The popular ABS-CBN teleserye May Bukas Pa has finally come to an end. Santino rose from the dead and it won’t be farfetched if a part II is on the drawing board. The franchise is just too popular and profitable to be killed. It is like killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

The impression that one gets from viewing this teleserye is that miracles are dime a dozen in the Philippines. The teleserye is not a serialization of a Gabriel Garcia-Marquez novel dealing with magic realism let alone a fable. Instead of promoting values like hardwork, industry, perseverance and a skeptical or an inquiring mind, the teleserye only promotes blind faith, superstitious belief, end-of-the-world mentality and reinforces the fatalistic attitude of most Filipinos.

Apart from the story of St Lazarus in the Bible, there is no documented record of anyone rising from the dead. Echoing Nora Aunor in Ishmael Bernal’s masterpice, Himala, “Walang himala. Ang himala ay nasa puso ng tao! Nasa puso nating lahat.”