Bishop Ambo's curse

SUSMARYOSEP, how could so religious a man, a bishop at that, go down to the level of the street punk?
What do you mean, I asked Manang Uriang, our laundrywoman.
There. She pointed to the banner headline of the Punto! I was holding: Bishop: Curse polluters.No, San Fernando Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, better known as Bishop Ambo, did not spew any expletive – no damning hijo de pu__, not even a harmless taksyapo could ever emanate from his holy lips, even as he declared a curse on those who pollute the Sapang Balen creek that runs through the heart of Angeles City.
This is a curse of a kind totally different from your everyday ‘dana or ‘tang ‘na. This one is an execration, a sumpa, righteous one at that coming from a person of moral authority, inflicted upon people in grave error, if not sin. Consequent to this curse is the castigo…not simply de obispo – coming as it does from a bishop, but de dios, the bishop being a man of God.
Says Bishop Ambo in his blog hrp-sac.blogspot.com: “As a Filipino, I believe in sumpa (which) are very much part of Filipino culture and tradition. Usually pronounced by someone in retribution for an extreme act of disrespect or wrongdoing, a curse is believed to be effective especially when pronounced by a person of authority such as one’s elders or by a priest.”
And “to Kapampangans who are well known for their legendary love and respect for the clergy, being the object of a priest’s sumpa is a fearsome prospect.” Yes, our old folk still shudder in remembering the sumpa cast by Spanish friars on the pueblo of Masico prior to their execution by the Filipino revolutionaries. Or that cast by a dying priest on Mabalacat.
Bishop Ambo’s curse is totally removed too from the spell, magic or witchcraft that is also attributed to a curse.
Hence, there was no incantation, but matter of fact statements with Bishop Ambo saying: “Magmula sa araw na ito, binibigyan ko ng sumpa ang Sapang Balen. Sinuman ang lalapastangan nito ay magiging malas sa buhay. (From this day on, I am putting a curse on Sapang Balen. Whoever dares to show disrespect to it will be unlucky in life). This, over a portable sound system as he walked along the banks of the creek, his blog showed.
So how did the people take the bishop’s curse?
“Gasps and whispers from onlookers and passersby” were heard by the bishop, his blog reported. “Then, a handful of residents living near the river joined his group and hastily picked up some trash lying in heaps along the riverbank.”
Posed the blog: “Why would a Bishop go to this extent to help revive a waterway?”
Answered Bishop Ambo: “The river has life and anyone who dumps garbage without compunction is killing it slowly. Laws and ordinances do not seem to work at all; people just ignore these. Let us see how they will react to a curse from a bishop.”
No eternal damnation though is carried in Bishop Ambo’s curse. He himself provided “an easy way out.”
“Kung gusto ninyong pagsisihan ang inyong ginawang paglapastangan, mangumpisal kayo at ang tanging parusang ibibigay ko sa inyo ay magpulot kayo ng dalawang sako ng basura mula sa ilog. (If you want to make amends for the sin you committed, just confess to me. For your penance I will ask you to collect two sacks of trash from the river),” the blog quoted the bishop as saying.
So Bishop Ambo cursed polluters of Sapang Balen creek.
Ah, how the people of Barangays Sta. Cruz and Manibaug-Paralaya in Porac and those of Cutcut in Angeles City could only wish Bishop Ambo would cast a malediction on the piggeries and poultry farms that have long been the very scourge of their existence.
Ah, how they could only wish Bishop Ambo’s curse would provide no way out of eternal perdition for their tormentors.
That is but their just desserts, our beloved Among Ambo.