CBCP gypped of P190-M

A day after the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines launched its second Internet project, former CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz admitted yesterday they were gypped of some P190 million in an earlier Internet venture.

Cruz said the first venture was an Internet service provider called CBCPNet, in which he served as chairman of the board, but which is now saddled with debts amounting to P190 million.

Stressing that CBCPNet was not a part of the CBCP, the archbishop said CBCPNet was a joint venture company incorporated by Cruz, Bataan Bishop Honesto Ongtioco, CBCP media director retired Rev. Pedro Quitorio III, and the computer firm Twins Inc., owned by spouses Eman and Mardie Lim.

Cruz said CBCPNet was launched in 1999 and was able to provide at least 10 Internet cafés in various locations outside Metro Manila and other information technology services to various Catholic dioceses all over the country.

However, the company, which had borrowed P190 million to finance its bandwidth lease and other capital equipment, went bankrupt after the Lims allegedly diverted CBCPNet’s funds to Twins Inc.

Cruz said he and the two other CBCP officials trusted the Lims so much that they neglected to audit the couple’s management of the company’s finances. Eman was CBCPNet’s president while Mardie was the company’s treasurer.

"This is a debacle. We were bled dry," Cruz said, adding that their lawyers are now studying whether to file charges against the Lims.

However, he said they have decided to assume the company’s debts to avoid legal complications since the Lims are apparently the majority owners of CBCPNet.

Some of CBCPNet’s creditors have filed charges against the Lims but spared the two prelates and the monsignor.

In order to pay CBCPNet’s debts, Cruz said they formed another company, called CBCP World, with another partner, Transpacific Broadcast Group International (TBGI), to purse CBCPNet’s original objective.

The church officials also insisted that ownership of CBCP World be split with the CBCP officials owning 50 percent and the other half by TBGI, an information technology company with a 20-year track record.

Cruz hoped profits from CBCP World would be able to cover the debt payments which he expects to be paid within a year’s time.

CBCP World, Cruz said, is a bigger company and will operate not as an Internet service provider (ISP) but as a network service provider.

The venture plans to provide network services to 1,500 schools and 2,190 parishes nationwide. The company has also linked up with IBM for its hardware needs and Microsoft for its software requirements.

CBCP World, the archbishop said, would also provide satellite services as well as filtering services that would remove web sites that focus on violence, pornography and gambling.

When CBCP World was launched on Sunday, designated by the Vatican as the 36th World Communication Day, experts lamented the increasing popularity of the Internet among Filipino youth at the expense of spiritual pursuits.

"Many are so addicted to the Internet that they don’t go to church anymore," said Bishop Jesus Cabrera.

A recent study by the Ateneo University showed the number of youths practicing their Catholic faith has declined over the years.

The study showed that most young people believed in the existence of God but many have doubts about the concept of heaven, hell and life after death, a CBCP statement said.

Over the last decade, a number of Catholic lay evangelists have contributed much in persuading the laity to "renew" their faith in the Catholic church but suspicions of financial improprieties have also eroded the support for Catholic lay evangelists.

Meanwhile, Filipino Catholics have noted the impressive growth of Protestant denominations, the Iglesia ni Cristo and small "born again" churches, that have apparently succeeded in wooing Catholics.

Also contributing to the apparent "withdrawal" from the Catholic fold are the global reports of sexual abuses by Catholic priests and the alleged cover-up being done by the episcopacy.

Last week, the CBCP issued a public apology to the victims of sexually abusive Filipino priests.

While it was the first time the Philippine Catholic episcopacy acknowledged that some Filipino priests have also been accused and sometimes defrocked for sex-related crimes, church spokesmen said the cases in the Philippines were not as many nor as grave as those reportedly committed in the US.

The CBCP said only 1.6 percent of the 7,000 priests in the Philippines are considered "erring priests."

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Socrates Villegas said five percent of that number are "very good, holy and exemplary while the more than 90 percent are struggling hard to be good, praying hard to God and serving quietly their people."

Villegas appealed to the Catholic laity not to castigate the Church for the wrongdoing of only a few priests.