|
Is he a priest, prophet or president-to-be? These are
the questions that are surrounding the public announcement by
Pampanga Gov. Father Eddie Panlilio that he will seek the presidency
of the Philippines, “if the support is there,” says this
penniless priest-on-leave turned politician. He won an extremely
popular mandate as governor of Pampanga in 2007 in a phenomenal
election that narrowly dethroned the bid of the powerful Pineda
family clan, a close ally of President Gloria Arroyo, who is also
from the province. The defeated clan leader Lillia Pineda deposited
P4 million to the Elections commission as fee for a recount to
unseat Governor Panlilio despite the fact that he has only 11 months
left in office.
The decision of the highly
respected priest, known affectionally as “Among Ed,” who was
suspended from his priestly duties and as social action director of
the San Fernando Archdiocese when he ran for governor, is very
courageous. He entered the political arena as a means to bring the
Church’s moral and social teaching to bear on the
corruption-ridden province.
“It was not a failing of Among
Ed’s priestly ministry or that of the Church that allowed evil and
abominable practices to prevail but because of corrupt unscrupulous
politicians,” said a close supporter of the governor who asked not
to be named for this article. He was referring to the politically
approved and spread of the sex industry and illegal gambling. The
city of San Fernando and Angeles city and surrounding towns are
flooded with trafficked and prostituted women and children, some as
young as 11 years old.
The widespread availability of
child pornography, cyber sex dens and foreign sex tourists that are
embraced and feted as economic saviors has shocked the good people
of Pampanga. “They have turned our beautiful province into a Sodom
and Gomorra, money is their God and Among Ed was the only one
leading us to stand against it,” he said. They took a stand and
elected Father Ed Panlilio as governor whose prized worldly
possession is a 1999 model motorbike and a battered old car.
They were not to be disappointed.
In his quite unruffled manner he eliminated corruption in the
provincial tax collection office and in construction projects and
poured the money into education, health and social welfare for the
poor. This infuriated the entrenched political lackeys that ruled
every town and village and got a share of the largest of the
provincial treasury. Abandoned by police protection, pipe-welding
goons broke into his office in the capitol building and threatened
to beat him and his staff to death. Supporters rushed to his side to
protect him.
Following his announcement to run
for president on 18 July, Archbishop Paciano Aniceto spoke of his
deep disappointment and objection at these plans that will require
the governor to apply for a dispensation from the priesthood. The
archbishop told the media, “He is drifting from his original
priestly mission. A priest is a servant of the City of God, not of
the city of man.”
The Church has maintained a
strict line of separation between Church and State although
progressive bishops have spoken out on politically sensitive issues
such as corruption and social evils, the environmental destruction
and irresponsible mining.
Church leaders have been rightly
urging the Catholic laity to “evangelize politics” and to make
Christian values and social teaching a driving force in national
policy. What no one could foresee was that the laity has been taught
to trust and respect the clergy so much and laypeople have depended
on Church leadership for so long that they couldn’t but choose a
priest to lead them in that evangelical quest.
Are they to be chided or admired
for electing this penniless priest and pushing him towards the
presidency? This rare uncorrupted man of God who is free of debts to
family or party, tycoons and multinationals, Church or clergy or any
earthly power, is a powerful attraction for many Filipinos that
hunger and thirst for social justice and honest government. They
want such a candidate to be president. He is the one candidate that
is the nightmare of all the rest.
Contact Fr. Shay Cullen at the
Preda Center, Upper Kalaklan, Olongapo City, Philippines.
preda@info.com.ph
|
