By Manuel L. Morato
It was said by a Catholic priest in the United States last October 2020, Reverend Father James Altman, before the November 3 elections that “one cannot be a Democrat and a Catholic.” The Democrats and Liberals suffer from indiscretions in the name of Democracy, stretching the law too far. What Father Altman said, and I quote him verbatim: “You cannot be a Catholic and a Democrat. Period.”
That’s a mouthful and I can believe it, that the Democrats running for office were and are members of the pro-abortion bill which ran contrary to the principles of Christianity we adhere to, most especially the Catholic Church. It’s not based on common decency, more on convenience and ambition which should not be bargained even for the sake of being in power; nor to win votes. What more when it leads to murder of babies. That’s where the votes of the Atheists come in. Why give in to those who do not believe in God? Let them do what they want, but do not make abortion legal under the “law.” America, after all, is a Christian country.
What law? Even animals do not kill their offsprings. On the contrary, they are so protective of their offsprings. Try to mess up with the mother tigress they will kill anyone who dares to harm their brood.
There is no middle ground in the teachings of Christ and the Ten Commandments of God. One is either with Him or against Him.
We must NOT portray the life of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” But there are those pretending to be good when they are not. Politicians have the tendency to resort to this kind of behavior, just to win votes. All I can say is: Politics need not be dirty.
Remember, hypocrisy is one sin Christ never forgave for hypocrisy is the root of all evil deeds in a person. A hypocrite is the worst thing one can ever be. He/she can act like a lamb when deep inside is the burning fire of hell. He/she can pretend to be what he/she is not, lying oneself through life. It’s an insincere way of going through life which some refer to as “double-faced” existence or “doble-cara.”
Liars are found with such characteristics. Lying is second nature to them; and they can easily lie with a straight face with no qualm of conscience at all.
Kaming magkakapatid, hindi namin talaga matanggap ang ginawa ng mga taong nagnakaw ng aming mana (inheritance) sa aming Ina who passed away in May 31, 2002. She turned 92 in May 25 of 2002. She was born in 1910 in our hometown of Calauag, Quezon Province, then the province of Tayabas. She studied at the Centro Escolar de Señoritas, a girls school here in Manila almost across San Beda College along Mendiola Street near Malacañang.
My mother was 19 years old, a student of Home Economics when the provincial officials and teachers association in Quezon Province (then Tayabas) chose my mother to be a candidate for the Carnival Queen in 1929. She won.
What was interesting (for I got to know about it), my father who was then a widower was spending for the candidacy of another candidate but did not win. It was my mother who won. My father then courted my mother and married her.
As the eldest child, my mother turned over to me her Holographic Will when she was in her late sixties. My father had passed away in 1965.
My father had gifted her with a large six-bedroom house within three lots here in our compound in the 1950s. She always told me, as the Executor of her Holographic Will: “Hijo, ibibigay ko sa inyong magkakapatid lahat ng minana ko sa inyong Papa. Lahat nong nandito at lahat nong nasa Spain. Huwag na huwag lang ninyo tatanggalin sa pangalan ko itong bahay at tatlong lupa na regalo sa akin ng inyong ama.”
My three sisters Elvira, Teresita and Lolita respected our mother’s wishes; I did too. But it’s a long story to tell. Briefly, we were surprised to see my small gate that connected to my mother’s house as well as my sister Teresita Morato Lazatin’s gate also leading to our mother’s house barricaded. That was in April 1, 2018, Easter Sunday. Without telling us, we did not know that Jose L. Morato had sold my mother’s property to the Belmontes; that it was no longer ours. It was kept a secret from us by the group of Belmonte, Exy Robles of Sta. Lucia Land, and Jose L. Morato. Together, they land-grabbed the property of my mother through falsified documents.
The demolishing of our ancestral home followed; and all the estate properties of our father and mother were stolen inside the house including the important documents of my father and also all the documents of my mother.
