Palace brushes aside Church-led group’s call for PNoy to resign

CEBU, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday brushed aside the call by a multi-sectoral group led by Roman Catholic bishops for President Benigno Aquino III to resign for supposedly “damaging the moral fabric of society,” a GMA News Online report said.

“We obviously differ from their assessment,” Aquino’s spokesperson, Secretary Edwin Lacierda, said in a text message to reporters in Manila.

Prominent Roman Catholic bishops, including Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and Davao City Bishop Emeritus Fernando Capalla, were among those present at the gathering of the National Transformation Council last Wednesday.

Vidal, however, denied reports he also called for the president’s resignation, stressing he only urged a “change in the system” and not “personal change.”

The retired prelate told GMA-7 Cebu that he might have been misquoted and that his presence at last Wednesday’s assembly was to explain the role of the church in societal transformation.

The influential Vidal stressed he was invited to represent the Church in the assembly and to talk about their role in keeping awareness against corruption. He said corruption and eroded values are very much existent in today’s society. It is therefore necessary, he said, that the people, the Church included, do something.

Reacting on issue of extending the president’s term, Vidal said he would let the public decide, emphasizing that the Church is neither encouraging nor discouraging a term extension.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma was not able to attend the gathering as he is on an official trip to Rome.

The Philippines is a predominantly Roman Catholic country, with Cebu and Davao as two of the most populous metropolitan areas after the National Capital Region.

The multi-sectoral group accused Aquino of having “subverted and violated” the 1987 Constitution through the administration’s Disbursement Acceleration Program.

Asked how much weight the Palace has given the call for Aquino to step down, Lacierda said, “We go about in conducting the business of governance. We live in a pluralistic society.”

On Thursday, the president said he would not waste his time on his detractors, whom he accused of focusing solely on his administration’s shortcomings.

No destab plots

Meanwhile, Armed Forces chief General Gregorio Pio Catapang said they have not monitored any destabilization plots against the Aquino administration.

Catapang also did not consider the move of the bishops as a destabilization but only an expression of what they want.

He, however, asked those against the president to allow the latter to finish his term.

“Mga maayos na tao ito, they are just calling for something quite different. The president has a mandate, he was elected by the people, he’s just about to finish his term so let’s allow our president to finish his term because he was elected for this purpose until 2016,” he said.

Pope visit

In a separate development, Vidal said he will not go to Tacloban during the visit of Pope Francis in January so as not to complicate a “simple” encounter of the Pope with the victims of super typhoon Yolanda and the earthquake.

He said he might grab the chance to seek a private audience with the pope during the latter’s brief stay in Manila. Vidal was granted private audience with the pope following Francis’ election to the Papacy last year. —GMA News /JMO