Thursday, November 22, 2007 Leave Gloria, Erap out of belen: Dakay By Nancy R. Cudis Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE local Catholic Church isn’t happy with a nativity scene or “belen” posted outside a theater in downtown Cebu City.
The belen, intended by the owner to promote peace, uses photos of President Arroyo to depict Mary and former president Joseph Estrada for Joseph. It is displayed outside the New Cinema Theater in downtown Cebu City.
Msgr. Achilles Dakay, Cebu Archdiocese media liaison officer, criticized creators of the belen, saying Church-related activities or images are sacred and should not be politicized.
“Fiesta is a church activity. Dili angay kabay-an. Didto sa Boljoon, gikabay-an sa mga nag-bikini. Didto sa Lapu-Lapu, gikabay-an og politico,” he said in a dyLA radio interview yesterday.
Dakay was referring to the beauty pageant held early this month during the Boljoon fiesta. The pageant featured scantily-clad contestants on stage.
The incident provoked Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to walk out of the event and cut financial assistance to fiesta celebrations with beauty pageants, unless these follow the practice of Danao City.
Dakay was also referring to Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza, who made a political speech inside the church at the start of the feast of Virgen de la Regla.
Dakay urged the officials of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral to check the image because the area is its jurisdiction. He said they should exert effort in getting rid of it and calling the attention of the owner.
For moviehouse owner Vic Alvarez, 50, the belen is meant to promote national reconciliation and provoke leaders such as Arroyo and Estrada to solve corruption in the county.
Anti-corruption
In a dyLA interview, he said moviehouses are burdened with paying amusement taxes and owners get frustrated when they learn their taxes are lost to corruption.
“We are also competing with sidewalk vendors because moviegoers prefer buying from them because they are cheaper than what we sell in the canteen. But we need to earn to pay the rent regularly,” said Alvarez in Cebuano. He said the heydays of the theater industry in the area was 30 years ago.
Alvarez took over the management of New Cinema Theater in 1995.
He said the nativity scene is a message that “took a lot of courage” to display in order for people to know that the country needs peace. He said there needs to be reconciliation between the Arroyo and Estrada camps.
Estrada was found guilty of plunder in a decision the Sandiganbayan issued last Sept. 12. The conviction carries up to 40 years in prison and disqualification from public office.
Last Oct. 25, however, Arroyo granted Estrada executive clemency and restored his political and civil rights but kept in force the court ruling that forfeited his mansion and bank accounts totaling over P600 million.
Passersby expressed mixed reactions on the nativity scene. One said it was a joke while another said he agreed with Alvarez that it promoted peace. A faculty member, however, described it as blasphemy and urged church officials to do something about it. (NRC)
