Sunday, August 15, 2004 House probe on escort service draws church leaders’ support
A TOP church official is grateful for the call of three female lawmakers at the House of Representatives for an immediate investigation on reports that some government officials paid for the services of prostitutes.
“We are happy that some people are coming out,” Davao Archbishop and Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President Fernando Capalla said in an interview yesterday.
Capalla was the special guests during the Episcopal Ordination of Bishop Emmanuel Cabajar, a Redemptorist priest who was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur.
Meanwhile, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal called for prayers to counteract government development programs that he fears will weaken the Filipino family’s foundation.
“It is reportedly for national development. They said our increasing population is the cause of poverty. That is not true because ever since, the Philippines has always been poor,” he said in his 15-minute homily in a concelebrated mass at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.
The CBCP has declared today, Aug. 15, a special day of peace, national unity and renewal.
The Catholic church is also celebrating, starting today until 2005, the Eucharistic and Marian Year.
Vidal’s closing of the Porta Jubilaeum or the millennium door, which is beside the Cathedral’s entrance door, preceded the 5:30 p.m. mass. The door will be opened after 25 years.
Family foundations
Citing media reports, Vidal said it is obvious that the forces of evil are now present in Congress.
He urged the public to be strong in fighting these forces, which he said are working towards a policy “that is adverse to the sacred foundation of a family.”
The church has consistently opposed government proposals to encourage artificial birth control, such as House Bill 4110 or the Reproductive Health Care Act that got stalled in the previous Congress.
As to reports that public officials encourage prostitution, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Liza Maza filed last week a resolution directing the House committee on women to investigate in aid of legislation her colleagues’ alleged use of escort service companies.
Maza’s move came after starlet Keanna Reeves revealed that she had been hired to escort government officials and got paid between P10,000 and P50,000 depending on the services they wanted her to perform. Reeves declined to identify her clients.
Reps. Loretta Ann Ro-sales and Anna Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel of the party-list group Akba-yan supported Maza’s resolution.
Although he did not categorically express his support for the move, Capalla implied the need for the investigation, saying, “if there is transparency in the use of funds, there should also be transparency in moral behavior.”
“Our congressmen and congresswomen are supposed to be not only models of good character, they must also be teachers of the people. They should be models of integrity, moral integrity,” Capalla said.
Vidal agreed with Ca-palla’s statement. JST/AIV
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