Pasko 2025 sa Inang Bayan

“Ang ating Pasko (ngayong 2025) ay hindi normal na Pasko. Ito ay kaiba sa 2024. Paano na tayo magpa-Pasko?” (Our Christmas [this 2025] is not a normal Christmas. It is different from that of 2024. How now are we going to celebrate Christmas?)

Those were the words of Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates “Soc” Villegas, D.D. at the Advent Recollection, “The Crib and the Cross,” which he conducted at the St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in Lingayen from Dec. 12 to 14.

How now are we going to celebrate Christmas, when our Christmas has a new face, the good Bishop asked most painfully. We have Christmas amidst all this corruption, where there have been no arrests yet — it seems it will take some more time before criminals are put in jail, the stolen wealth is returned, and the country receives restitution. That is the first blight on our Christmas spirit — the overpowering, shameless corruption that pervades and controls our country.

“Corruption is paid for by the poor,” Pope Francis said in his homily during a 2014 Holy Mass. Bishop Soc echoes this, as he weeps for the Filipino poor who have no food, no homes, no health support. The Stratbase-SWS National Survey of April 11-15 found 55% of Filipino families rating themselves as Mahirap or Poor (3 points up from 52% in March); 12% rating themselves as Borderline (by placing themselves on a line dividing Poor and Not Poor), and 32% rating themselves as Hindi Mahirap or Not Poor. Bishop Soc lashed out at the callousness of government shouting out amidst the poverty that P500 is enough for Noche Buena (the Christmas Eve feast) for a family of four. “Salita ng manhid” (words of the unfeeling), he said of our leaders. It cancels out Christmas, that we do not feel for our poor.

Our Christmas is made fearful by the rampant criminality — there is no respect for the law, no accountability, and there is impunity with outright crimes against humanity and against property and rights. In Japan, Korea, the US and other countries, the law chases the criminals. Here, it is easy to escape — just pretend you are sick, sit in a wheelchair, Bishop Soc said. And the people will allow this blatant impunity.

Liars go to hell, Bishop Soc warned. “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.” (Proverbs 19:9). Fake news, sharing wrong information, and destroying reputations are grievous sins, and cannot be reversed, just like killing cannot be retracted. How can Christmas be holy and joyful amidst all the lying and cheating that erodes faith and trust in society and in people?

All of these — the corruption, the poverty, the criminality, the impunity, the lying and cheating — are not simply a government problem, Bishop Soc regretted. The culture of insensitivity to the poor is not just about economics or labor and wages. We cannot fight corruption and criminality with jails (if the justice system even works). The collective conscience might be righted, he exhorted.

Madali tayong magalit. At matagal na tayong galit (We easily anger. And we have long been angry), Bishop Soc pointed out. But what happened to all our anger? I think we have grown tired of being angry, have lost the energy to be angry, and have moved on to being fatigued and depressed, then we go on to anger deeper than when we started, he said. Angry; tired; depressed; frustrated. This is no way to spend Christmas, he lamented.

But the first Christmas also happened during “difficult times.” The baby Jesus was born in a humble manger in the foothills of Bethlehem. Bishop Soc reminded us that Joseph, Jesus’ foster father, and mother Mary found that there was “no place at the inn” where they could rest. The birth of the baby in a humble stable is a joyous exultation of hope. Symbolic of suffering and death is the cross that foreshadows resurrection brought by the birth of the Savior. The crib and the cross are the cycle of Hope.

Hope will see us through, in this difficult Christmas, Bishop Soc assured us all. We just must do our part. He suggests five “Ps” for this Pasko:

1. Prayer: We ask God to deliver us from these temporary difficulties, knowing in full faith that “Good triumphs over Evil” and “In the end, Truth and Justice will prevail.”

Yes, Bishop Soc, as you suggest, we will pray in the silence of our hearts — more than in the hyped festivity of Christmas’ Simbang Gabi and Misa de Gallo Holy Masses — with a 15-minute silent meditation before devouring the Noche Buena feast at the stroke of midnight on Dec. 25.

