Priests ask PNoy to tackle oil issue

CEBU, Philippines -  The Visayas Clergy Discernment Group called on the administration of President Benigno Aquino III to manifest that it is indeed concerned with the well-being of the poor Filipinos by taking steps to address the unabated oil price increases.

 VCDG head convenor Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said this is the Lenten Message of priests and bishops of VCDG for the government under President Noynoy Aquino’s reign.

 “Being concerned means being responsible for our brothers and sisters and not being indifferent to their plight,” Alminaza said, quoting Pope Benedict XVI’s Lenten message to be “concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works.”

 VCDG is urging the government to show its concern by, among others, regulating the oil industry so that oil companies will be stopped from overpricing the oil’s price, removing the VAT on oil, and instituting price control over basic commodities.

 In the Philippine society, VCDG claimed that unabated oil price increases result to the skyrocketing price of basic commodities, which in turn, add a heavier burden to the already suffering people.

 As Pope Benedict XVI exhorted in his Lenten message that Christians must not remain silent before evil, Alminaza said that “we share in God’s work of salvation; therefore, we have to struggle untiringly for the total salvation of all.”

“VCDG hopes that Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection inspire all people to work for a transformed world: a new heaven and a new earth where all people enjoy the fullness of life, truth, justice and genuine peace,” the bishop said. (FREEMAN)