The year 2008 had the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) focused on the fight against Charter change (Cha-cha), the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, and the extended Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program minus reforms.
In these major issues, many members of the House of Representatives went against the Catholic Church – a contrast to the historical 1986 EDSA Revolution when they revered and followed the Church’s call to unite behind a common cause.
It was 22 years ago when the formidable late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin called on the Filipino people to go to EDSA and through peaceful means stop tanks and soldiers from marching toward Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
Once again, the CBCP is up in arms over issues that it believes are against the Church’s teachings.
The show of defiance by legislators, mostly known allies of Malacañang, raises the question: Is the Catholic Church still a force to reckon with?
Asked if people and politicians are still afraid of the “fury of the Catholic Church,” CBCP spokesman Monsignor Pedro Quitorio III said: “I do not know. It’s not from our side. It is a perception made from their side. It is the people’s perception that they fear, not the (Church’s) influence.”
Besides, he said, he does not look at the Church as a powerful force because “that is not how it is done.”
“The Church does not want to be powerful politically. If you notice, we don’t even field Church people as political candidates. If the Church wanted to do that, we could have done it long time ago.”
Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio, a former Catholic priest turned politician, is uncertain if he would be accepted back into priesthood once his term ends or when he decides to give up his government post.
Neither does the Church advocate a “Catholic vote” during political races.
Quitorio recalled that since the time of former Presidents Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada and the present Arroyo administration, there have been proposals for the Church to recommend people to Cabinet positions, but the CBCP has rejected these suggestions.
Hunger strike for CARP
Of the issues being fought by the Church, the CARP is the most significant and has the biggest impact on the people.
“Although it may be perceived by some as ‘not much,’ in my opinion the biggest event in the CBCP (in year 2008) was the hunger strike,” said Quitorio.
“The hunger strike is the beginning of a new era,” he added.
But the full effect of the four-day fast by CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action for Justice and Peace (NASSA) and Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo would take some time before its full impact is felt.
Most importantly, the act shattered the perception that bishops live in an “ivory tower” as a prelate walked together with the farmers and fought for their land.
Pabillo explained that helping the poor has always been the advocacy of the Catholic Church, although this was the first time a high-ranking official joined in a protest action.
He recalled that it was in 1968, during the First Rural Congress, when they took up the advocacy to help farmers fight for their own land.
“At that time, it was just mere lip service, but now there is a combined action. It has been concretized and immersed with the poor.”
In 1991, during the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, there was a declaration for the “preferential option for the poor,” which meant that the Catholic Church should favor the poor.
But in that declaration, the religious were not required to join farmers in the street or on hunger strikes.
There are still 1,173,706 hectares of private agricultural landholdings (PAL) in the country to be distributed to farmers.
Pabillo said his decision to fast for four days was a fulfillment of the 40-year-old declaration. His abstinence from food could have lasted longer had Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales not asked him and 48 farmers to end their fasting and return to their families for Christmas.
On RH bill
On the other hand, the Catholic Church thinks that the RH bill would pave the way for the rampant use of contraceptives, some of which are drugs for abortion.
Through the years, Congress has debated on contraceptives, and 2008 was the first time the issue reached plenary. Before, the Catholic Church and pro-life groups succeeded in stopping such proposals.
But this is not an indication of weakness of the religious organization. It only showed that those supporting the passage and implementation of the bill applied new strategies.
“The Catholic Church did not become weak. It is the same advocacy. Those behind the bill only made sure that they would not lose,” Quitorio said.
Congress failed to pass the bill this year, but is expected to debate on the issue this year.
Quitorio said that for 2009, supporters of contraceptive use and population control would use a different tactic. “They did not only push for the RH bill at the halls of Congress, but also went down to the municipal level and have begun convincing councilors to pass a similar law.”
The Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. has also set up office inside Congress. “Before the PLCPD did not have an office in Congress, but since year 2006 they started working and closely monitored the developments on the bill,” Quitorio said.
“This is not only happening in Congress. The PLCPD really placed a systematic, orchestrated (machinery) and when the Church saw this, it made its counter move by putting its people in Congress to lobby against it just in case it slips past the committees.”
The Catholic Church has also organized groups to monitor the developments on the RH bill daily at the House of Representatives.
Last September, bishops vowed to gather one million signatures in a bid to pressure legislators in their respective districts to withdraw support for the proposed legislation.
Cha-cha is third thorn
The third thorn on the CBCP’s side is Cha-cha. Sounding like a broken record, clerics disapproved attempts to tinker with the fundamental law of the land.
If Cha-cha happens, the Church has always preferred that it be done through constitutional convention (con-con), and not before the 2010 elections.
There is great apprehension that once Congress opens the Constitution to amendments, it would not only be limited to changing economic provisions, but also to extending the term of those in power.
Despite assurances by Mrs. Arroyo that she is not interested in extending her term, most Filipinos believe otherwise.
Recently, CBCP president and Jaro, Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo issued a statement, with the approval of the Permanent Council, citing a need for new leaders. He said that legislators, instead of wasting public funds and their time pushing for Cha-cha, should focus on solving graft and corruption in the country. –Evelyn Macairan, Philippine Star
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