It is still the corrupt Bureau that is to blame.
Roaming around the prison camps, I could not help but notice a simple slogan sticker posted everywhere. Just three words yet it opened me to a world of realities "injustice, abandonment, poverty, acceptance, hope, freedom, etc.""a world no different from the "free society."" The poor and powerless are the usual victims of injustices. Sorrow is drawn on the faces of those abandoned by their wives, families, relatives and friends. The penniless experiences hunger for even the meager, cooked ration is rejected by the grumbling stomach. The poor would still sleep on cold floors while the moneyed can pay for their comfortable rooms or "kubol."" The rich and influential are as always favored and pampered. But above all, the last thing that can ever lose in them is hope. Freedom has never been this important in their lives. It is the only thing that they don't have "the freedom to go elsewhere. Indeed, it is the greatest punishment of being imprisoned.
I used to belong to a society who curses the prisoners and labels them as "bad elements."" I believed then that they deserve to be secluded from peace-loving and affectionate people. They are brutal. They are stone-hearted. They are evil. And so, I was afraid.
However, the world turned upside down for me when the Lord led me to them. I was confused. I was dumbfounded. I was wrong.
How could it ever happen that the so-called "evil- welcomed me with affection, hope, love and faith in God? How could evil be so kind as to greet you with a smile and outstretched arm? How could evil be so trusting as to open up themselves and touch your heart with compassion, forgiveness and mercy?.
They never blamed God for their sufferings. In fact, God is their strength, their hope of liberation, their Supreme Judge. The Church has made it easy for them to turn back to God and leave their old ways behind.
