remain closed."

The Muslims, according to their Koran, believe that it is through this Mercy Gate that the Just will pass on Judgment Day.

The Jews believe, according to their Talmud, that the Messiah will enter Jerusalem through this Mercy Gate. As Judaism does not believe that Jesus is the Messiah, for more than 3,000 years, Jews have been awaiting the arrival of what they believe is the true Messiah who will deliver them to Paradise.

Filipinos and Jews share a common belief in a Messiah. But while the Jews crave for a spiritual Messiah, Filipinos have been yearning for a political one.

University of the Philippines (UP) Professor Randy David made this similar observation in a recent column: "Over the years we have seen how our leaders have proved inadequate to the enormity of the problems we face. The graver our problems become, the more we turn to leaders we believe to be possessed of magical and extraordinary qualities. The more fragmented we become as a nation, the more frantic our search for strong leaders who can show us the way to salvation."

Ferdinand Marcos capitalized on this yearning when he ran for president in 1965 on the slogan "This nation can be great again." The movie about his life that was released just before the elections was called "Iginuhit ng Tadhana" (Destined by Fate) and it showed how thunder and lightning accompanied his providential birth marking him for greatness.

Marcos made history all right when he was recently adjudged by a distinguished panel of judges as the second most corrupt dictator in world history.

In the Philippine presidential elections that will be held on May 10 next month, various candidates have presented themselves as the country's long-awaited Messiah.

Foremost among them is actor Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) who has spent his entire 50 year movie career playing fictional Messianic characters who save the oppressed and the dispossessed from the clutches of the contrabidas or bad guys. In the classic "Ang Panday" movie, FPJ played a simple blacksmith with magical powers which he employs to vanquish those who harm the people.

FPJ is hoping that the line between fiction and reality will be blurred enough so that his movie fans will believe that he can do to politics what he has done in his movies. In one recent speech, FPJ claimed that he has played every role in the movies except that of a president which he hopes the Filipino people will give him the chance to play.

Panfilo "Ping" Lacson financed a movie about his life called "SuperCop" where he is shown busting kidnap syndicates and saving the lives of Chinese Filipino heiresses. He presents himself as the political Messiah who will use his iron fist to go after criminals and restore peace and order to the Philippines.

Raul Roco, the most educated and erudite of the challengers, presents himself as the Messiah with a vision to save the Philippines from its impending economic and political disaster. His partyis called "Alyansa ng Pag-asa" (Alliance of Hope).

Brother Eddie Villanueva of the Jesus is Lord (JIL) Movement campaigns on the claim that he is the only moral candidate for president, and that he has a program to eradicate corruption and restore morality in government.

Filipinos may not find anything strange about the Messianic complex of their wannabe presidents, but other nations do not share a similar craving for a Messiah in their political leaders.

In the United States, only in the fringes of the Christian Right, can you find Americans who see President George W. Bush as a political Messiah. And certainly even liberal Democrats do not believe that John F. Kerry is the Messiah who will deliver the US from the evil of Bush. The British don't view Prime Minister Tony Blair as a Messiah. The Chinese, the Japanese or the other Europeans do not look for Messiahs in their leaders. They elect their officials on the basis of their platforms of government and on their proven track records.

But FPJ believes that Filipinos don't care about platforms of government so he has not bothered to present one to the people. In his speeches, he says in Tagalog that it is not what a leader has in his head but what he has in his heart that counts. And you can't measure the IQ of the heart.

When pressed for an economic program, FPJ has said that he plans to provide the Filipino people with three things -- "breakfast, lunch and dinner".

What is interesting in the forthcoming Philippine elections is that incumbent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) does not present herself as a Messiah. Not perhaps because Messiahs are often seen as male figures, but because she has already shown what she can do as president. She has been president for more than 3 years so generally, what you have seen is what you will get. Like it or not.

In that sense, GMA's campaign reflects a more mature or ceryainly more standard Western approach to electing officials, like electing someone to be the CEO of a corporation with the people as the stockholders.

The one major advantage to electing GMA as president is that there will at least be a continuity of programs. One of the major development obstacles of the country is that historically every presidential victor begins office by undoing every single program enacted or instituted by the previous president. Regardless of the merits of the program, there is a ritual and virtual cleaning of the house that occurs involving a wholesale change of all the people who have previously run the various government programs.

If GMA is elected, then the people will have to accept their own responsibility in making change happen. And not rely on a political Messiah.

But right now, the only Messiah on the minds of the Filipino community in the US is an American Idol wannabe star named Jasmine Trias. In this 17-year-old Filipino American from Hawaii is the hope of Filipinos for respect and recognition in America.

If Jasmine were running for president, she would easily win 90 percent of the Fil-Am vote. (Check out her website at http://jasmine.filipinopeople.com.) Vote for Jasmine!

Send comments to rodel50@aol.com.