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By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
Catholic bishops again clarified on Sunday that
the call for “communal action” is for people to pray for peace,
not for President Gloria Arroyo to step down.
Nueva Viscaya Bishop Ramon Villena, Tuguegarao
Archbishop Disodado Talamayan, Nueva Caceres Archbishop Leonardo
Legaspi and Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra and others issued the
statement on separate occassions to clarifiy reports.
Last week’s statement was issued by the CBCP
president, Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, following
allegations made by Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr. that the
$330-million broadband deal was grossly overpriced, riddled with
bribery and corruption. It is now the subject of a Senate inquiry.
While the CBCP mentioned corruption as the
greatest shame of Filipinos and that “the country has long been
captive to the corruption of people in governance,” Legaspi said
the statement never called for mass action.
The context of the statement, Legaspi explained,
is about the season of Lent, in which the Church is always calling
for “moral revolution” and applying it to the country’s social
situation today.
The statement also refers to finger-pointing
attitude of many people when something bad happens to the country,
the bishop added. “The call of the pastoral letter is that it’s
the time for us to change our mental framework.”
“Let us also reflect on ourselves and the
truth according to the essence of Lent,” Legaspi said. “Let’s
start the transformation within ourselves and this is needed for all
of us to act. That is the meaning of communal action.”
Talamayan said, “That’s why we are asking
for communal action, for deep reflection for discernment, sobriety
for the real.”
The Church is always for good governance and
will always support anything that is for the good of the people, he
added.
A call for the President’s resignation will
not come from the Church, but from the people, Talamayan said,
adding, “We will have to abide with the stand of the people.”
Navarra said he and the Diocese of Bacolod fully
support Lozada in his exposé, but added that he did not call for
the President to resign. He said he would rather have a crusade for
good governance.
Lagdameo on communal action
Lagdameo insists communal action depends on what
people want.
“We have not identified what we want of
communal action, because it would depend on what the people want and
what the people read from what’s happening in our society,”
Lagdameo said in an interview on the Church-run Radyo Veritas.
Lagdameo added that the collective response to
pray as a community is a welcome development as mentioned by the
CBCP in its previous statement and that all involved parties should
peacefully discuss what needs to be done for the common good.
Call of Evangelicals
The Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches
affirmed its support for President Arroyo. The group is the largest
network of Evangelicals in the country, comprising of 66
denominations.
“We are asking those who are planning to
replace her using extra Constitutional means to be prudent,” the
Evangelicals said in a statement Friday, referring to the President.
“Our nation can no longer bear any political upheaval. Let’s
just wait for the 2010 elections.”
They are calling for an independent body to
investigate the allegations of Lozada, whose testimonies on the
broadband deal and other allegedly anomalous projects “deserve
greater attention and further investigation.”
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