CBCP: Don’t blame us

"We are not the culprits."

This was the clarification of Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, former Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president, a day after he admitted that he and two other prelates were gypped by a couple of some P190 million in an Internet venture.

"We were the ones who were cheated," Cruz said in his archdiocese in Dagupan City, referring to the Internet venture CBCPNet which is now bankrupt and saddled with debts amounting to P190 million.

The archbishop owned responsibility for the "debacle" and appealed to the public not to blame the CBCP, saying that except for the use of its name, the bishops’ conference had nothing to do with CBCPNet.

"I was shocked it would happen to us. Napaglinlangan kami. Sino ba naman ang gustong maloko (We were deceived. Who would want to be duped)?" Cruz asked.

"I myself should be blamed… Please leave the CBCP out of this. Walang kinalaman ang CBCP dito (The CBCP has nothing to do with this)," he added.

CBCPNet was a joint venture company incorporated by Cruz, Bataan Bishop Ho-nesto Ongtioco, CBCP media director Monsignor Pedro Quitorio III, and the firm Twins Inc., owned by spouses Eman and Mardie Lim.

Cruz said CBCPNet was launched in 1999 and was able to provide information technology services to various Catholic dioceses all over the country.

However, the company, which had borrowed the P190 million to finance its bandwidth lease and other capital equipment, went bankrupt after the Lims allegedly diverted CBCPNet’s funds to Twins Inc.

Cruz denied that he and the two other prelates would assume the debts incurred by the Lims.

"Why should we assume that? Hindi naman aming utang iyon (It’s not our debt)," he said. "There was misrepresentation. I don’t want to talk to (the Lims). I don’t believe them anymore."

The archbishop had earlier said they trusted the Lim couple so much that they did not interfere with how the company was being run. Eman was the president of CBCPNet while Mardie was the treasurer.

CBCPNet’s operations were suspended last year after the bishops learned of the company’s massive debts.

Cruz said he, Ongtioco and Quitorio, as directors of the bankrupt firm, have already filed a petition before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to stop the operations of CBCPNet.

He said they have also reached an understanding with the firm’s creditors, who spared the three prelates in the charges they filed against the Lim couple.

One of the firm’s 30 creditors, Microcircuits has even agreed to help the three prelates recover their losses by supporting the new Internet venture they are pursuing with another partner, Transpacific Broadcast Group International (TBGI).

Cruz said they formed another company, called CBCP World, with TBGI to purse CBCPNet’s original objective of providing network services to 1,500 schools and 2,190 parishes nationwide. The company has also linked up with IBM for its hardware needs and Microsoft for its software requirements.

CBCP World was launched on Sunday, which was designated by the Vatican as the 36th World Communication Day.

The archbishop also thanked about 25 ecclesiastical jurisdictions all over the country for the support they have pledged for CBCP World.

"We are quite confident that we could do this," he said. - With Marichu Villanueva