Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Manila (Agenzia Fides) - Amidst the “crisis of truth and the pervading cancer of corruption,” the Filipino Bishops feel the need to intervene and offer a contribution to “seek the truth and...restore integrity” for the individual and for entire nations. These are the main points developed in the statement issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, signed by its President, Bishop Angel Lagdameo, at the close of their Assembly, which met in recent days.
The Bishops spoke of “moral values needing spiritual and moral insights,” offering an invitation to politicians and citizens to reconsider their own personal conduct and declaring their support for the investigations and control measures in regards to the corruption that has recently occupied the country’s political scene.
The Bishops’ statement: denounces “the continuing culture of corruption from the top to the bottom of our social and political ladder”; asks the President and government to “take the lead in combating corruption wherever it is found”; it also recommends the abolition of EO 464 so that those who might have knowledge of any corruption in branches of government, may be free to testify before the appropriate investigating bodies. The Bishops ask that President Gloria Arroyo allow her subordinates to reveal any corrupt acts, without being obstructed in their testimony, no matter who is involved. They also ask that politicians, senators, and the ombudsman use their distinct and different powers of inquiry into alleged corruption cases, not for their own interests, but for the common good.
The Bishops also point out the role of the media in seeking the truth and combating corruption by objective reporting, without bias and partiality.
In this process of the reestablishing of the national moral conscience, the Bishops invite Catholics to form a part of the initiative called the “circles of discernment,” a grassroots program that should begin in parishes, movements, religious institutions, schools, seminaries, and universities.
“It is through internal conversion into the maturity of Christ through communal and prayerful discernment and action that the roots of corruption are discovered and destroyed,” the statement said. The Bishops’ Conference assure the faithful of their conviction that, in this way, the spirit of “People Power,” that has offered good fruits in the nation’s history, will flourish once more in the country - with a difference: “from the grassroots will come out a culture of truth and integrity we so deeply seek and build.”
The country’s fragile situation has also been a reason for the “emergency meeting” held yesterday by the Bishops, in which they tried to analyze the problems behind the corruption, considering its forms and strategies, in order to properly combat and destroy it (see Fides 26/2/2007). (PA) (Agenzia Fides 27/2/2008 righe 37, parole 443)
