Shortly after she was seen lying face down and arms spread like a cross before the altar praying for his son Manny Pacquaio, who was then about to be knocked out and fall in almost the same position on canvas, Aling Dionisia went into television fuming mad, cursing and blaming the pastors for his son’s defeat.
She waved the rosary crying and saying Manny had stopped using it and, upon the advice of the pastors, also removed all the images of the saints in his homes. Many Filipino Catholics sympathized with Aling Dionisia and also blamed Manny’s change of religion for his recent misfortunes.
They noticed that since his fight with Bradley, Manny had stopped making the sign of the cross when he knelt down in a corner of the ring to pray. In the last fight, it was Marquez who was seen genuflecting before the fight. It was also said that Manny refused to attend the Mass in Las Vegas that traditionally was offered for him before the fight.
Twitter and Facebook soon got flooded with this ridiculous religion theory and non-Catholics were quick to respond to the offensive remarks. Before the nation would explode into a dangerous religious debate, the Catholic Bishops Conference in the Philippines declared that religion has nothing to do with Manny’s defeat and advised Catholics from making offensive statements about other faiths.
Just a few days before this happened, I got into a religious debate myself inside—of all places—a jeepney. When I got in from Talamban, I noticed that a man and his wife were already telling other passengers that they should repent and follow Christ (which really meant follow them to church service and start evangelizing in jeepneys).
The woman, who looked like a puritan in her long sleeves and skirts, told other women that they should stop pretending to look like men by wearing shorts and pants. It’s in the Bible, she said. The man showed his tattoos and scars and said that he used to be engaged in all kinds of vices before but the Bible changed him. “You too should stop your vices and read the Bible”, he said.
He went on moralizing and all of us remained quiet like kids listening to their parent rant endlessly about their bad habits. But you can tell from the faces that most were actually annoyed. We all tried to endure the condescending and judgmental remarks on our sinfulness and lack of biblical knowledge.
He started attacking the priests as rapists and corrupt and everyone still stayed quiet. He said most of these priests are homosexual perverts out to take advantage of their altar boys. Homosexuality is a sin, he said, and in the church where he comes from, all the homosexuals had been “cured” by miracle, which is just one among many.
Finally, he said that all these recent celebrations about Calungsod are just another proof that Catholics are being deceived. “Gipang-ilad ra mo! (You are being fooled!) he said. “Basketball player ra na siya.” (He is just a basketball player)
At this, the man beside the preacher told him to shut up as he had been talking the whole time it’s hurting his ears. “Alingugngog nimo, uy! Ikaw maoy giilad! (You’re so noisy. You are the one being fooled!),” he said.
This started a chorus of reactions from other passengers who all attacked the preacher for his being too self-righteous and lack of respect for other faiths. I couldn’t help join in the fray and told the man that his right to preach does not include the right to insult others.
Then he brought out his Bible and asked those near him to read that passage in Genesis telling the Jews not to worship idols and graven images. He pushed the Bible to me to ask me to read the text. I told him that he should also read that passage where God instructed Solomon to decorate his own temple with lions, cherubims, and other graven images.
“Mga kerubin ra man to. Wa man to gisimba. (They were only cherubims. They were not worshiped),” he said. I told him that the Catholics too were not taught to worship the images of saints and even if they do, he has no right to insult them in public. Other passengers also raised their arguments and the whole jeepney echoed the noise of the Athenian mob at the birth of democracy.
New passengers were startled to find themselves caught in the middle of a noisy religious debate. A man would invite them saying, “Dayon, apil mo sa debate,” (Come join us in the debate)” That helped defused the situation which was a perfect YouTube material, except that my phone ran out of batteries. I went down in Colon, but not before telling the preacher that he is lucky he did not sit with another religious fanatic who could violently react to his insults.
After watching Aling Dionisia on TV, I wonder how it would be if she sat in the jeepney across that preacher telling her to stop praying with the rosary she’s holding. I bet the mother of the People’s Champ would simply react by giving him a straight jab in the face.