I don't take coffee, I take tea, my dear I like my toast done on one side And you can hear it in my accent when I talk I'm an Englishman in New York See me walking down Fifth Avenue A walking cane here at my side I take it everywhere I walk I'm an Englishman in New York Oh, I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien I'm an Englishman in New York Oh, I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien I'm an Englishman in New York If "manners maketh man" as someone said He's the hero of the day It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile Be yourself no matter what they say Oh, I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien I'm an Englishman in New York Oh, I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien I'm an Englishman in New York Modesty, propriety, can lead to notoriety You could end up as the only one Gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society At night a candle's brighter than the sun Takes more than combat gear to make a man Takes more than a license for a gun Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can A gentleman will walk but never run If "manners maketh man" as someone said Then he's the hero of the day It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile Be yourself, no matter what they say Be yourself, no matter what they say Be yourself, no matter what they say Be yourself, no matter what they say Be yourself, no matter what they say I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien I'm an Englishman in New York I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien I'm an Englishman in New York Sting sings it all!
What? I'm not talking about a single legal definition. I'm taking about policies of government agencies. It does not take an act of Congress to change a lot of these policies (or the definitions they use). A lot of them don't even take an executive order to change. It is even possible for the way they are applied to change based on how the government employee at the counter decides to interpret the policy or definition, come back the next day with a different employee and you can get a very different answer. (I admit that last one is not how it is intended to work...but it is very often the reality here.) I guess you could argue that policies and SOPs are not law but we must still follow them and they do change all the time without Congress or the president lifting a hand.
And this is why the beautiful people of the Philippines, on their beautiful collections of islands, are the perfect victims for the crimes of their government. Pulled from a website, Theweek.com, an explanation follows. "After all, Chapter 13 of the Apostle Paul's Letter to the Romans, reads, in part: "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." Many of the people of the Philippines believe in just this, without the context in which Paul intended it. In reality, Paul writes Romans 13 to say basically two things: First, just because the Roman Empire, and indeed most governments, are awful, doesn't mean that all government in principle is bad. And secondly, he wants to tell his audience that, while they should hold the Roman Empire in contempt and resist it however they can, they should not do so by breaking the law. Yes, God wants there to be governments because otherwise we would have anarchy, but governments aren't divine. They're just institutions for raising taxes and maintaining public order." This is after Rome executed Jesus, per the Bible. Paul was one of his apostles and wanted people to know that governments are not divine. The people of the Philippines missed this lesson.
Look at the social comments following Duterte's statement that he won't announce what his next moves will be regarding the Chinese incursion in the West China Sea. Thousands questioning his loyalty to his position, country and people. This would have been very different pre-pandemic. A bit off topic, but it does show that Filipinos don't just follow authority with blind and unquestioning loyalty. Maybe it just takes the culture a while longer to get to that point, compared to some.
It appears to me that you read newsreports and other media output, not statutes. As for the Philippine legal system, I already explained in another thread what it consists of. In any case, you are entitled to your personal opinion against which I decline to belabor in argument, this forum not being a court of law.
The Filipino's respect for duly instituted governing authorities is not blind obedience acted out in religious observance. There is a difference between being spiritually righteous and being behaviorally religious. I would say that the soul of the Filipino nation believes that God's hand is at work in the governance of the country. To understand why, it may bear to recall that, in the mid-1800s while under Spanish rule, young affluent Filipino Indios or natives (historically called "Ilustrados") lived as legal aliens in Europe as students aspiring for higher education. The European continent then was in the midst of spiritual change resulting from an earlier Reformation movement precipitated by Martin Luther's biblical assertion that salvation is a work of divine grace as against Papal canon that salvation is worked out by purchasing indulgences even as it was also in the midst of a religious revolution resulting from the separation of the Church of England from Rome. It was also during this tumultuous period that the Vulgate (Latin Bible), previously prohibited to be translated and read in the vernacular by laymen since 1199 by Papal law and since 1474 by Spanish state law, was translated by the British and Foreign Bible Society into various vernaculars and then distributed among common folk. God's word in translated New Testament spiritually opened the eyes of the "Ilustrados" to the truth that personal salvation is grace received by faith alone and to the reality that Spanish friar religious practices in Las Islas Filipinas were exploitative, corrupt, and abusive, including in the eyes of one Jose Rizal who was in Germany to advance his studies in Opthalmology. These biblically gained spiritual and political truths stirred up a hunger for reforms, inspiring church and regional activism against Spanish friar practices, long painfully tolerated and endured for fear of catechised damnation in fires of hell. Smuggled copies of translated Bibles became part of political propaganda sowing seeds of hope and revolutionary spirit that soon solidified into the 1896 Himagsikang Pilipino. In this manner, providence delivered the country from Spanish conquistadores-frailes religious yet unholy governance of Las Islas Filipinas. Presently, now that church and state in Philippines run separate albeit parallel direction, it is all the more that Filipino Christians believe God's word that governing authorities are put in place by his divine authority. Your perception that Filipinos look up to governing authorities as divine persons, as if they are like the Japanese looking up to their divine Emperor, is quite mistaken. Such undeserved high regard countervails against God's word that "... I am God, and there is no other..." and constitutes an act of idolatry that incurs his jealous wrath. In practical truth, Filipinos regard their duly instituted governing authorities as public servants vested with duly legislated powers, to be exercised in duty ethically, subject to scrutiny by the citizenry. Generally, Filipino Christians and Muslims alike respect the Philippine Government with civil obedience and/or abidance to regulations in order to maintain peace and order but they do not worship the Government, as you so perceive or put confusingly; for again, such misplaced adoration would be an act of idolatry by God's word or by the Quran. Now if respecting one's government make a citizenry perfect victims for the crimes of its governing authorities, what country can boast as exempt? Certainly not the USA.
And the missionaries told these 'common folk' "Close your eyes and pray" - and they did. When they opened their eyes they found they were holding the Bible - the missionaries were now holding their land.
