JESUITS are celebrating this year the bicentennary of the restoration of their religious order in 1814, after its suppression across Christendom in 1773. The Society of Jesus, which founded Ateneo de Manila in 1859, was expelled from much of Europe and its colonial domains, under pressure from rulers seeking to control the Catholic Church in their lands, and bristling at Jesuit resistance to political pressure.

Many may then find it triply ironic that when anti-government protesters massed on National Heroes Day August 25 in Rizal Park, named after our Atenean national hero, the Jesuit-founded and -led Ateneo was venue for launching the pro-Aquino Koalisyon ng Mamamayan Para sa Reporma. Kompre is a purportedly reformist group led by administration stalwarts; its lead convenor is Government Service Insurance System board member Karina David.