[OPINION] On performative Christianity and Alan Peter Cayetano

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano is not shy about attributing his ascendancy as Senate president to the sovereign hand of God. He maintains that it was not a stage-managed maneuver, but a spontaneous leadership realignment.

This brings up the issue of when we can say that God is behind what happens, whether good or bad. When disaster strikes, can we say this is just an act of God? When someone ascends to power, can we say it is really God who put him there?

The picture gets more complex when we try to ascertain what really happened in the Senate on Monday, May 11, and the night of Wednesday, May 13.

Jessica Soho in her Kapuso Mo program interviewed Senator Bato dela Rosa himself on that day. From Senator Bato’s own story, he appeared from six months of hiding to cast the decisive “13^th vote” to oust Vicente Sotto III from the Senate presidency. 

He confirmed that Cayetano personally called him while he was in hiding and instructed him to show up at the May 11 Senate session. It was also Cayetano who arranged the vehicle that brought him to the Senate. When pointedly asked if the takeover was actually a “coup,” he unwittingly said yes. 

The narrative from Cayetano’s end is that Senator Bato’s sudden appearance was a surprise. He merely took “protective custody” because NBI agents were out to arrest him, invoking a senator’s constitutional protection from arrest while the Senate is in session. 

Cayetano is a good lawyer, so he must know that this constitutional privilege applies only to offenses punishable by not more than six years imprisonment. Crimes against humanity do not fall under this category. Either morally or legally, he cannot shield Senator Bato from an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.    

And then there was the ruckus over the shooting. Cayetano went live online, dramatically saying that “the Senate is under attack.” Initial investigation of the timeline and the video footage have revealed that this claim is fictional. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla has declared, “For the record, all evidence points that there was no attack on the Senate. I would like to repeat, all evidence points that there was no attack on the Senate.” 

Now that the gun smoke is over, it is clear that it was the Senate’s Sergeant-at-Arms, Mao Aplasca (now suspended), who started the shooting, and it was live fire. 

It appears that Cayetano has been lying barefaced. Worse, he is using religious language to cover up what looks like an orchestrated mayhem to obstruct justice, not just to protect an ICC fugitive, but to derail the impeachment process against Vice President Sara Duterte. 

Note that Bato’s sudden reappearance was timed on the day the House of Representatives finalized the Articles of Impeachment and voted for it. It is very likely that Cayetano’s takeover is a prelude to influencing the impeachment proceedings against Sara Duterte.

This is not the hand of God. It is the machinations of an ambitious man wanting to steer the impeachment court for his own dark ends. It is disturbing that the trial is going to be presided over by a man with a forked tongue. Most distressing of all, he is using as cover the name of the Lord, quite like Satan quoting Scripture. 

It is now de rigueur for politicians to mouth pious platitudes, or to call on supporters to hold prayer vigils, like the imitation ‘People Power’ that Senator Bato urged on his followers outside the Senate. It is now good politics to supplicate supernatural powers so as to gain favor in a culture that still honors religion. 

But Jesus himself distances himself from those who wear their religion on their sleeve but in practice belie what they believe: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6.46)

This society is nearing collapse because there is so much religiosity, but not enough justice and righteousness. It is alarming that even now, the Senate is behaving as a sanctuary for political impunity. There is the strong possibility that this Senate under Cayetano’s leadership shall be steered towards acquittal, not because of the evidence presented, but because of the sheer power of numbers. 

Ancient Israel was vomited out of the promised land and condemned to wander through the nations in a massive diaspora mainly for two things: idolatry and injustice. What the Lord requires, said the prophets, is not more ritual sacrifices and public displays of piety, but “to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”  (Micah 6.8)

The English writer G.K. Chesterton had long ago bemoaned that what passes for Christianity in this and in many other nations is merely tradition and ethically superficial. It has yet to be truly obeyed and practiced, especially in the world of politics.

Change does not happen in the world, not because the Christian ideal has been tried and found wanting. The fact is that it has been found difficult in practice — money, ambition, and personal interest almost always trump integrity — and so has been mostly left untried, even by those who profess to believe it. – Rappler.com