"FREEDOM is not just a declaration by itself. Freedom is a state of mind and we have to practice it in our own hearts and in our lives." For real freedom means choosing good over evil; right over wrong; even if we need to suffer despite the consequence of our choice. For how can we explain professionals, the learned and the best educated men and women of this country turning into agents of the corrupt establishment?

How could have the status quo persisted if we have only refused to accept it, even if we lose our own positions of power and influence? That is the freedom of Christ who chose to be sacrificed as He gave up Himself for others to live. That is the freedom that Gandhi to chose active non violent resistance, to liberate India from the British colonizers. That is the freedom that Ninoy chose for eight years of solitary confinement against the dictatorship. That is the freedom that Mandela chose long years in prison against the apartheid. That is the freedom that Martin Luther King chose at the expense of his own life for the civil rights of the Americans. That is the freedom that we can become if we choose to believe that we are our own leaders in our own little way... for leaders are made of the stuff who can give up so much, for so less for themselves.... for the leaders in ourselves are those who reject the wealth and opportunities from without but offer the power of the vision from within. Freedom comes from us, who we have been waiting for... for we cannot share what we do not have.

Such is the freedom that we can chose for ourselves in the face of all the scandals that has rocked our country. We have a choice to declare it and stand for it even if it will cause us sacrifices and suffering for the sake of God, family, country and for our own city. It is that freedom from the fear of being isolated or even losing friends and allies for the sake of our stand, for the sake of standing up, for the sake of choosing to be right even if it is unpopular or even at the expense of our own convenience, even at the expense of losing our own opportunities or losing a position of power.

Hence, people can bet that our oppressors may not taste prison. Yet, we need not play with the game of the world. It is enough that we did our best to try to correct a wrong, stand up for what is right and just and God have mercy on us.

Wherefore, I will bet that evil will not stand if the righteous will speak up, make a stand and stand up for the truth. Let that freedom stand on the solid foundations of the faith. The faithful must learn to wear their sack clothes, be humble, kneel and pray before no one but the Lord because the truth will set us free and we are nothing on our own work. Then, when, we are ready, we can declare and walk that faith to make the difference!

" For freedom is not given by the oppressor but demanded by the oppressed'.- Martin Luther King

"For tyrants tremble before men who ask nothing for themselves"- Mahatma Gandhi

Be the agent of freedom that you can become! " Be your own leader!"- Mother Teresa

Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on September 19, 2013.

Read more here:

Ocio: Hope, change and freedom (Conclusion)