Filipinos march for life. Inquirer file photo.

an’s first loyalty should be to God and not to political or economic interests and much less to evil, powerful people who engage in all kinds of demonic activities.

How was it that so many church-going German Catholics and other Christians gave their support and loyalty to Hitler, a murderous tyrant, cheering and hailing him even if they knew or pretended not to know that he instigated the genocidal mass murder of Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals, an act which is clearly against God’s laws?

Good and evil inclinations lurk in the hearts of human beings. The Germans who cheered and supported Hitler sided with the evil inside of them and allowed their cowardice and herd mentality to overcome their individual Christian responsibilities of speaking out against and resisting evil. Calling oneself a Christian means nothing unless one lives and even dies if necessary, like a true Christian. A man (or woman) who cooperates with evil with his silence or actively serves and supports evil clearly displeases God. Many Filipinos today who call themselves Catholics or Christians serve and/or support evil forces.

When a leader obsessed with death and violence rules the land by terrorizing the citizens and mocks God with his lies and insolent mouth–and when he wants to kill or imprison or dispose of all of his political enemies–we ought to recognize that terrible demonic dark forces are at work. Such a leader brings out the worst in people. He will drag souls to hell with him.

Millions of Germans were used by Hitler to carry out his evil ways. As Nazi enforcers they arrested, tortured, imprisoned and murdered innocent men, women and children to ingratiate themselves with their evil leader in exchange for some privileges and security. They chose Satan over God. Where are these evil men and women now? Most of them are dead just like the millions they murdered. Are their souls in the same place? The past is a great ocean of truth.

October 1, 2016 PDI front page. Inquirer file photo.

An evil ruler wants to convince the people that the evil things he does are for the good of the country and insists that he is telling the truth when he gives justification for his murderous policies. He knows that men and women desire to know the truth. But, in reality, he is not really interested in the truth. His interest is “to be considered as being in the right.” As such, he presents partial or fake truth that strongly argues that he is right. By so doing, he wants to show that his critics are wrong. He needs his critics to be wrong because if he is able to persuade his audience with his lies that he is right–then his untruth becomes truth. His cruelty and violence become virtues. His mass murders are then considered justice.

The Germans under Hitler lived under a tyranny of lies which affirmed itself in establishing power and gaining increasing control over men and women’s minds and hearts. They believed that they were doing good in being faithfully obedient to the Fuhrer’s commands. People often believe not because they want to know the truth, but because they think they have something to gain even if they sense that what they believe in is false.

Millions of Filipinos know that the Philippines today is governed by a terribly evil man surrounded by opportunistic characters from the top to the bottom of society who see life as primarily one big struggle for money and power. Consider the many sycophantic bootlicking Senators, Congressmen, judges, government officials, and individuals who lie and cover up for their evil leader instead of being outraged—as decent human beings should be—at the terrible killings and lies that are going on.

A leader instigating the murder of thousands of human beings, fomenting mass fear and hate and causing family members and friends to turn against one another and claiming that he is doing this for love of country is clearly engaged in demonic activity.

The Philippines is 86 percent Catholic. But is it a Christian society? A Christian society does not mean that it is a society run by the Catholic Church or by priests and nuns or by Protestant sects. It is not even one where people go to church. A truly Christian society is one where a true love for God and His command to love our neighbors as ourselves exist in the hearts and minds of the people. Authentically loving God means a commitment to what is true and right and good. Genuinely loving one’s fellowmen means respecting him, helping him when he needs help, protecting him and forgiving him when he has done wrong.

As long as we do not have this genuine love for God and man, we cannot call ourselves a Christian society. The Philippines now has a leader with no moral leadership who formulates anti-human policies, openly instigates mass murders and then hides behind legal niceties saying that there is no evidence that he and his men are behind these killings. Everyone knows they are but the ordinary man and woman overwhelmed by fear remains silent or even shows support for this clearly evil regime for his own security. The Philippines clearly presently does not have a genuine Christian society.

We have very short lives. How we live and how we die depends on what we believe in and what we value most. These are trying times in the Philippines when God is putting individual Filipinos everywhere to the test. Either we side with God or with the devil. God created us for only one purpose: For Him to love us and for us to freely love Him. We may have different situations but these are just circumstantial incidentals.

From the first man and woman on earth to the last, human existence has to do with the choices between good and evil that we make which relate to our final destination when we leave this earth. We need to be constantly conscious of this reality. Trading one’s soul for ephemeral things such as money, power, fame, pleasures or a sense of security is the worst bargain that a man or woman can enter into. Yet how many people every day engage in killing, hurting others, stealing and lying for these things. In the end, it makes no difference how much suffering and difficulties we face on this earth, as long as we are sincere in truly loving God in every facet of our lives and obey his command to love our fellowmen we win.

The most fundamental God-given right of every human being is the right to life. The due process right of an accuse to prove his innocence in a proper court of law is also a fundamental human right developed over hundreds of years by the human family. The Philippines and its people recognize these fundamental sacred rights. The Philippine Constitution declares unequivocally: “Article XIII sets out the state’s duty to promote social justice and protect human rights. It also establishes the Commission on Human Rights.”

