Saturday, February 02, 2008
Bishop groups shocked by envoy’s resignation (3:15 p.m.)
MANILA -- The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said they were surprised by the abrupt resignation of Leonida Vera, the country’s ambassador to Vatican.
“This is something that caught us by surprise because we didn’t know that this will happen,” said CBCP president Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo.
Lagdameo said they were all surprised when they learned about Vera’s resignation, noting that he was informed by Vera about her resignation only through a letter.
“I got a letter from Ambassador Vera that she has resigned and that she just wants to inform us bishops about it,” he said.
The CBCP official said he does not know on what was Vera’s reason in leaving her post. “She didn’t mention anything in the letter but from what I heard she has reached her term of four years,” he said.
However, CBCP sources said the former ambassador submitted her resignation early last month following an alleged attempt in Malacañang to replace her with Cristina Ponce-Enrile.
The plan to replace her was allegedly triggered when she failed to convince the Holy See to act against bishops, as some of them are critics of the government.
Meanwhile, Henrietta de Villa, also a former ambassador of the country to the Vatican said the position has no fixed term, noting that they can be replaced anytime.
“As far as I know, we, political appointees, we serve at the pleasure of the appointing power. So if they want to replace we cannot do anything about that. We don’t have tenure of office,” she said. (FP/Sunnex) |