My three sisters Elvira, Teresita, Lolita and I filed a case in Court against the Belmontes who bought the property of my mother; our youngest brother, Jose L. Morato who, together with the three sons of Belmonte – Isaac, Kevin and Miguel, took over my mother’s property, paid by Sonny Belmonte, the father, without my three sisters’ consent neither mine. Exequiel (Exy) Robles allowed himself to be used kasi malaki daw ang utang na loob niya kay Sonny Belmonte (former speaker) who turned down President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s request to Congress for “house arrest.” Kaya nagdusa si President Gloria sa hospital for 5 years as told to me by our lawyer, Atty. Diosdado Macapagal, pinsan ni Presidente Gloria who passed away about a month ago. May he rest in peace. He and Atty. Dennis Manicad are handling our case in Court.
Despite the falsified documents they presented in Court, which took us by surprise because they even brought out the deeds of sales with the Belmontes and all the manipulations they did which they arrogantly submitted in Court.
JLM even presented a document supposedly his Deed of Sale; that he bought the house of my mother, witnessed by our kusinera who was with us for over 50 years; and a cousin of hers. Both signatures are falsified for I got the ID of our cook from the relatives in Quezon Province. Her signature and that of her cousin are falsified. What is strange is the 2 witnesses died three years before my mother died. Both witnesses died in 1999, three years before my mother died in 2002. The document had no date.
As the Judge remarked: “Why does this document, typewritten, have no title Deed of Sale? Why no date? Why not notarized? What I have not told the Judge when I was put in the witness stand that the alleged “Deed of Sale” was a sheet of empty bond paper that JLM made my mother sign many blank bond papers which he told my mother he would type on authorizing him to withdraw from the peso and dollar accounts of my mother sa BPI Morato Avenue.
He never accounted for the accounts of my mother in dollars and pesos because the General Manager of the branch was his friend and never informed us that something strange was happening in my mother’s accounts in the bank. To this day, JLM has not liquidated nor accounted for those two savings accounts of our mother. It has been 18 years since our mother passed away in 2002.
When the Judge asked why the Deed of Sale of my mother’s house and three lots “bought” by JLM has no date; typewritten by somebody else, not in her own handwriting? Who typed the document?
That’s when JLM with the lawyers of Exy Robles of Sta. Lucia Land, and the lawyers of the Belmontes asked Judge Rafael Hipolito to inhibit.
Our case was raffled off three times.
Despite the case in Court, they continue to construct the 21 storey building granted a “Special Permit” by the Quezon City Council, approved by Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte Alimurung.
What’s so “special” about the two highrise buildings which the Belmontes own according to people involved in these projects in this Residential Area? Itong dalawang building going up near each ay “magkapatid” daw for they belong to one family.
We in this residential neighborhood cannot tolerate the noise, the commotion, blocking of the narrow street and all the inconveniences we had to undergo for the past three years and more to come. These two highrise buildings are the first of its kind in the neighborhood since the city was founded in October 12, 1939. They stand like sore thumbs that will clog our drainage system, traffic in the two-lane Morato Avenue and narrow residential streets.
If the owners of these two highrise buildings are thinking of turning this avenue named after my father, Tomas B. Morato, who was the First Mayor of this city appointed by President Manuel L. Quezon in October 12, 1939, the day the city charter was signed, they can go ahead and name it “Belmonte Avenue.”
I just want them to take note that the renaming of then Sampaloc Avenue to Tomas B. Morato was not done by the City Council but by Congress and the Senate.
Take note of House of Representative H. No. 411, introduced by Congressman Caliwara and Ilarde, “This bill seeks to change the name of Sampaloc Avenue in Quezon City to Don Tomas Morato Avenue, in order to perpetuate the memory of the First Appointive City Mayor of Quezon City.”
I have the document changing the name: “An act changing the name of Sampaloc Avenue in Quezon City to Don Tomas Morato Avenue” Approved, 038266.”
For comments and suggestions email at mlmorato@yahoo.com