The PPCRV Volunteers

AS THE midterm election approaches, senatorial candidates of both the administration and opposition parties, as well as independent candidates, are now vigorously pre-occupied in their campaign sorties. In the meantime, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) which has been organized in different parishes will once again field its volunteers in different polling places to ensure that a clean and honest election is held in every town, city and province throughout the country. As far as I can recall, the PPCRV has been undertaking this role for so many years and this writer commends the organizers of this volunteer groups who perform their tasks religiously even in the wee hours of the night to await the results of the elections. I was once a volunteer sometime years back and I know how hard and difficult it was. The electorate is due to elect in this midterm elections not only national officials like senators but also local officials. Thus, the competition is much stiffer and at times personal. I only hope that our electorate will vote wisely by selecting candidates not on the basis of their personal relations but men of courage, dedication and integrity.

The attempt of electric cooperatives thru the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperative Association (PHILRECA) to pass on to the consumers the payment of the real property tax which the cooperative is supposed to pay is downright immoral, if not illegal. Reports are that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has issued a suspension order and scheduled a “jurisdictional hearing and public consultation” on the issue. Reports are that the distribution units/electric cooperatives have no funds with which to charge the RPT, hence, its attempt to charge it to the consumers. It is our hope that the ERC will rule in favor of the consuming public.

TRIVIA:

Soon to rise in a 70-acre land donated to the Marian World Mission at Pena Francia Hills at the Diocese of Libmanan, Camarines Sur under the guidance of Most Reverend Jose R. Rojas, Jr. D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Libmanan, is a Holy Sanctuary to be known as Christocentric Holy Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The laity initiated the religious mission on the Year of the Laity and was launched on September 8, 2013, on the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Holy Sanctuary is jointly managed by the US based Marian World Foundation, Inc (MWF) and the Philippine-based Marian Formation Centers, Inc.(MFC). The MFC is owned and managed by the Daughters of Mary, Mother of the Church, a religious institute of Pontifical Right by virtue of a Decree granted by the Holy Father Benedict XVI on May 29, 2012. (From a brochure gifted this writer by a US based friend).

QUOTATION OF THE WEEK: “MAKE GENTLE OF THIS WORLD.” REV. FR. ROBERT RIVERA, S.J. (To the 2019 Ateneo Graduates)

FOR OUR WORD OF LIFE: “O HOPE OF ISRAEL, O LORD, OUR SAVIOUR IN TIME OF NEED.” JEREMIAH 15:8