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By Anthony Vargas, Reporter
A RANKING official of the Catholic Church on
Saturday “criticized” former President Joseph “Erap”
Estrada’s alleged intent to join the political fray in the 2010
Presidential election.
In a radio interview, Cebu Archbishop, Cardinal
Ricardo Vidal, could not hide his dismay over Estrada’s plan to
re-enter the political bandwagon.
The Cebu Cardinal said that before being granted
pardon late last year, former President Estrada had promised to him
that he would no longer enter politics.
“He (Estrada) had promised to me that he will
no longer enter politics, that’s what he told me before he was
given a pardon,” Vidal said in a interview by Radio Veritas, a
Church-run radio station.
Estrada, was convicted and sentenced to life by
the Sandiganbayan for plunder charges in September 2007, but was
pardoned by President Arroyo three weeks later.
The Cebu Cardinal said that he could not fully
understand why the former president, who had earlier revealed his
bet for the 2010 election, would join politics again.
“He had told me that he would never again
enter politics, since he said earlier that he is getting older. What
happened there…I don’t have any idea,” Vidal said.
The Cebu Cardinal said that former President
Estrada should keep his word and stick to his promise not to
re-enter politics and run in the 2010 presidential election.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Ecclesiastical of
the Province of Manila (MEPM) said that politics has become the main
industry in the Philippines, a pre-dominantly Christian country.
The MEPM, which covers churches in Metro Manila
and the outlying provinces of Rizal and Laguna, said this in a
pastoral letter that is to be delivered today, Palm Sunday.
“Shamefully, we have been known to be a nation
whose primary industry has been identified as politics, simply
because politics is the main route to power, which in turn, is the
main route to wealth,” the MEPM said.
The MEPM pastoral letter was signed by Manila
Archbishop, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales and the 15 archbishop and
bishops of the Manila ecclesiastical region.
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