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Saturday, October 20, 2007
3 bishops ask Arroyo to resign
MANILA –- Three bishops on Friday revived their call for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign following the bribery scandal hounding her administration.
Bishops Antonio Tobias of Novaliches, Deogracias Iniquez of Caloocan, and Julio Labayen of Infanta, Quezon issued the call in support to the statement of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) that the country “is not only economically but morally bankrupt as well.”
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CBCP president and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo criticized Malacañang’s alleged giving of cash gifts to some lawmakers and local officials.
“We join the CBCP in its call for greater transparency and honesty, particularly because there had been an unscrupulous use of money,” said Tobias.
He added: “If a regime is morally bankrupt, if a regime has propensity for falsehoods and repeatedly lies in impunity, there is no other alternative for the people but to demand that the leader, the Chief Executive, the Commander-in-Chief, the President, steps down and resigns.”
Asked who they think should replace the President once she steps down, Tobias said anyone who has a clean conscience and is not tainted. “Anybody who says he can present himself to the people then he better be clean,” he said.
Labayen, meanwhile, clarified that they are not anti-Arroyo bishops as what other people think.
“We are not anti-Arroyo bishops. We are bishops for truth, morality and common good,” he said.
For his part, Iniguez noted that that their demand for the resignation of Arroyo is their own initiative and the CBCP had nothing to do with it.
“We do not represent the CBCP, we the three bishops, do it out of our own conviction. But we have a feeling that it’s not just us three,” Iniguez said.
The three bishops are members of the Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME), which will hold a National Consultation Conference on Saturday at the St. Peter’s Parish along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.
The consultation meeting will gather individuals and groups that are supportive of Arroyo resignation. It will also be simultaneously conducted in Bacolod, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Tacloban, Baguio, Isabela, Tuguegarao, among others. (MSN/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (October 20, 2007 issue)
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