The Philippines now has a dark anti-human President who openly declares that he does not respect human rights and instigates extrajudicial killings as an instrument of national policy. Over 14,000 people have been killed since he sat in office. Those who support his anti-human policies are part of a very great evil whose effects on Philippine society and culture will be long-lasting. They are establishing among Filipinos the mindset that it’s okay to violate God’s and man’s laws, that it’s okay to engage in violence and murder and that fundamental human rights have no value. In openly and clearly violating the Constitution and disrespecting basic moral values the President has betrayed the citizenry. No one is above the law. By betraying the people, including handing over the country’s territories to the Chinese, he has lost his legitimacy to lead the country as its president.

Church-going Filipinos pray for the killings to stop. Inquirer file photo.

In a world starved for love, kindness and peace, the present Philippine President foments hate, cruelty, violence and death. He even wants the death penalty restored, imprison children as young as 12 and continue with the government policy of extra judicial killings. He openly encourages police and military elements to unhesitatingly engage in these extra judicial killings, plant false evidence of guns against those they kill and claim that they fought back. He assures killer police elements that they will not suffer penalties as he will pardon them. As a result, policemen or policemen disguised as vigilantes have killed thousands. He wants the world to openly know that he is behind these killings but at the same time mocks the law by saying that no evidence can be produced that he ordered these killings. But the situation speaks for itself that he is the one who is behind these murders. The legal principle known as Res Ipsa Loquitor —translated as “the thing speaks for itself” — clearly applies. If he were not the president, basic logic suggests that these killings of thousands of people would not have happened.

In the future, Filipinos would look at this era of thousands of extrajudicial murders with shame. Any individual with a modicum of moral conscience can easily grasp the great evil in torturing and murdering thousands of human beings without affording them their basic human right to prove their innocence. How so many Filipinos supported this great evil in these times will be remembered with great shame for generations to come. They will ask: How did this terrible distortion of moral values happen to our people in those times? It appears that Philippine society has strayed away from the straight path. Every decent human being who respects the sanctity of life should speak out, condemn and protest against these serial killings that are going on. We must do our part in creating a better society for future generations of Filipinos. We should not accommodate ourselves to the evils of the Philippines’ present society and government. Put your trust in God, not in the lies of a demonic leader. Christian principles are definitely counter to the mass murders, the violations of human rights and lies that are going on.

When Hitler was dead and gone, the thousands of Nazis who carried out the mass murders of millions claimed innocence, saying that they were just carrying out orders. The Nuremberg court did not buy that argument. Many were condemned. But many more escaped. There were so many of them that the courts were overwhelmed by their numbers. But they had sold their souls to Satan and had to live the rest of their lives and maybe even after with that reality. The killers and toadies of a ruthless tyrant president will also have to live with the reality of their cooperation with great evil long after this president is no longer in power. The evil of mass murders going on in the Philippines is obvious and recognizable to even the most ordinary person with a normal sense of what is morally abhorrent. The whole world recognizes and condemns these extrajudicial state-sponsored killings. But today troll supporters, real or paid or computer generated who threaten the Philippine President’s critics with insults, bodily harm and even death shout that only they understand the problems of the Philippines and the world has no business in interfering with Philippine policy. Wrong. Filipinos are part of the human family and when a ruthless tyrant is slaughtering thousands and violating human rights it is right for the whole global human family to cry out against these anti-human crimes and stop them.

Extreme overcrowding in Philippine prisons. Inquirer file photo.

The living conditions in a country’s prisons reflect governmental attitudes towards prisoners who do not cease to be human beings even if they are prisoners. Overcrowded, sweltering hot, stuffy, smelly Philippine prisons are the closest thing to hell on this earth. Cells designed to hold a limited number of prisoners are stuffed with 5 or more times that number. They are fed food unfit for human consumption. Toilet facilities are not able to accommodate the great number of inmates. They have to defecate and urinate on the small space on the floor where they sleep. Medical care is hardly available for those who are sick. Many inmates become insane or die or kill themselves because of the horrible conditions. Philippine prisons are the most overcrowded inhumane prisons in the world. The Philippine leadership shows no concern for the plight of the poor inmates and even mocks them, which clearly reflect an anti-human attitude. This is a very important human concern that needs to be addressed.

The spiritual and everyday lives of Filipinos everywhere are now faced with the possibilities and challenges of the present times. A great darkness weighs heavily on the land. We must face this darkness with faith, courage, hope and prayers. For sure, the reign of all evil rulers ends sooner or later. The questions we need to ask ourselves now while we are living in these evil times: Am I cooperating with the evil that is by allowing my fear to silence my conscience? Am I in some way sustaining the present evil by not resisting it and worst, supporting it because I am gaining some material or political advantage? Woe unto those who keep themselves blind to the reality of evil powers and principalities.

Atty. Ted Laguatan is a San Francisco area based human rights lawyer and is also one of only 29 lawyers officially certified continuously for more than 30 years by the California State Bar as an Expert-Specialist in Immigration Law. His law firm also does major accident injuries and wrongful death cases. Tel: (650) 634-8668, email: laguatanlaw@gmail.com