PPCRV supports CBCP stand, launches prayer brigade

Taking a moderate stand, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) called for nationwide prayer rallies in urging President Arroyo to "act for the greater good of the country."

PPCRV chairman Antonio Ventosa said their 400,000 members nationwide will hold daily recitations of "The Angelus" every 6 p.m., a prayer for Mrs. Arroyo and the nation.

"This prayer brigade shall go on every day until a peaceful resolution is attained to this (political) crisis," Ventosa said.

He said the PPCRV is supporting the decision of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to shy away from calls for the immediate resignation of the President.

Ventosa said the PPCRV is not pressing an immediate resignation but hoping that Mrs. Arroyo would decide on what could be "politically expedient and morally sound (decision)" in the way out of the crisis.

Mrs. Arroyo is facing the toughest test of her six-year presidency as the opposition accuses her of cheating in last year’s election and members of her family of taking payoffs from illegal gambling.

The President refused to step down and challenged her critics to take the appropriate legal steps to address their claims.

Amid the mounting calls for her resignation, the CBCP took a moderate stand on the issue.

The 85 bishops said in a statement last Sunday that resignation would not end the political divisions the past weeks have laid bare.

The CBCP stressed resignation is not the clear solution out of the issue and the President must decide if the damage from the crisis is fatal to her leadership.

The PPCRV echoed the same call made by the CBCP that impeachment remained the acceptable option.

The Council of the Laity of the Philippines (CLP) also issued a statement rejecting calls for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation.

The CLP, however, admonished the President "to discern deeply to what extent she might have contributed to the erosion of effective governance and whether the erosion is so severe as to be irreversible."

The laity said they understood and forgave Mrs. Arroyo for her self-described "lapse of judgment" in calling a senior election official during the May 10 vote count.

But the group said "such an admission is not enough reason to demand that she step down from office."

CLP national president Jose Villanueva said the Catholic laity feel the people deserve to know the truth behind the controversial telephone conversations between Mrs. Arroyo and the election official.

The CLP also echoed the call of the CBCP of the need to create a "truth commission" that would investigate the allegations of electoral cheating against the President.

The PPCRV, on the other hand, said the truth commission and the impeachment process would provide the President an opportunity to air her side of the issue.

"The demand for a truth commission and the filing of an impeachment case are not against the Gospel. Thus it remains as a morally acceptable option for any God-fearing citizen to demand upon one’s discernment of the signs of the times," the PPCRV said.

The National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) is also supporting the creation of a truth commission.

In a letter to all chapters nationwide, Namfrel national co-chairmen Jose Concepcion and Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez, who also serves as CBCP National Social Action director, said the creation of such a commission will lead to establishing "a more exacting moral discernment beyond political allegiances and alignments." — Mayen Jaymalin, Mike Frialde