|
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Lozada urged to apologize for attack on Vidal, priests
CEBU CITY -- A day after his first speaking engagement in Cebu, Rodolfo Lozada Jr. and his supporters provoked mixed reactions from the Cebuano community, including a call for an apology to Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.
The Archdiocese of Cebu is also thinking of an investigation on the source of the charge that the archbishop prohibited priests in Cebu from holding masses for Lozada during his one-day visit.
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
Two Cebuano legislators and Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia all urged Lozada to apologize to the archbishop for his comments on "the Archdiocese of Malacañang."
Cebu City Representative Raul del Mar said in a statement that "it is most unfortunate that our beloved archbishop, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, has been falsely accused of advising priests not to officiate masses" during Lozada's visit.
"It is doubly sad for Cardinal Vidal to receive this false accusation and insult on the day of the celebration of the 52nd anniversary of his ordination as a priest."
He urged the Senate witness to apologize for "this unfair and unjust vilification" of the Archdiocese of Cebu and Cardinal Vidal.
"Gabaan siya ana... Kabuotan sa atong Kardinal, siya ra ang nanamastamas. Dili nato bugal-bugalan ang atong Kardinal (The cardinal is a good man. He doesn't deserve this ridicule)," Congressman Garcia told reporters.
"I just hope he sees that the statement, perhaps unintended, was certainly a slur on us Cebuanos," said Governor Garcia, the congressman's daughter. "It really saddened me... Probably Mr. Lozada is not aware how highly respected Cardinal Vidal is amongst Cebuanos. Also, we Cebuanos do not harass physically nor spiritually."
Representative Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (Cebu, 6th district) said she didn't find Lozada's allegations worth dignifying with a comment.
"He doesn't need to be answered, it would just be glorifying Lozada. He was a visitor, he came, and I don't know if he conquered Cebu," said Ruiz.
Meanwhile, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña considered Lozada's statement as "a natural reflection of the attitude of the people of Manila to the Cebuanos."
"I am tempted to declare war with people like that but we should not. As I've said before, let us not be distracted with these pests. Let us focus on what we have to do here," added the mayor. "The clear difference between the attitude of the people of Manila and that of Cebu is that we concentrate on building while they concentrate on destroying."
Mike Lopez of the National Youth Commission also appealed to Lozada's camp to refrain from name-calling, if they are really out to seek the truth.
"An absorbed kind of fanaticism is dangerous because if the person turns out to be opposite of what the people or the youth think, they might get frustrated. And the last thing we need is a frustrated youth," he added.
The University of San Carlos (USC), among other organizers, invited Lozada and encouraged its faculty and students to attend the forum in the university gym, which seats at least 3,000 persons.
Less than a thousand attended the forum, a turnout that the organizers attributed to the graduation and final examinations of most students.
The expenses and efforts in organizing the forum and other activities of Lozada in Cebu were shared among organizing groups including USC political science department, USC sociology-anthropology department, Youth-Serving Organization United for Truth, National Union of People's Lawyers, and the Community Empowerment Resource Network.
During the forum, Lozada spoke of "spiritual harassment" and "Archdiocese of Malacañang." The Black and White Movement in Metro Manila called the cardinal "a congressman in a cassock."
His statement came across as "an insult to the entire Cebu, said Archdiocesan Episcopal Vicar Msgr. Esteban Binghay.
"What he (Lozada) said is not right. His way of life is finally revealed. He said things without verifying them. (He must apologize) so that the people will still believe in his campaign for the truth," said Binghay in Cebuano in a radio dyLA interview Tuesday.
He also checked with the office of the cardinal and coordinated with Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Board Chairman Msgr. Dennis Villarojo regarding the supposed prohibition.
He found out that Lozada's camp first approached Fr. Pete Arguillas of the national shrine of the Nuestra Señora Virgen dela Regla in Lapu-Lapu City.
But Fr. Arguillas, Monsignor Binghay said, declined to hold mass because the church just finished hosting the 23rd local World Youth Day last Sunday. An employee in the shrine also said they still needed to clean up the parish grounds.
Organizers also approached USC President Fr. Roderick Salazar Jr., SVD to hold mass but he also declined because he was scheduled to attend the graduation rites of the different colleges in the university.
"But Cardinal Vidal never issued us an order," stressed Binghay.
He added that while prelate merely laughed when he learned he was branded a "congressman in a cassock," Vidal asked to make clear to the public that there was no such order prohibiting priests to hold masses for Lozada, so that the people "will not be misled."
The thanksgiving mass for Lozada pushed through last Monday night after a fellowship dinner at Cendet, along Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City.
The mass, celebrated by Fr. Christopher Exsala and Fr. Jesus Dumaual, was held at the convent chapel of the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Spirit in Mabolo, Cebu City.
Both priests, in a TV Patrol news report, confirmed they have not received any order from the cardinal prohibiting them to hold mass for Lozada.
In a statement released Monday night, the Presbyteral Council also said that Cardinal Vidal "did not in any way prevent any priest in the Archdiocese of Cebu to say mass at gatherings organized for Lozada."
The council's secretary Monsignor Roberto Alesna and media liaison officer Monsignor Achilles Dakay said that the archdiocese will find out where Sister Estrella Castalone, head of Lozada's security arrangements, heard of such an order. (NRC/JGA/With RCT/Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (March 19, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Arroyo: Rice supply enough but prices higher