Catholic group endorses six Senate bets

CEBU, Philippines - The Catholic Conscience Vote Phils. recently endorsed six senatorial candidates in the May 13 elections.

They are Senator Antonio Trillianes and Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and former Las Pinas Rep. Cynthia Villar. The group also pushed for Kapatiran Party senatorial candidates namely Lito David, Marwil Llasos and JC de los Reyes.

The CCVP, which has 600 allied Catholic communities and organizations nationwide, was conceptualized to help pro-life and pro-family candidates win votes.

The CCVP was formed in consonance with the January 28, 2013 pastoral letter of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines calling for “circles of discernment” to examine and question the sincerity, quality and effectiveness of governance” of our leaders and to answer the question “Is there a Catholic Vote?”

CCVP will officially proclaim their endorsed senatorial bets on April 28, 2013 during a gathering of about 6,000 leaders of the Soldiers of Christ, servant communities and other member organizations.

Kapatiran Party, for its part, says it is the “only political party with a platform and programs that are aligned with the teachings of the Catholic Church.”

“I am so happy on this. The Catholic votes are shaping up. Now the Church is moving in one direction,” said David, who visited The Freeman yesterday.

David said that this is a big boost to his candidacy as he acknowledge that there is such thing as “Catholic votes”.

CCVP is an “equipment of pro-life, pro-family charismatic communities and organizations.”

David said that of the 52 million registered voters in the country, 35 million are Catholics. A candidate, he said, needs around 13 million votes to make it to the Senate.

In a separate statement, Villar said that this charismatic group decided to back her candidacy due to her strong stance in the preservation of human life and protection of family.

During her stint as member of the House of Representatives for nine years, Villar supported the passage of significant measures to protect the interests and welfare of the family and its members. —/JPM (FREEMAN)