Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Malilong: Church pressure By Frank Malilong The Other Side
IN WHAT amounts to an admission that friendly persuasion is not working in its campaign to kill the reproductive health bills now pending in Congress, some quarters in the Roman Catholic Church are now advocating that legislators who support the bills should be refused holy communion.
That includes Cebu’s own Reps. Benhur Salimbangon and Nerissa Soon-Ruiz of the fourth and sixth districts, respectively. Will they succumb to the stepped-up pressure from the church?
Benhur won by the slightest of margins in an election that remains disputed to date. Quite interestingly, among the documents that may have swung the Comelec decision in his favor were copies of the election returns that his lawyers secured from the church-sponsored quick count of the 2007 elections.
Nerissa had a more comfortable margin over her closest opponent in the same elections. But she is on her last term and has not made secret her plan to run for mayor of Mandaue City. Neither has her husband Lito been coy about his ambition to become mayor of neighboring Lapu-Lapu City.
Unlike the Iglesia ni Kristo, the Roman Catholic Church does not own a history of voting as a bloc. That a Protestant like Fidel Ramos won the presidency in 1992 proves that this predominantly Catholic nation crosses religious lines in choosing its leaders.
It must be pointed out, however, that while the bishops may have been uncomfortable with the thought of having a Protestant leader in the country, the church did not openly campaign against Ramos.
But Ramos did not advocate a reproductive health bill that the bishops consider sinful. Is it possible then that the church would finally abandon its practice of impartiality in the elections and urge its faithful to vote against the “infidels”?
Benhur and Nerissa are both well-educated. They are not known to rush to decisions. They must have signed as co-authors of the controversial bills only after much reflection and deliberation.
And here lies their dilemma. If they cave in to the pressure and declare that they are withdrawing their support of the bills (I don’t think church leaders will be satisfied by anything less categorical), what the people will see is the image of two politicians who, to use the language of a friend, are like butterflies floating in the breeze.
On the other hand, if they insist on doing what they must have determined, after a thorough examination of conscience, was the right thing to do, they risk a backlash from the church and a possible death blow to their ambitions.
The Good Book says Jesus told his disciples to be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves when he sent them like sheep in the midst of wolves.
