CBCP: No to impeachment

Roman Catholic bishops refused yesterday to support the opposition’s renewed attempt to impeach President Arroyo, describing the process as an "unproductive political exercise," but stressed it respects the position of those who want to pursue it.

At the House of Representatives, several religious leaders from different faiths — one of them a parish priest serving in a church just a stone’s throw from Malacañang — filed the latest in a series of impeachment complaints against Mrs. Arroyo yesterday.

In a pastoral letter to its flock issued after a two-day retreat in Manila, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said that while it respects the opinions of those who filed the fresh impeachment complaint, the CBCP was "not inclined at the present moment to favor the impeachment process as the means for establishing the truth."

It said that unless the process is "guided by no other motive than genuine concern for the common good, impeachment will again serve as an unproductive political exercise dismaying citizens" as well as reinforcing their "negative perception of politicians" as a whole.

"We are undoubtedly for the search of truth, therefore, in all sincerity, we respect the position of individuals or groups that wish to continue using the impeachment process to arrive at the truth," the 124-member CBCP said.

"We already experienced the impeachment of former President Joseph Estrada and we witnessed the proceedings. We hope it will be perfected," Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, CBCP president, said.

Estrada, Mrs. Arroyo’s immediate predecessor, was ousted by a military-backed popular uprising in 2001 when his impeachment trial was aborted.

He is currently on trial before the Sandiganbayan on plunder and other charges.

Archbishop Ramon Arguelles told reporters he and other conservative bishops opposed the renewed impeachment bid "because the issues are marred with political ambitions of some people who just want to replace (Mrs. Arroyo)."

He said the impeachment was being pursued by politicians "who are trying to get into power" and that it would only "aggravate the sufferings of Filipinos."

Yesterday, 14 religious leaders of various faiths filed an impeachment complaint. Among them was Monsignor Ernie Cruz, parish priest at St. Michael the Archangel, a church in San Miguel, Manila in the same neighborhood as Malacañang.

"Let us finish this once and for all. We want to put a closure to all these issues hounding her presidency," Cruz told reporters.

"We challenge members of Congress to impeach Mrs. Arroyo to hold her accountable for the brutal killings, abduction, torture and illegal arrest of activists," said Carmelite priest Jerry Sabado, spokesman of Promotion of Church People’s Response.

Political reprieve

The CBCP and the Catholic Church wield considerable influence in the Philippines, Asia’s bastion of Catholicism, and its statements on various issues weigh heavily on public opinion.

The Church played a key role in the popular uprisings that ousted late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Estrada in 2001.

The Church, which has rarely been shy about influencing Philippine politics, has treaded carefully into the yearlong turmoil surrounding vote-rigging and corruption allegations against Mrs. Arroyo.

Mrs. Arroyo, who survived an impeachment complaint launched by the opposition last year, faces a fresh bid when Congress resumes its session in two weeks’ time over allegations of election fraud, corruption and human rights abuses.

Yesterday’s CBCP pastoral letter reflected the bishops’ position last year, when Mrs. Arroyo’s allies in the House cited a technicality to throw out a bid to impeach her and the clergy refused to join calls for her ouster.

In June last year, Mrs. Arroyo got a reprieve from the Catholic Church when the end seemed near after several of her closest allies, including former President Corazon Aquino, abandoned her and urged her to resign.

The CBCP issued a statement declaring it would not back the opposition-led campaign to force Mrs. Arroyo from office.

After Mrs. Arroyo had successfully fought an impeachment bid in September last year, the CBCP issued a statement declaring it would not back the opposition-led campaign to force Mrs. Arroyo from office and said the country should move on.

But it criticized the administration for blocking efforts to pursue the electoral fraud allegations.

The CBCP until yesterday have refrained from commenting on the impeachment cases, but some have individually criticized Mrs. Arroyo.

Some administration officials last month criticized Bishop Deogracias Iniguez — a member of the CBCP and an outspoken critic of Mrs. Arroyo — when he co-signed one of four fresh impeachment bids against her, amid calls for the church to stay clear of politics.

Yniguez has claimed Arroyo had lost the moral authority to lead the country.

But his colleagues stood by him, and the bishops said in a statement last month that they respected his personal opinion and rejected suggestions that they sanction him.

Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said the bishops’ main interest should be to address morality and spirituality. "The CBCP has already stated that the church does not meddle in government and political affairs," he said last week.

But the bishops countered that the Church "cannot ignore the corrupting effects of injustice and sin," and said it was their duty "to renounce wherever sin is present."

Lagdameo said earlier that the gathering would discuss the latest papal encyclical in which Pope Benedict XVI delineates the role of the Church in politics.

Lagdameo has repeatedly said the principle should not be used to restrict the Church from politics "when moral and Gospel values are at stake."

In yesterday’s pastoral letter, the CBCP also urged reform of the fraud-tainted Commission on Elections, saying that calls for "resignation or even prosecution of a number of the commissioners should not be lightly brushed aside. The electoral process, including counting of votes, needs to be reformed and modernized before the next elections."

The bishops reiterated their opposition to a petition campaign endorsed by Mrs. Arroyo for a "people’s initiative" to change the Constitution, saying the action was "open to manipulation by groups with self-serving interests."

They also condemned a series of unsolved killings targeting left-wing activists and attempts to secularize family values. The Church opposes recent government moves to introduce sex education in schools, which is in line with efforts to slow the country’s high population growth rate and enable the fragile economy to keep up.

Mrs. Arroyo publicly apologized last year for a "lapse in judgment" in calling a independent poll commissioner before Congress could proclaim the winner of the May 2004 vote. She denied any wrongdoing but the admission triggered resignations from 10 cabinet members.

An impeachment bid, however, failed when her political opponents failed to get the required number of backers in a Congress dominated by Arroyo allies.

In February this year Arroyo placed the country under a state of national emergency, after the government uncovered an alleged plot to remove her from power involving communist rebels, military officers and political opponents. — With Delon Porcalla, AFP, AP