“…Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will…” –Romans 12:2
Ranking government officials are once again rambling on about ways to solve the scandal currently rocking the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, the release of prisoners based on RA 10592, an amendment to the Revised Penal Code referred to as the “Good Conduct Time Allowance Law (GCTA).” Clearly, they never learn and are not inspired by God.
Why am I saying this? Department of Justice officials are merely pushing to replace bureaucrats at the jail facility—their supposed antidote to the brewing corruption known as “GCTA for sale.” However, this has been tried before and corruption continues to fester within the national penitentiary.
At the height of an earlier scandal that tagged high-ranking prison officials drug syndicates operating within the detention facility, the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte sacked all Bilibid officials and replaced them with elements of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force but did that change anything?
This column has repeatedly said, when the drug syndicates scandal broke, replacing prison officials will not change anything; no matter how many times officials and personnel are replaced, nothing will change if the new recruits have no fear and love of God and the Savior whose Name is Jesus.
I am tempted to tell the Duterte government, “I already told you so, but you did not believe me.” However, they doesn’t matter anymore. What is truly sad for the country and its people is the undeniable truth that many ranking officials in government have no knowledge of God or His commands and have been total failures in achieving something beneficial for the country—not even the change Duterte promised in 2016.
In a column penned last July, I wrote: “I am tempted to say, `I told you so’, but then, let me repeat the truth: what I have been saying about evil and criminality in our midst are not really mine. They come from the Christian Bible. This book says many people will become truly sinful and bad and evil during our time. The reason given for this phenomenon is that, man (and, yes, Filipinos in particular) will leave the faith, and will no longer listen to sound teaching or instruction, and will instead take fancy of deceiving thoughts and doctrines from the devil. They will care about nothing except themselves. They will be wild, slanderous, and will have no fear and love of God. In fact, many will even deny God and His human incarnation, Jesus. Consequently, it would be very easy for almost everyone to commit heinous acts—from raping and killing even mere babies and octogenarian women, to stealing billions in government funds in more ways than one, to dispensing uneven justice, acquitting the guilty and persecuting and jailing the innocent.”
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