CBCP: No change in stand on GMA

Despite the emergence of new witnesses linking President Arroyo to supposed jueteng payoffs, the Catholic Church will still abide by its decision to allow peaceful and legal processes to resolve the worsening political crisis, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president and Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla said yesterday.

Capalla said the July 10 resolution by the CBCP would not change amid the new accusations directly linking Mrs. Arroyo to alleged cheating in last year’s vote.

The CBCP had earlier rejected calls for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation but asked the President "to discern deeply to what extent she has contributed to the erosion of effective governance and whether the erosion is so severe as to be irreversible."

"First of all, the CBCP pastoral statement is not a stand on GMA (Mrs. Arroyo). If it must be called a stand at all, it is a stand for sobriety, for upholding constitutional processes, for the rule of law, which everybody is subject to, whether one is a President or a pauper," Capalla explained.

"It is very clear in the statement that bishops are not supposed to tell the President what to do or what not to do. We are supposed to be moral guides, not king makers or king bashers," he said.

Some of the bishops had openly supported calls for Mrs. Arroyo to step down in the wake of the wiretap scandal that forced the President to apologize before the nation.

The CBCP noted that Mrs. Arroyo’s action in phoning former Commission on Elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano during the vote count had "further eroded people’s trust" in the political system.

The July 10 statement was eagerly awaited, since Church leaders had had a role in earlier people power movements that ousted two presidents. The somewhat tempered statement by the CBCP virtually rejected calls for Mrs. Arroyo to step down, handing the embattled Chief Executive a major reprieve after weeks of escalating turmoil.

The bishops were apparently silenced by Apostolic Nuncio Antonio Franco who told them the Church should avoid getting involved in politics.

Capalla said all decisions, despite the present circumstances "must not be made in terms of political loyalties but in the light of truth, justice and the common good, which are all gospel values, and which we, as bishops, must uphold and promote, not only in the CBCP statements, but also from the pulpits.

"We are here to evangelize, not to politicize," Capalla said, quoting Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales as saying in a recent press conference.

Even as he claimed the Church had no business in politics, Capalla said the question of whether President Arroyo should stay in office depends on the decision of the Filipino people.

"More important than the issue of whether the President will finish her term or not is the question of the people’s willingness and preparedness to help themselves," he said.

Capalla also volunteered his expertise as a peace negotiator suggesting a spiritual retreat for Mrs. Arroyo and her detractors.

"If they want a retreat together I can conduct it for them. Do they want to go to confession? I can also hear that," he said.

Despite the CBCP stand, Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez said the ongoing political crisis could leave the country deeply divided.

"Masyado tayong fragmented (We are too fragmented as a people). Hopefully it will not come to the point of violence," he said.