The refusal of Brother Mike Velarde to follow the stand of the Catholic Church on the current moral and political issues confronting President Estrada only showed the monster that the Church helped create when it allowed Velarde et al to organize El Shaddai in the guise of countering the growing Born-Again Christian Charismatic Movement by organizing a Catholic Charismatic Movement of its own in the early 80's!What the Church does not realize is that, Mr. Velarde cannot just abandon the President that easily, considering all the favors that the President had extended to the businesses of the El Shaddai founder! One example of this is the mind-boggling 1.2 billion pesos that the government paid Amvel Land Development Corporation for a supposed "right of way" to the proposed C-5 Link project that is not even a government priority project and thus, was shelved indifinitely! It only shows that Erap wants to return the favor to Velarde for his "Tiyak Yun" support in the last elections at the expense of the government and the Filipino people.
It's a rather flimsy excuse to cite his role as the President's Spiritual Adviser as one of the reasons why he can't just leave him and follow the dictum of the Catholic Church. It goes deeper than that. It is rather more of the Material than Spiritual though, if you ask me.
As far as I'm concerned, Mike Velarde is a failure as the President's Spiritual Adviser because if his influence to Erap is as effective as he thinks it is to be, then how come the Erap is embroiled in all the Scandals and Charges of Corruption right now? And to top it all, Brother Mike is now also involved in a building frenzy just like the President! Just look now at the Mansions being constructed in Ayala-Alabang and Tagaytay!
Now, let me ask you, who influenced whom?
