2 bishops spurn idea of church parishes as rice distributors

MANILA, Philippines – Two Catholic bishops criticized yesterday the agreement forged between Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo for the distribution and sale of rice in Catholic churches and parishes.

“They may try to use the Church as scapegoat – or for people to blame the Church if this new system fails,” said Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan Oscar Cruz.

“But I think the people are wise enough to... know (that) we are just helping. The Church is not a factory of rice.”

On the other hand, Bishop Sergio Utleg of Laoag, Ilocos Norte said: “The Church should not be the one selling rice. There are social action centers and cooperatives that were put up and organized primarily for this purpose. So I think these centers and cooperatives are the proper venue for selling rice.”

Speaking over Catholic Church-run Radyo Veritas, Cruz said the agreement proves that the government is unable to handle the looming rice crisis.

“What I am just saying is that the government seems not to trust its agency, which is really awkward,” he said. “That is very sad.”

Cruz warned of “hanky-panky” in government’s new system of distributing and selling rice through parishes and churches.

“There are many possibilities like tampering of weighing scales, cheating in delivery of supply to the churches, use of fake receipts from (C.M.) Recto (Avenue), and the like,” he said.

However, Cruz said he would allow the distribution of rice in parishes and churches in his archdiocese.

Transparency of the Catholic Church would prevent the government from taking advantage of the system, he added.

Utleg said he will not allow churches and parishes in his diocese to sell rice from the National Food Authority.

“They should just do what is necessary – transparency, help the local farmers and not farmers of Thailand and Vietnam,” he said.

Utleg said there is no rice shortage, and that the looming crisis is only based on the continuous increase of rice prices in the global market.

“The prices are only high because there’s anomaly in handling of rice traders,” he said. “The prices of NFA rice should be competitive so as to counter-balance the power of traders,” the bishop suggested.

Fr. Mar Castillo, representative of Pabillo, told reporters the agreement forged by the government and the Church was just an expansion of an existing system of distributing NFA rice in various parishes.

“There are existing outlets of NFA rice in selected parishes,” he said.

“All dioceses in the country are supportive of this program, but only some are given supply. In the Archdiocese of Manila, for example, there are 84 parishes but only 30 to 40 of these have outlets.”

Castillo said Catholic parishes in Metro Manila with existing rice outlets are willing to increase their supply from 20 to 40 sacks a week.

The project will initially be implemented in Metro Manila parishes and would be expanded to parishes and dioceses in the provinces once the system is proven effective, he added.     – Edu Punay