CBCP comes to defense of DECS chief

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines defended yesterday embattled Education Secretary Andrew Gonzalez, saying the latter is "most probably not morally guilty" of stealing from government coffers and enriching himself.

But the influential group of Catholic Church leaders conceded that Gonzalez, a La Salle brother, may have behaved with a "lack of proper judgment, a lack of sensitivity and delicadeza."

"Condemn Brother Andrew for stealing and enriching himself like so many other officials? He is most probably not morally guilty of that. And it is easy to find that out. Just verify who owns the vehicles," Archbishop Orlando Quevedo stressed.

Gonzalez is besieged with calls for his resignation because his department got a P12-million donation from the Land Bank of the Philippines which was used to purchase luxury vehicles for top education officials. This, despite the fact that there has been a classroom and textbook shortage in the country for so long.

Quevedo said Gonzalez’s detractors must first ask themselves if the education chief is "doing his best to uncover those who are actually stealing and enriching themselves."

The bishops wrote a pastoral letter 13 years ago condemning graft and corruption and defining it as "stealing people’s money and enriching oneself."

"But if (Gonzalez) has not stolen any money and enriched himself, then we need to look at his action from another angle – and not from the moral understanding of graft and corruption," Quevedo said.

"Perhaps a lack of proper judgment and a lack of sensitivity and delicadeza," he said.

Quevedo said that in that case, the charge against Gonzalez would then be very different from the graft and corruption charges tacked on other officials who use their positions to enrich themselves, that is, by accepting bribes and commissions.

"From such a perspective, I would demand that the investigation be widened to include the thousands of public officials from Cabinet officials, senators and congressmen, to the lowest municipal mayor who, in this time of massive poverty and economic crisis, have luxury vehicles, often from unknown sources," the CBCP president said.

He said government officials can cast the first stone at Gonzalez "but only if on the same issue of luxury vehicles they themselves have shown right judgment."

At a press forum of the Greenhills Walking Club Inc. at the Ristorante La Dolce Fontana in Greenhills the other day, Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta and Quezon City Rep. Dante Liban, who head the education committees of their respective chambers, said Gonzalez should have offered to resign out of delicadeza.

Oreta and Liban said that a strong sense of delicadeza should prevail among those in government service and this sense should compel public officials to resign even at the slightest hint of irregularity.

On the other hand, Sen. Loren Legarda said in the same forum that Gonzalez should wait for the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman before deciding on what to do. – Sandy Araneta