Villegas takes fall for Leni

Any way you look at it, what Leni Robredo said about it being all right to take money from a candidate for as long as you do not vote for him or her is an indefensible position. Whatever made Leni say what she said at the height of the election season I would not profess to know. But she said it. And it has illegality, immorality, and lack of ethics written all over it. It was a mouthful that can possibly bring a candidacy crashing to the ground.

This is the reason why Archbishop Socrates Villegas had to come rushing to her rescue. Villegas knew exactly how dangerously serious Leni's gaffe was. Left to explain her words on her own, Leni can only make things worse for herself. It was a situation that needed the stature of Villegas and the persuasive authority of an archbishop.

But it is not as easy and hunky-dory as Villegas, and Leni for that matter, would like to imagine it to be. Again, the position Leni took is indefensible. The best she can do is keep as quiet as possible, shun any references to what she said, and then hope everything just blows over. But all that is of no moment any longer. The moment Villegas joined the fray, the crap simply hit the fan.

Villegas is not an unknown political entity. In fact, he is perhaps more notoriously known for the political color under his cassock than what he is as a man of God. No matter how Villegas pontificates in trying to cushion the impact of Leni's words, there is just no justifying or moralizing those words when they speak for themselves. And it doesn't help that the man rationalizing has political biases more prominent than the eminence to his name.

Villegas has little or no credibility left because of these political biases. Many people have not recovered from the shock of his open and unabashed campaigning against Rodrigo Duterte in 2016. Worse, he used his episcopal office for his political ends, issuing so-called guidelines on how to or for whom to vote that were not so cleverly disguised as a pastoral letter. The target was so obvious it was no longer necessary to spell out Duterte.

I salute those three Roman Catholic priests who, not wanting to play ambiguous games with their true sentiments, filed certificates of candidacy for local positions in the May 2022 elections. They have since been suspended from the priesthood. But at least they made a clean breast of it. They cannot be bothered by their conscience now.

Villegas is different. He wants to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to be bishop and politician at the same time, and that just cannot be. As a shepherd of his flock, Villegas can of course dissect politics into its good and bad parts and then help people navigate through the tricky path. But he cannot be partisan about it. The moment he does, he loses not just moral authority but also credibility.

But why focus on Villegas? He is not a candidate. It is Leni who is. What Leni has said is a political issue. It can and must provoke discussion on her qualifications and capabilities. Villegas is just a fall guy, someone who takes the heat for someone else. He is a diversion, a distraction to draw the heat from Leni. The emphasis must remain with Leni not Villegas.

I am sure, however, that we have not seen the last of Villegas or some other entity to create a diversionary tactic that would draw the flak away from Leni. They should be exposed the moment they show up. Given her propensity to talk, I would expect her to make even more serious miscalculations in the days ahead. And we should be on the lookout for that. It is in the mouth that the fish is caught.