Bishop eyes mock polls in churches

CATHOLIC lay organizations were urged Sunday to consider conducting mock elections in local churches to properly gauge the pulse of the faithful prior to the May 13 polls.

Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto said the mock polls would be good for the public since it simulates actual voting.

“It should be conducted not by the Church per se but the lay organizations,” Aniceto said in an interview.

Such activity had already been conducted by charismatic group El Shaddai among its members back in the 2010 presidential elections.

Aniceto added that having such an activity will also do well in terms of advancing the amended voters’ education mantra of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

“That’s (mock elections) one way of raising the consciousness of the voters at the same time providing maybe alternative candidates or alternative choice,” said Aniceto.

Last week, the CBCP had expressed its readiness to take a more active role in helping the faithful choose their candidates for public office.

In its pastoral statement, the CBCP said that while it will maintain its non-partisan role, it is looking forward to letting the people know which actual candidates follow Church teachings and who do not.

This is unlike the CBCP’s previous strategy of voters’ education, wherein they only identify the issues that should be considered by the public in choosing their candidates to vote.

The bishops intend to publish the names of the candidates as well as their positions on the selected social issues, in parish churches in order to enable the faithful to have easy access to it. (HDT/Sunnex)