Death

May 10, 2020 / 59 Comments

 To someone who is not ready to hear the truth, certainly the truth will appear to hurt.
But the hurt is short lived and once the person adjust to the truth, as he or she should,
then there is acceptance.

STORY ORIGIN
This story started few years ago when my father and I had an argument after Yolanda.
Yolanda was tragedy. My family did a little helping by sponsoring some of them mula
food and also sa pag aaral nila. I won’t go into details about it kasi I don’t believe na
dapat mo ipagmalaki ang pagtulong. It should just be between you at ng tinulungan mo
para pure ang intention. After Yolanda me and my father got into an argument. He was
asking sa dinner table kung saan dapat manatili ang mga victims na plan namin iluwas
ng Manila. I made a joke na “of course sa simbahan” and yun ang pinagmulan ng
mahabang argument. I keep asking him kung ano mali sa sinabe ko but since humaba
na usapan nag end up yun sa tampuhan. We did not speak to each other for three days
din yata. I’m the apple of my father’s eyes kasi bunso so naging ok din kami. Apple
naman ng mother’s eyes yung ate ko.

FAST FORWARD TO
PANDEMIC
Hahaha. Here we go again. Nagtanong na naman father ko kung ano maitutulong
namin sa mga sobrang affected ng Pandemic. I should have kept my mouth shut
learning from our “tampuhan” few years back but I’m not so sure what happened kasi
next thing I know I’m saying things like “Bakit di muna gamitin na treatment facility
ng mga nag positive ang mga churches at kumbento since bawal naman magkaroon ng
mass since social distancing at lockdown instead mapuno hospitals.” As you have
guessed it was followed by an arguement. My father is a lawyer. He is a businessman
but he is a lawyer by profession so I really enjoy pushing his buttons. My mom and
sister left us at the dinner table kasi hindi talaga kami tumigil. Umabot siguro three
hours but unlike last time, mas malambing na ako sa father ko now kasi nagkasakit
siya noong April. I did not apologize this time but I made him some fries at burger at
tumabi ako sa kanya while he was watching “the last dance” ni Michael Jordan.
Uhmmm…. I find the show funny kasi It was about a documentary of Michael Jordan
and he was also involved in creating that documentary. If anybody made a
documentary about a person and that person is involved in making that documentary,
truths told sa documentary will always favor the person involved in making it.

GET BACK TO THE POINT

Sorry at medyo lumayo. Let me get back to the point. You and me will take another
journey. We will enter a zone/realm na most are afraid to enter. Let me caution you
though. You might not be the same after this.

If you want to stop reading my blog post now is the time. Beyond this point wala ng
atrasan.
IMAGINE
Imagine a boy named Kaloy. Kaloy was a poor boy. He sells candies sa street. Every
Sunday Kaloy goes to church. Whatever extra he made sa pagbebenta ng candy less all
his expenses ay dinodonate niya sa church.

What do you think about Kaloy? He is a good kid di ba? A good kid with great values.

THE IRONY
What if I told you that Kaloy is actually donating money to Billionaires, would you
believe me?
” Of course not! How dare me! “

Okay, let me change my approach. What if I will show you facts that Kaloy is donating
to Billionaires, would you believe me?

“Depende. Show me!”

Depende?Well, that’s fair enough.

WEALTH
Church’s has a multi-billion peso investments in several Philippine companies. In fact,
reports submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) show that the Church and
affiliate Catholic groups are top stockholders in companies such as the Bank of the
Philippine Islands (BPI), Philex Mining Corporation (PX), San Miguel Corporation
(SMC), Ayala Corporation (AC), and Phinma Corporation (PHN), among others.
 The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila, for example, owns more than 300
million shares of BPI and is the bank’s 4th largest owner. That is Billions in pesos.
That’s RCAM pa lang.

KAYO NA MAG COMPUTE

( From Pinoy Money Talk)

 Roman Catholic Bishop of Tuguegarao, Cagayan – owns 856,639 shares of SMC.

