,ang ating pasco ,Ngayong 2025) ay hindi General Na Pasco. Ito Ai Kaiba Sa 2024. pano na tayo magpa-pasco(Our Christmas [this 2025] This is no ordinary Christmas. This is different from 2024. How will we celebrate Christmas now?)
Those were the words of Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates “Soc” Villegas, DD, at the Advent Recollection, “The Crib and the Cross,” which he held at the St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in Lingayen from December 12 to 14.
How shall we celebrate Christmas now, when our Christmas has taken on a new form, the good Bishop asked most painfully. Amidst all this corruption we have Christmas, with no arrests yet – it looks like it will take some more time for the criminals to be jailed, the stolen property to be returned and the country to be compensated. This is the first blow to our Christmas spirit – the extremely powerful, shameless corruption that permeates and controls our country.
“The price of corruption is paid by the poor,” Pope Francis said in his homily during the 2014 Holy Mass. Bishop Sok reiterated this, as he weeps for the Filipino poor who have no food, no home, no health care. The April 11-15 Stratbase-SWS national survey found that 55% of Filipino households rate themselves Mahirap or worse (up 3 points from 52% in March); 12% rate themselves as borderline (placing themselves on the line dividing poor and poor), and 32% rate themselves as hindi mahiraap Or not poor. Bishop Sok criticizes government's insensitivity while shouting amid poverty that P500 is enough noche buena (Christmas Eve feast) for a family of four. ,salita ng manhidHe said about our leaders (insensitive word). It cancels Christmas, that we don't feel for our poor.
Our Christmas has been marred by rampant criminality – no respect for the law, no accountability, and impunity in flagrant crimes against humanity and against property and rights. In Japan, Korea, America and other countries the law pursues criminals. Here, it's easy to escape – just pretend you're sick, sit in a wheelchair, Bishop Sok said. And people will allow this free rein.
Liars go to hell, warns Bishop Sok. “A false witness will not be innocent, and he who tells lies will perish.” (Proverbs 19:9) Fake news, sharing misinformation, and destroying reputations are serious sins, and cannot be taken back, just as murder cannot be taken back. How can Christmas be holy and joyful amidst the lies and fraud that destroy trust and faith in society and people?
All this – corruption, poverty, criminality, impunity, lying and fraud – is not just a government problem, Bishop Sok lamented. The culture of insensitivity towards the poor is not just about economics or labor and wages. We cannot fight corruption and criminality with prisons (if the justice system even works). He called for the collective conscience to be set right.
Madali tayong magalit. at matagal na tayong galit (We get angry easily. And we have been angry for a long time), Bishop Sok pointed out. But what happened to all our anger? He said, I think we get tired of being angry, lose the energy to be angry and move towards being tired and sad, and then we get even more deeply angry than when we started. Anger; tired; depressed; Disappointed. He lamented that this was no way to spend Christmas.
But the first Christmas also occurred during “hard times.” The baby Jesus was born in a simple manger at the foot of Bethlehem. Bishop Sok reminded us that Jesus' foster father Joseph and mother Mary found that “there was no room in the inn” where they could rest. The birth of a child in an ordinary stable is a joyous joy of hope. The symbol of suffering and death is the cross which foreshadows the resurrection brought about by the birth of the Savior. The cradle and the cross are the circle of hope.
There is hope that we will make it through this difficult Christmas, Bishop Sok assured us all. We should just do our work. He suggests five “P's” for Pasco,
1. Prayer: We pray to God to deliver us from these temporary difficulties, knowing that “good triumphs over evil” and “in the end, truth and justice will prevail.”
Yes, Bishop Sok, we will pray in the peace of our hearts as you suggest – even more so than in the publicized celebration of the Christmas Simbang Gabi and the Misa de Gallo Holy Mass – with 15 minutes of silent meditation before eating. noche buena Feast at midnight on 25 December.
2. Protest: We cannot just complain about the ,princely kings of those times, (corrupt government officials) and remain silent – we must actively protest to make things right in our country. ,Talgang Gyan Na 'Yan'' (it's like that) or “Sapgakat tayo ay tao lamang“(We are only human) cannot be our cowardly excuse for not standing up to protect and uphold integrity, honesty, justice and fairness among us,” Bishop Sok stressed.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Yes, Bishop Sok, we must speak out and be heard. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as angry as those who are affected.”
3. Pressure: Just as we are instruments of social and moral change, we must push ourselves to bring about change within ourselves. Christmas puts pressure on us to make better choices.
Oh Lord, trouble me so that I may look within myself and examine my sins and omissions, and determine to change myself to align with the social values and principles for which I fight in our country. Christmas should unsettle us, and redirect us toward the good, the true, and the beautiful, Bishop Sok reminded us. “The ugliness of sin cannot be enjoyed.” Ostentatious display of wealth has no place in our pure and simple lifestyle.
4. Prune: Bishop Sok suggested making it your New Year's resolution to change yourself as you change others. Stop whatever bad you are doing! Give up vices, bad habits, lying and cheating. practice what you preach. “Let us love, not in word or conversation, but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:18). If you are fighting for integrity and honor in government, be honest and sincere yourself.
5. Plantation: Hope is what we sow at Christmas, seeking the harvest of peace and salvation of body and soul promised at Easter. Respect life, the Bishop Society taught. Love and preserve the natural environment which is the basis and primary resource of all of God's creation. Let us plant more trees, as we plant hope in our hearts.
Seeing corruption, increasing poverty, lies, criminality and betrayal in our society reduces trust and hope for change. “(But) we have all contributed to this epidemic of criminality and sin. Let's begin with self-criticism and open ourselves to a new kind of patriotism based not on ideology or partisan politics, but on faith. The path to heroism begins with repentance,” Bishop Sok declared earlier in March, when interviewed about the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity. Which included extra-judicial killings of approximately 30,000 people. “Drug War.”
The year 2025 was indeed 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.
General elections were held across the country on 12 May. This changed the political power structure. Administration candidates won a majority of Senate seats. Lakas-CMD remained the majority political party in Congress and local government. Fifty-three party-list groups were announced by the Election Commission.
In July, reports revealed a P142.7 billion ($2.9 billion) entry into the 2025 national budget, reportedly made during a conference led by former Senate President Francis Escudero. Senator Panfilo Lacson claimed that 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 the project funds translating into actual construction. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee subsequently launched a motu proprio investigation, titled “Philippines Under Water”, into alleged irregularities in flood control projects.
Also on July 25, the Supreme Court announced it would stay the impeachment proceedings (filed in late 2024) against Vice President Sara Duterte on due process grounds and allow it to be refiled in February 2026. On August 6, the Senate voted 19–4 with one abstention to archive articles of impeachment against VP Duterte.
On September 21, protests called the Trillion Peso March were held throughout the Philippines, the largest in Metro Manila. While most of the gatherings were peaceful, two people were killed, about 205 were injured, and at least 216 were arrested after rioting broke out. Other smaller rallies have since been held to protest corruption and demand accountability in the government.
Investigation of public works and highway flood control projects was transferred from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), created by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on September 11. The ICI held its final hearing for the year on 15 December.
All the corruption scandals and political moves have confused people and sparked division and polarized protests. “It is not God's will that the country be divided. Satan wants us to be divided and divided. Satan's mission is to crush unity and fragment our wholeness. We have lost the ability to love while arguing. We have also given up logic and intellect while arguing. We have shirked our responsibility for the truth because we disagree with each other. This is tragic for us. It leads to hell on earth, not salvation,” Bishop Sok said in his March pastoral letter. Said.
There is hope in Christmas.
Amelia HC Ylagan is a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.
ahcylagan@yahoo.com