MANILA, August 26, 2013 – Cardinal Tagle joined an estimated 350,000 people at the ‘Million People March’, calling on all Filipinos to be people of honor and integrity whatever occupation and setting they may be in.
“Let us prove that the Filipino is honorable,” Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle told a crowd that had gathered around the central stage in front of Quirino grand stand at around noon today.
Let honor prevail
He addressed all Filipinos, even those abroad to remain people of clear consciences “in the family, with friends, in the market place, in banks, in schools, offices, in business, on the sidewalks, in TV, radio, in moviehouses, in precincts, camps, court houses, in the mountains, in rivers, in sea and air, while we text, go online…”
A loud applause broke out when Cardinal Tagle mentioned the need for honor in Congress and the executive branch of government.
He also extended an ecumenical invitation to regain national pride in honesty and nationalism to all faiths when he mentioned how Filipinos should be honorable in “places of worship, in mosques and churches.”
“Let the honorable self prevail!” he added.
Cardinal Tagle explained, primarily honor and integrity are seen through fear of God, respect for life, concern for others, love for the country and care for the environment.
Becoming heroes together
Aside from this, he pointed to the urgency of reaching out to the poor.
“I’m inviting everyone to see, to listen to and to love the poor and marginalized as our true neighbors and brethren,” Cardinal Tagle said in Filipino.
The call now, according to him, is for a new form of “bayanihan” or cooperative spirit, where all Filipinos commit to heroism and honor wherever they are, all at the same time.
‘When we say ‘bayanihan’, [it means] we become heroes together,” he explained.
Cardinal Tagle, who spoke before the noon noise barrage against the pork barrel today, stressed that, government systems and regulations should be pathways for this new “bayanihan”.
He said there is a need to feel the “heartbeat of the country”, while listening to “God’s voice, especially in our conscience.”
‘Heartbreaking’ pork barrel scam
It may be remembered that Cardinal Tagle became visibly emotional in a press conference two weeks ago, calling the pork barrel scam “heartbreaking”.
Cardinal Tagle has a long-standing involvement in socio-economic issues, specifically marginalized sectors like the anti-APECO protestors from Casiguran, Aurora.
Even as Bishop of Imus, Cavite, Tagle was said to have known people in squatter areas by name.
Various groups and a good number of people who do not even belong to organized groups were at the ‘Million People March’ in Luneta demanding the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the president’s own ‘discretionary’ funds.
An estimate by the Manila Police District pegged the Luneta crowd at 350,000 at its peak. [Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz]
