Jueteng Republic

Echoes of conscience

The abortion pill

The cat who loved chicharon

Hello, Billy?

The Catholic church’s best kept secrets

M. L. Tan

I’m amazed at the number of emailed letters I got in response to my column last Tuesday about our becoming a jueteng republic. Most of the letters agreed that we’ve had enough with Erap and gambling. There were the funny ones, like one reader wondering what it would have been like becoming a 2-ball Republic. And then there were the readers who grapple, as I do, about drawing the line between "playing" and "gambling". One reader asked where in the Bible, or any Catholic document, is gambling described as sinful.

Let me deal first with what the Catholic church says about gambling. In Tuesday’s column I referred to the Catholic Catechism (the full title is Catechism of the Catholic Church) and its explanation of why gambling is wrong. It’s best that I quote the entire passage, which appears on page 539 of the English edition:

"Games of chance (card games, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice. They become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others. The passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement. Unfair wagers and cheating at games constitute grave matter, unless the damage inflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonably consider it significant."

One reader writes in asking, if we are all anak ng jueteng, then what next? The issue of gambling challenges us to go beyond knee-jerk reactions. There’s more to this problem than Erap and jueteng. All religions object to gambling but I quote from the Catholic Catechism because we like to boast about being a Catholic country, yet have a rather vague understanding of ethics and morality as they apply to our lives.

The reference to gambling in the Catholic Catechism comes under a section about the seventh commandment, telling us that gambling is a form of stealing, one that enslaves both the operators and the gamblers.

The poor stand to lose so much more, even with the smallest jueteng bets. But there is injustice, too, when the rich wager several thousands of pesos, or, we are told now, millions of pesos at a time, because that’s money that could have been put to more productive use. The P150 million Erap allegedly won in one, yes one, mahjong game, could have employed 1250 people for a year at P15,000 a month.

Two of my graduate students – Joel Javinar and Ruben Mendoza -- reminded me recently in class that the Catholic church’s social encyclicals (and, I would add, the Catholic Catechism), are among the best kept secrets of the church in the sense that few people know of these documents. Yet these documents are vital guides for living. For example, there’s Mater et Magistra from Pope John XIII, who acknowledged and celebrated human progress but warned about the gap between rich and poor nations. That was written in 1960, and shows a church with foresight. Other encyclicals reflect a humble church concerned with human rights, ready to serve and to learn rather than to preach.

The Catholic Cathechism that I quoted from was first released by the Vatican in 1992. An English translation appeared in 1994, and was reprinted locally that same year but few Catholics have heard of the book, much less seen it. The book explains the Catholic church’s position on many social issues, from capital punishment to the use of drugs. Violations of the seventh commandment include not just gambling but "business fraud, paying unjust wages, forcing up prices by taking advantage of the ignorance or hardship of another". Even the destruction of the environment and cruelty to animals are considered forms of stealing because all created beings are "destined for the common good of past, present and future humanity."

Unfortunately, many religious documents – Catholic, Protestant, Islam -- are written in obscure rhetoric. Our religious leaders need to come back to earth and talk with people, relate the teachings to people’s problems. Sure, gambling is immoral but one could also ask, as a former jueteng cabo did during an interview on the television show The Correspondents: "Can the cardinal feed my family?" It’s the same question I hear over and over again from people when they’re confronted with statements from Catholic church officials.

How does all this relate to Erap? Getting him to step down is only the beginning. If we don’t get our ethical orientations right, we’re going to replace him with another set of shady leaders. It’s not going to be easy looking for clean politicians but we have to try extra hard.

Meanwhile, we should start dismantling the culture of gambling we’ve created, together with all its distorted values of getting rich quickly, of taking short cuts. The world’s great religions have nothing against risk-taking. Living out one’s convictions is, after all, often a great risk in itself, and at this point in our history, that’s saying no to cheating and corruption and gambling with people’s lives.