 Roman Catholic Bishop of Nueva Segovia de Vigan – owns 428,067 shares of
SMC
 Roman Catholic Archbishop of Jaro, Iloilo – owns 491,385 shares of BPI.
 Roman Catholic Bishop of Tuguegarao, Cagayan – owns 24,015 shares of Ayala
Corp.
 El Superior de la Corporacion Filipina de Padres Agustinos Recoletos – 2.37
million shares of SMC.
 Superior de la Corporacion Archicofradia de N.P.J.N de Recoletos – 1.23 million
shares of SMC.
 Carmel of the Divine Infant Jesus of Prague, Inc. – 957,000 shares of SMC
 SMC stands for San Miguel Corporation. SMC sells alcohol/liquor among other
things.
In Cagayan, the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao asked PCSO for money to pay for the
operational expenses of a retirement home for priests. The PCSO gave them P200,000
plus an unknown amount for “finishing touches” on the renovation of the said
retirement home.

TAXES
Under Section 28, Article VI of the Constitution, charitable institutions, churches and
parsonages or convents appurtenant thereto, mosques, nonprofit cemeteries, and all
lands, buildings, and improvements, actually, directly, and exclusively used for
religious, charitable, or educational purposes shall be exempt from taxation.
The Church operates so many educational institutions where students mostly from the
upper class of society are enrolled. They represent the biggest and most lucrative of all
their businesses. Educational institutions are not only exempt from the payment of
income tax, but also from the payment of real estate tax. The Church has vast
landholdings classified as seminaries, convents, retreat houses, retirement houses for
the retired members of the Church, orphanages, hospitals, charitable houses and
cemeteries. They have numerous non-stock and non-profit corporations which are also
tax-free. However, this exemption equally applies to other religious organizations
under the principle of equal protection clause.

Dioceses, as corporation soles, are supposed to be registered with the Securities

and Exchange Commission to acquire a juridical personality. They are supposed
to be filing financial statements yearly, but the RCAM has been delinquent,
submitting its last statement in 1985. Church higher-ups have a tendency to resist
financial scrutiny, traced to a mindset that they are not accountable to anyone,
except the Pope.

I tried to get a financial statement from our church’s treasurer but It was not allowed
despite the fact na kaibigan ko siya.

According to RAPPLER:

MANILA, Philippines – On January 16, Pope Francis will say Mass before some 2,000
bishops, priests and select people at the newly renovated Manila Metropolitan
Cathedral-Basilica. It will be the third time that a Pope will make an apostolic visit to
the church property that has been the resting place of former archbishops of Manila.
The papal Mass is a fitting highlight to the freshly earthquake-retrofitted cathedral. In
February 2012, then newly-appointed Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle ordered
its closure and renovation after issues were raised about its structural integrity. At the
time, in a press conference announcing the closure of the structure in Intramuros, the
charismatic church leader appealed for donations for the cathedral’s repair. Repair and
construction cost was initially pegged at P40 million-P50 million. y the time
it reopened in April 2014 attended by who’s who in politics and Church circles, the
running cost had reached P136 million, former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, who
is also president of the Manila Cathedral Foundation, said in a news report. Before the
year ended, the total cost had ballooned to around P200 million to include additional
improvements like central air-conditioning and installation of new carillon bells from
The Netherlands, Panganiban said in a separate interview. The reconstruction and
renovation of the “Mother church” in the Philippines is arguably among the most
expensive ventures of the Archdiocese of Manila to date.

Like any corporation, dioceses, as corporation soles, are supposed to be registered with
the Securities and Exchange Commission to acquire a juridical personality. But a
majority of them are not registered with the SEC and thus fail to comply with
reportorial requirements such as the submission of financial statements. The yearly
submission of financial statements would have been a reliable gauge of how the
dioceses are faring financially. But in the case of RCAM, it has been delinquent in
submitting statements, with no records available for scrutiny. The RCAM last
submitted its FS in 1985, before the downfall of President Marcos. Under the
Corporation Code, its SEC registration should have been revoked by now.

SOUP KITCHEN
Church collects hundreds of millions in total every week from the mass they are doing.

In other countries they have soup kitchen that offers food to the poor on a regular basis
as well as shelter. In our country you will seldom see a church doing such. There are of
course some that do but what most churches do is magpagawa buildings. The Ateneo
de Manilais probably one of the richest universities in Asia, with a vast campus on now
prime land.They never run soup kitchens, even during the worst floods that hit the
metropolis, even when in 2013 typhoon Ondoy flooded its neighboring villages in
Marikina. Yet it has built in the past decades’ new buildings, even a new athletic
center, worth P1 billion.

