“A stiff apology is a second insult. The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt.”

—Gilbert K. Chesterton

WE have been encouraged by our parents to say “I’m sorry” if we committed a sin since we were kids.

According to our Christian Living teacher in high school, humility is the disposition to accept our impoverished dependence upon God.

Willingness to apologize is freedom from pride or arrogance.

Spiritual leaders also admonished, “If Jesus can forgive, why can’t we as humans?”

Although saying “I’m sorry” has become a fad nowadays, it did not release the recent sinners from public rebuke probably due to the degree of their malfeasance—even if ‘tis the season to forgive, or so it seems.

The son of a Negros congressman who, together with his bodyguards, assaulted a subdivision security guard and made him kneel; the actor who mauled his actress girlfriend “black and blue” in the hotel; the grandfather, 64, who raped and impregnated his own granddaughter, 16; Will Smith, who smacked Chris Rock during the live television broadcast of the 94th Academy Awards, to name only a few.

For some fans and observers, it’s hard to forgive and forget what they did. At least not yet.

Will Russian President Vladimir Putin ask forgiveness for the apparent genocide in Ukraine?

Will President Rodrigo Duterte apologize for the extrajudicial killings in the name of war against drugs?

Will China apologize for bullying our fishermen and encroaching on the Philippine sea?

As Christians, we recall the events leading up to Jesus' death by crucifixion and, according to our faith, His Resurrection, during the coming Holy Week.

The week includes five days of special significance. The first is Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus' humble entry (on a donkey) into Jerusalem to observe Passover.

A rundown of what it all means is the following: Palm Sunday–entrance into Jerusalem; Holy Wednesday–into the darkness; Maundy Thursday–the Last Supper; Good Friday–Jesus' agony on the cross; Holy Saturday–Jesus visiting the tomb.

Some supporters of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, 64, would get mad if supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo claimed that because of the big crowds in most of her recent rallies, the 56-year-old widow from Bicol might end up winning the presidential election on May 9, 2022 and becoming the third woman president after Corazon Aquino in 1986 and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2001.

“That’s impossible,” they would holler in any discussion, including in the social media. “Look at the surveys. She’s not even closer to Marcos.”

The late dictator’s son was favored by 56 percent of respondents, down from 60 percent in February, according to the pollster Pulse Asia Research Inc. which reportedly surveyed 2,400 adults nationwide from March 17 to 21, 2022.

Robredo got 24 percent, up from 15 percent previously, while third-placer Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno got 8 percent.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, Marcos’s running mate and the president’s daughter, similarly kept her lead in the vice-presidential race, favored by 56 percent of respondents. Her closest rival, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto, was at 20 percent, according to the same pollster.

On the other hand, if Marcos supporters claimed that victory was “already in the bag” for the former senator from Ilocos because of the fairly imposing surveys, supporters of Robredo would sharply react that “the real surveys will be on May 9, the election day.”

Those who posed a pro-Robredo and pro-Marcos sentiments in their social media accounts would immediately find themselves being swarmed by angry commentators like bees and flies in the comment sections.

No one escapes the wrath of avid fans from both camps.

The disagreement on who would win the presidency always ended up in sour notes, brickbats and insults between the two camps.

Supporters of other presidential candidates—Mayor Isko Moreno, Senator Manny Pacquiao, Senator Panfilo Lacson, and labor leader Leody De Guzman—seldom joined the fray especially if the names of their bets weren’t mentioned as possible winners.

In most cases, they made their voices heard and their presence felt by helping pick up the stones and threw them at Marcos Jr.

The camps of candidates lagging behind the surveys didn’t sharpen their knives against each other; they mostly trained their revolvers at Marcos Jr., who is the most controversial among the 10 presidential candidates owing to his repeated no-show in the Comelec debates and recalcitrant behavior in the controversial estate tax issue of his family that has ballooned to P203 billion.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)