Sula: The Prince of Politeness
March 23, 2011
YOU’LL NEVER catch Apung Ceto with his pants down, in any sense. Unlike some of his flock who are not as gifted, good or gentle as he is.
So when he tells Pnoy that he isn’t against him, and that he even voted for him, the good archbishop is actually telling him nicely, gently at least two things.
One, that he, Pnoy, owes him at least one. Two, that he, Pnoy, has a judgment issue to deal with. It’s a soft voice with a big stick behind it.
As in, wise up or there’s trouble coming your way earlier than 2013.
The archbishop’s position on the RH bill is like that of the watchman on a lighthouse vis-à-vis that of a ship lost in the pit of darkness.
PNoy, the captain of the ship, orders the source of the lighthouse to get out of the way. Apung Ceto, the watchman, gently refuses the order. Pnoy barks the order anew with a stern warning: this is the captain of the ship, obey or you pay the price. Apung Ceto answers back with no change in tone: This is the watchman of the lighthouse, obey or you pay with more than your ship.
BTW, he adds, I also made you captain.
I bet if an adulterous woman were brought to him for chastisement, he would do as the Lord did: Ask the accusers who had no sin to throw the first stone. Or if a rich man would seek his counsel over an erring mediaman, he would say something like, “You have more than enough gold, try catching up with your goodwill.” And then he would paint a cross with ashes on the rich man’s forehead to remind him that he, too, is from dust as anyone else.
Apung Ceto would never call anybody an ass, even if it is a biblical animal.
I never realized that Apung Ceto suffered silently during the time of a former governor. Full disclosure: Gov. Bren Z. Guiao, the father of you-know-who.
One time, Apung Ceto was asked by a TV producer what he thought of BZG. The wiry archbishop let off a provocative smile and burst into a child-like giggle. He was so fragile-looking, I was afraid he would run out of breath. When he regained his bearing, he said he had learned to pray more because of BZG.
Asked to explain, Apung Ceto related how he woke up each morning with his quoted words in the news, all in favor of the governor. Only, that he never said them nor was interviewed for the story.
Indeed, politicians, whether BZG or Pnoy, do not know how much they owe him, not only in votes, but in fervent prayers.
I cornered him once during the wake of my mother-in-law. While seated beside him, I asked him what he thought of GMA as president in the face of the growing controversies and charges left and right.
The response, as kind and as honest as you could feel, was quick and unabashedly proud: GMA is a good president and a good person. It’s some people around her that gave her trouble, he said, mentioning a couple of names like a whisper; sign language would have been better.
“Pero emu panyabian (But don’t tell anyone),” he pleaded. I failed to assure him I was not good with the sign language.
I sometimes muse that Apung Ceto was originally destined to be a good politician. But, somewhere along the way God changed His mind and made him a bishop, instead. It’s probably one of the few things God has no regrets with in dispensing unmerited favors to man.
I’ve encountered Apung Ceto in many events, both happy and sad, in the humble dwellings of the poor and in the living rooms of the rich, in the midst of the lowly, the high and the mighty, the lords of realms and numbers and their vassals of various ranks. If he’s seen more frequently in the presence of the latter, it is, in all certitude, not about the size of the offering but the compelling need for ministration. This, too, is biblical — the hole of the needle and the camel.
So, Pnoy would do well to take note of Apung Ceto’s pronouncement. Or to not mess with him, at least in Pampanga. I am sure all the province’s lawmakers will vote his way on the RH bill. Even a nearby city mayor I know would vote the same exact way if he could.
Apung Ceto must be telling Pnoy obliquely that he may be a bachelor like him but, unlike him, he cannot play the game because of the vow of celibacy. He, as spiritual leader on the upper echelons of the Church, has the authority and obligation to help set the rules. At 50, Pnoy may still be able to shoot from the three-point area, Apung Ceto reminds him he cannot play ball outside the house rules.
I think the Catholic house term for that is ex-cathedra. It’s another polite term for the lighthouse.
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