Setting up soup kitchens on Sundays has also been a practice of many Catholic and
Protestant churches in the US. The biggest are those of the Catholic Charities USA,
which routinely operates such soup kitchens in the poorest urban areas in that country
that feed 4,000 people

OTHER INVESTMENTS
I mainly covered their stock investments. There are far more money they have invested
in other forms of investments such as schools, hospitals and buildings. I tried to
actually get a real data but my efforts failed kasi sobrang secretive pala ang mga
churches sa pera nila. I normally back most of my blog post with hard evidence but I
was only able to get a few including this cute one.
AGAIN WITH THE TAXES
The Church operates so many educational institutions where students mostly from the
upper class of society are enrolled. They represent the biggest and most lucrative of all
their businesses. Educational institutions are not only exempt from the payment of
income tax, but also from the payment of real estate tax. The Church has vast
landholdings classified as seminaries, convents, retreat houses, retirement houses for
the retired members of the Church, orphanages, hospitals, charitable houses and
cemeteries. They have numerous non-stock and non-profit corporations which are also
tax-free. However, this exemption equally applies to other religious organizations
under the principle of equal protection clause.

Generally, there are several taxes that the Church and other religious organizations are
exempt from. First is individual income tax. Priests, nuns, ministers, imams, rabbis are
exempt for reasons that they do not receive salary for their vocation. Only allowance is
given them although many enjoy their basic needs well above that enjoyed of ordinary
wage earners.

Second, since all corporations owned by the religious organizations are placed under
the category of non-stock and non-profit corporations, automatically they are exempted
from the payment of income tax.

Third, even if many of their properties are not used directly, actually and exclusively
used for their religious rites, they can still avail of tax exemption by converting them to
foundations or charitable institutions, provided under Section 30 (E) of the National
Internal Revenue Code, to quote: “Non-stock corporation or association organized and
operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, athletic, or cultural purposes,
or for the rehabilitation of veterans, no part of its net income or asset shall belong to or
inure to the benefit of any member, organizer, officer or any specific person.”
Fourth, they are also exempted from the payment of excise tax on imported educational
materials such as books and scientific instruments for their educational institutions.

Sixth, non-profit and non-stock corporations or NGOs have been used to stash public
funds appropriated for public use. The NGOs created by Janet Napoles were used to
funnel developmental projects to members of Congress. Note that NGOs can avail of
tax exemption if engaged in charitable and welfare assistance program, but not when
acting as broker or facilitator for the release of public funds.

CHURCHES ALSO HELP

PINOYS
Yes! That is true. I will give you some examples.
Lahat ng nakasulat dito ay pwede ninyong ma double check. I always try to stick with
the truth. Pag truth kasi kahit pa ano eh react ng nagbabasa as long as truth eh
mahihirapan siyang e dispute doon.

IDEA
I normally present ideas and leave it to people reading by blog to form their own.

Every night, millions of poor Filipinos pray that when they wake up, they’d no longer
be poor. Answering these prayers would take nothing short of a miracle. And a
miracle, by definition, is highly improbable; just witnessing one is considered a
blessing by many. Now, kung bawasan ng konti ng simbahan ang Billions of
investments nila at itulong ito sa economy/goverment or directly na mismo sa mga
most affected ng Pandemic mas magiging maganda ang estadong ng bans natin. Will
they? NOPE!
DEATH
Simula nung nalaman ko ang mga bagay bagay na to. The idea of giving donations sa
church died sa mind ko. Instead of adding to their riches yung ginagawa ko na lang is
directly tumulong sa kapwa ko. Sa mundo ng stock trading instead magdonate ako ng
pera sa mga traders I resort in helping them for free. From time to time nagbibigay
kami sa Trader’s Lounge ng cash prize sa mga contests but that money comes from our
little earning sa youtube at sa mga sadyang gusto eh support ang pa contests at nag
sosponsor ng prizes.

I don’t believe being smart with your money is bad. Therefore, I don’t believe that the
church having investments is bad. I just can’t and won’t support the idea of taking
money from the poor to become wealthy.

IMAGINE AGAIN
Imagine a boy named Kaloy. Kaloy was a poor boy. He sells candies sa street. Every
Sunday Kaloy goes to church. Whatever extra he made sa pagbebenta ng candy less all
his expenses ay dinodonate niya sa church.