Another bishop hits media attack on former CBCP president

A Catholic bishop chided the media yesterday for linking the former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines to a reported plan to shut down the CBCP media office in Intramuros, Manila.

Archbishop of Nueva Caceres Leonardo Legaspi said the attacks against Archbishop of Davao Fernando Capalla, immediate past CBCP president, proves there is a pressing need for the media to understand the nature and mechanism of the CBCP.

"They have been very unfair to Archbishop Capalla," he told reporters yesterday. "They do not know him, and they do not know the system of CBCP."

Legaspi, who was CBCP president for two terms starting in 1986, said the media, particularly those from leading newspapers, should realize that the CBCP is not a legislative body that dictates policy.

"In the CBCP, no one man decides, so it’s always consultation," he said. "What prevails is the consensus."

Legaspi said some media practitioners have not been true to their mandate to report the truth.

"They would ask comment from us, and I know that many times what appears in the newspaper is not exact," he said.

Reports said the CBCP was planning to shut down its media office in Intramuros because of the bishops’ dissatisfaction with media coverage.

Some bishops have vocally expressed disappointment over newspaper articles, specifically that of a national daily, that have attacked Capalla’s leadership of the CBCP.

One of them, Bishop of Malolos Jose Oliveros, said it was wrong for a popular columnist and a reporter to criticize Capalla, who they don’t even personally know.