CBCP debts still have to be validated — Cruz

Struggling to fend off creditors who are now knocking on his door, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz clarified yesterday that the debts of the failed Internet venture, called CBCPNet, which he once led have yet to be determined.

"Claims of creditors still need to be validated and determined if they are properly CBCPNet or of Mr. (Eman) Lim and his company Twins Inc.," said Cruz, who served as chairman of CBCPNet with Lim as president.

Cruz, former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), incorporated CBCPNet in 1999 with Bataan Bishop Honesto Ongtioco, CBCP media director Right Rev. Pedro Quitorio III, Lim and his wife Mardie as treasurer. The Lims were apparently the majority stockholders of the corporation.

However, CBCPNet went bankrupt last year after the Lims allegedly diverted the company’s funds to Twins Inc. which was the prelates’ partner in the joint venture.

Cruz said earlier the company’s debts to some 30 creditors amounted to some P190 million. But speaking with reporters yesterday, Cruz changed gear on the company’s debts for the third time.

Cruz had said the prelates, apparently in their capacities as the corporation’s sole owners, would pay the debts as a moral obligation through the earnings of a new Internet venture, called CBCP World, which they formed to replace the bankrupt firm.

The following day, however, Cruz said they had no legal obligation to pay the debts which Eman Lim supposedly contracted because the loans were without the approval of the board.

"Without the knowledge and concurrence of the board, Mr. Lim leased certain equipment and reserved bandwidth from several suppliers," Cruz said.

But the archbishop said yesterday his earlier statements about the company’s debts were apparently made without consideration for pending legal issues.

"Those statements were informal or strictly personal," Cruz said, apparently after conferring with lawyers.

Cruz reiterated that CBCPNet was a corporation duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and had a juridical personality independent of the CBCP.

"This (CBCPNet) facility was primarily set up with the intention of rolling out affordable Internet cafés for those who do not have private access to the Internet," Cruz said.

Cruz said CBCPNet managed to put up only 10 Internet cafés in various places outside Metro Manila but there was allegedly no accounting of the pre-paid Internet cards that CBCPNet sold to the public.

Describing the venture as a "debacle," the archbishop said they were "bled dry" and complained that he misplaced his trust on the Lim couple.

In a declared bid to "redeem our failure," Cruz and the two other prelates formed another joint Internet venture, CBCP World, with Transpacific Broadcast Group International (TBGI) on more favorable terms.

The three prelates incorporated CBCP World, a network service provider, aiming to reach 1,500 schools and 2,190 parishes nationwide. About a third of the 81 ecclesiastical territories in the country have expressed support for the project.

Cruz said CBCP World would also serve as a portal of information on issues confronting the Catholic Church, and would also offer chat rooms where the laity could seek answers to issues, including sexual abuse by priests.

Cruz said the chat rooms would be manned by priests, nuns, bishops, psychologists, social workers and other competent lay people.

The archbishop said the chat rooms, soon to be available at www.cbcpworld.com, would be open 24 hours everyday and would be available to everyone, including victims of sexual abuse by priests.

Evangelization is one of the three main objectives of CBCP World.

The new Internet portal also aims to offer a filtering service that would weed out pornography, violence, gambling, satanism and other unwholesome websites and be a vehicle to educate people in remote and poor areas of the country, Cruz added.