We join the rest of the nation in greeting Brother Eduardo Manalo, Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo, on the celebration of his birthday on Saturday, October 31.

Brother Eduardo is the grandson of a great and respected Rizaleno, Brother Felix Y. Manalo, who was born in Barrio Tipas, Taguig, when that place was still part of the province named after the country’s national hero.

We join Brother Eduardo’s countrymen in wishing him all the best as he shepherds the Iglesia ni Cristo in the 21st century, a mission for which he has been well-prepared. Brother Eduardo combines a solid grounding in the faith of his grandfather and his recently departed father, Ka Erdy, and an understanding of the intricacies of the modern age.

Unknown perhaps to most of us, Brother Eduardo was among the pioneers in the country in the use of Internet communication and is recognized as an expert in the field of information technology.

The unique combination of faith and technology will go a long way in the performance of his mandate of leading a church that has been a sterling and inspiring example of unity, discipline, and civic-mindedness.
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Today is All Saints’ Day in the Roman Catholic calendar and many of our countrymen will be flocking to cemeteries to visit and honor the dead.

Except, of course, for people in some places like Angono and Binangonan in our province. The date for their customary annual trek to the resting places of the dear departed is tomorrow, November 2.

The occasion, nevertheless, invites a little reflection on the meaning of “Saint.”

To most of us, a “saint” is one who obeyed the commandments of God and is ultimately rewarded for such obedience.

Given the nature of the world today and the lure and allure of its material features, most people, it seems, have given up on trying to be one.

Perhaps this is because modern man would rather focus on life’s many powers and privileges rather than on his accountability to Him from whom such powers and perks have come.

The local government sector may be no different.

With the enactment of the 1987 Constitution and the passage of the Local Government Code of the Philippines in 1991, a lot of halleluiahs have been heaped on the expansion of the power, authority, and autonomy of provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays.

We are not saying this was bad. The expansion of such powers gave local officials much elbow room and leeway in generating revenues that fund the construction of basic infrastructure and the provision of social services to their communities. Add to that the growth of local governments’ share in the national wealth via internal revenue allocations.

So, today, local governments are busy taxing, levying, charging fees, and creating many other enterprises authorized by law that could further beef up their resources for better public service.

Unfortunately, in the rush to tap the opportunities provided by the revenue-generating powers under the Code, some local governments occasionally overstep the legal boundaries.

It is in these rare occasions that some local officials realize that the other side of power is accountability. To whom much is given, much is also required, the Bible says. (Holy Scripture, of course, also says that the love of money is the root of all evil.)

When an elected local official oversteps the boundaries, he faces both administrative and criminal sanctions.

The difference is that administrative sanctions can be filed in any of the two branches of government (the executive or the legislative branch of government).

For example, when a provincial governor errs, his constituents may file an administrative complaint before the Office of the President.

When the erring party is a municipal mayor, such complaint is filed before the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. It is this Sanggunian which hears and investigates the complaint. When it finds a solid basis for the complaint, the Sanggunian must impose a corresponding penalty. The law entitles it to suspend or remove an erring municipal mayor from office.

The Sanggunian has no choice but to perform this task. It is a mandate of the law that it impose the corresponding administrative sanction.

But the disciplinary act is purely administrative in nature. The complaining constituents of an erring municipal mayor or any local government official for that matter must go to the Office of the Ombudsman if they wish to make the said erring official criminally liable for an act.

If it finds a basis to file criminal charges, the Ombudsman brings the case to the anti-graft court, the Sandiganbayan.

It is the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan which remind every elected local official that there is accountability behind every power exercised. The two reminds us all that we must do our best to be good stewards of the authority to govern vested in us by the people who elected us to office.

They remind us that the province, city, municipality, or barangay that we govern is not our kingdom. There are laws that set the legal boundaries that define what we can and cannot do. What we must and must not do.

At the end of the day, the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan remind us that we must still try to do our best to be “saints” in public service.

This is not an easy task.

But we take comfort in what many other Christians believe – that being a “saint” cannot happen solely on the basis of one’s good deeds. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord” is by far one of the most comforting tenets of the faith which emphasizes that we cannot be saved from our sinful selves without God’s grace and mercy.

May more of God’s grace and mercy be showered on those who serve our people.