Catholic bishops recently refuted claims of meddling in state affairs or pressuring the high court to rule against the controversial anti-terrorism law.
Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, the acting president of the bishops’ hierarchy, said the Church doesn’t meddle in politics, but speak out when the common good is being threatened.
“We do not have political influence over the country’s judiciary, nor do we interfere in the operations of government,” David said.
“Our only influence is on conscience, because it is our duty to form consciences, and we are accountable to God for this,” he said.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo on Sunday accused the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) of pressuring the Supreme Court to vote against the anti-terror law.
He was reacting to a CBCP pastoral letter issued over the weekend that condemned the Duterte administration’s “pattern of intimidation”.
Panelo said the CBCP’s letter “appears to have violated” the constitutional provision on the separation of the Church and State.
Bishop David said the CBCP respects the SC, which is supposed to function independently of the other branches of government, “if we are to continue to function as a democracy.”
“What we hope and pray for is that both our legislature and judiciary remain truly independent, and continue to function as designed by our Constitution,” he said.
Bishop Broderick Pabillo, the administrator of the Manila archdiocese, dared Malacañang to charge them if they indeed violated the law.
“I challenge them! They can sue us if we really violated [the Constitution],” he said in an online press conference.
He denied the bishops are meddling in political affairs, but speak out in support of social justice, which is the teaching of the Church.
“Precisely, we are doing that in order to awaken the consciousness of the people,” Pabillo said.
Bacolod bishop: PHL’s democracy in peril
Four years into the Duterte administration, the country’s democracy is running into serious trouble, a Church official claimed.
Bishop Patricio Buzon of Bacolod said the government’s attacks on critics are indicative of Duterte’s intolerance for views that question its policies and actuations.
The prelate particularly condemned the recent shutdown of media giant ABS-CBN, whose broadcast franchise was not renewed by Congress.
He said it was just another “insidious” move by the Duterte administration and its allies in Congress to “quash dissent.”
“With these attempts, the diocese is convinced that our democracy is being imperiled,” Bishop Buzon said in a statement.
“Democracy thrives in plurality of views where opposing views are not stifled and independent voices not silenced. To uphold, respect and protect this plurality is the common good,” he said.
He warned that if these actions are left unchallenged, “our country can retrogress to tyrannical rule.”
According to him, the Church must “rise to the occasion as prophets.”
“We heed the call of the times and speak up. We condemn that which undermines the common good. We condemn that which disregards established rights,” he said.
Bishop Buzon also called for vigilance against Duterte’s new anti-terrorism law, which he described as a threat to basic human rights.
“We have been through the dark, cruel days of tyranny. If we stand and speak up now, our children do not have to go through it,” he said. CBCP News
Image credits: CBCPNews
2 comments