Pangasinan board to declare bishop persona non grata?

DAGUPAN CITY — Word has been circulating here that the provincial board of Pangasinan is allegedly preparing to pass a resolution declaring Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz persona non grata.

Cruz, former president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), is a staunch anti-jueteng crusader in central Pangasinan.

Information gathered by the local media indicated that provincial board members from the fifth district allegedly hatched the plan.

But fifth district board member Dionisio Villa Jr. denied this.

"No one in his right mind would do such a thing," Villa said. "Para kang kumuha ng bato na ipupukpok mo sa ulo (It’s as if you take a stone and hit your head with it)."

Vice Gov. Oscar Lambino, the board’s presiding officer, told The STAR he does not "have any idea" about such a move.

In a press statement, Cruz said he has been the target of those involved in jueteng.

"First, they tried to destroy my name. Now, they are campaigning to declare me a persona non grata. Whoever they are, they cannot be but jueteng advocates," he said.

Cruz said that those behind the allegations against him "form a nebulous whispering group and in due time, they will show themselves personally or they will simply pay dummies to fight for them."

He described jueteng as "the big-time evil behind big-time crooks, causing big-time corruption, especially in public office."

Public office, he said, which is supposed to be a public trust and a public pride, has become, in some places and in different levels, a "public danger" and a "public shame."

However, he said the illegal numbers game is not invincible. He believes that the more people band together to work against it, the more easily it is eradicated.

Cruz only laughed at reports that he is soliciting money from politicians for the Christ The King celebration on Nov. 24 in four vicariates of Pangasinan.

"I even issued earlier a pastoral letter directing the priests, the nuns and Church leaders not to ask any donations from public officials," he said.

" It’s not because I am against politicians but just to remove a justification for them to use jueteng money for their social obligations," he added. — With Sandy Araneta