2. Protest: We cannot just complain about the “majestic kings of the time” (corrupt government officials) and be silent — we should actively protest to make things right in our country. “Talagang ganyan na ’yan” (That’s the way it is) or “Sapagkat tayo ay tao lamang” (We are only human) cannot be our cowardly excuse for not standing up to defend and uphold integrity, honesty, justice and fairness among us, Bishop Soc stressed.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Yes, Bishop Soc, we have to speak up and be heard. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”

3. Pressure: As we are instruments for social and moral change, we must exert pressure on ourselves to likewise change inside us. Christmas puts pressure on us to make the choice to be better.

Disturb me, Lord, that I may look inward and examine my own sins and omissions, and determine to change myself to align with the societal values and principles that I fight for in our country. Christmas must disturb us, and re-direct us to the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, Bishop Soc reminded us. “The ugliness of sin cannot be exulted.” The ostentatious display of wealth has no part in our pure and simple way of life.

4. Prune: Let it be your New Year’s resolution to change yourself as you change others, Bishop Soc suggested. Stop something bad that you are doing! Cut vices, bad habits, lying and cheating. Practice what you preach. “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:18). If you are fighting for integrity and honor in government, be upright and honest yourself.

5. Planting: Hope is what we plant in Christmas, looking to the harvest of peace and salvation of body and spirit promised in Easter. Respect Life, Bishop Soc taught. Love and preserve the natural environment that is the foundation and primary resource for all of God’s creation. Let us plant more trees, as we plant Hope in our hearts.

Seeing corruption, widening poverty, lying, criminality, and treachery in our society erodes faith and hope for change. “(But) we all have contributed to this pandemic of criminality and sin. Let us begin with self-critique and open ourselves to a new kind of patriotism based on faith, not on ideology or partisan politics. The path to heroism begins with contrition,” Bishop Soc declared earlier in March, when interviewed about the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity with the extra-judicial killings of nearly 30,000 people in his “drug war.”

The year 2025 was truly a very political year that affected the Filipino people.

On March 11, Mr. Duterte was arrested at the airport for crimes against humanity due to an arrest warrant by the ICC. He is now detained at the ICC headquarters in the Netherlands awaiting trial.

On May 12, the nationwide general election was held. This changed the political power structure. Administration candidates won the majority of Senate seats. Lakas-CMD remained the majority political party in Congress and the local government. Fifty-three party-list groups were proclaimed by the Commission on Elections.

In July, reports revealed a P142.7-billion ($2.9-billion) insertion in the 2025 national budget, allegedly made during a conference led by former Senate President Francis Escudero. Senator Panfilo Lacson claimed that as much as half of the P2 trillion ($40.61 billion) allocated for flood control over 15 years may have been lost to corruption, with only 40% of project funds translating into actual construction. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee subsequently launched a motu proprio investigation dubbed “Philippines Under Water” into alleged irregularities in flood control projects.

Also on July 25, the Supreme Court announced the barring of the impeachment proceedings (filed in late 2024) against Vice-President Sara Duterte based on due process grounds, and allowing its refiling in February 2026. On Aug. 6, the Senate voted 19-4 with one abstention, to archive the articles of impeachment against VP Duterte.

On Sept. 21, protests called the Trillion Peso March were held across the Philippines, the biggest in Metro Manila. While most gatherings were peaceful, two people were killed, around 205 were injured, and at least 216 were arrested after a riot broke out. Other smaller rallies have since been held to protest corruption and demand accountability in government.

Investigations into the Department of Public Works and Highways flood control projects changed hands from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) created by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Sept. 11. The ICI conducted its final hearing for the year on Dec. 15.

All the corruption scandals and the political maneuverings have confused the people and caused divisiveness and the cancelling-out of polarized protests. “It is not God’s will for the country to be divided. The devil wants us disunited and splintered. The mission of Satan is to crush unity and fracture our wholeness. We have lost the ability to love as we argue. We have even given up reason and intelligence as we argue. We have shaken away our responsibility for the truth as we disagree with one another. This is tragic for us. It leads to hell on earth, not redemption,” Bishop Soc said in his March Pastoral Letter.

There is Hope in Christmas.

Amelia H. C. Ylagan is a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.

ahcylagan@yahoo.com