Cardinal Vidal wants ‘change’ but denies calling for Aquino’s exit in Cebu assembly

Vida CDN File Photo

What exactly did retired Cebu archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal say and do?

The 83-year-old cardinal yesterday denied reports that he called for the resignation of President Benigno Aquino III during the Oct. 1 assembly of the National Transformation Council (NTC) in Cebu City.

“I did not even mention him in my talk and yet the papers seem to attribute it to me.  I only asked what do you want now? and they all answered it.  It did not come from me,” Vidal told reporters in Cebu.

“I did not say anything about it.  As a retired bishop, I have no authority to do that.”

Vidal, with two other bishops from Lipa and Davao cities, celebrated Mass at the Mariner’s Court, attended by NTC participants from different parts of the country who are pressing for President Aquino to step down for his alleged failure to stem corruption in government.

While Vidal told reporters he did  not espouse “personal change” but favors a “system change”, his presence in the multi-sectoral assembly, his second time to join the group since its Declaration of Lipa on Aug. 27, was a conscious boost for its cause.

At the end of the half-day assembly in Cebu, members  signed a 4-page Cebu Declaration “to now purse all necessary and available lawful means to compel President Aquino to step down at the soonest possible time.”

Among those present at the assembly were known Aquino critics former senator Kit Tatad, columnists Chit Pedrosa and Belinda Cunanan, and Rev. Greco Beligcia who earlier filed cases against the government’s use of pork barrel funds in the Priority Development Assistance Fund and Disbursement Acceleration Fund.

Freeman columnist Valeriano  “Bobit” Avila gave a critical situationer of the problems facing the country.  Glenn Chiong, former congressman of Biliran island, presented how alleged massive electronic cheating  was done in the last election.

ROLE OF THE CHURCH

Cardinal Vidal yesterday clarified that he did not sign the two declarations but his support for the  NTC was clear as he referred to the group as “our transformational council”.

In an interview yesterday,  Vidal he said he did not ask President Aquino to resign “so our transformation council is not after personal change, we are only after system change.”
Vidal’s speech  last Oct. 1 was about the role of the Church and the need for change in “the political dysfunctions we are witnesses today.

Part of it said, “…although priests and pastors should not get involved in partisan politics, they must launch into the deep and help resolve the moral crisis and all its political manifestations and consequences.”

In the NTC’s Facebook page, Vidal’s photo with a quotation from the speech quickly spread, making it appear he was directly criticizing President Aquino as having “lost the moral right to lead the nation.”

What was quoted in some local and national newspapers was a part of Vidal’s speech merely restating the main resolution of the  Lipa Declaration, not his own opinion.

His speech: “The same document from that same Assembly (in Lipa), continues to state that He (the President) thereby damaged the moral fabric of the society, and has therefore lost the moral right to lead the nation.  Thus reads part of the promulgation after that Assembly in Lipa.”

“These are very strong words, which the Lipa Declaration has submitted to our people for their careful consideration.  I hope and pray that in this Assembly, here in Cebu, the National Transformation Council will have the opportunity to further amplify this issue.”

The presence of  Vidal, Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa, Batangas, and Bishop Emeritus Fernando Capalla of Davao City  at the assembly was a strategic one, giving the anti-Aquino campaign a sense of high level support of Catholic leaders.

Yesterday, Vidal made it clear he didn’t want to be singled out as the one leading the assembly to challenge President Aquino to resign.

“Either I was misquoted or they added something.  The role of the church is to present the situation of our society,” he told reporters.

Vidal said he no longer has authority to speak in behalf of the Archdiocese of Cebu and leaves the matter to the present archbishop Jose Palma, who was in Rome at the time of the assembly.

However, Vidal was one with the NTC in lamenting that the Philippines needs drastic change to overcome corruption. government.”

“Corruption is becoming an ordinary thing,” Vidal said. “So if you want to get rich, be a politician.

“In the present regime, it seems that corruption is still there and that many of our values are being eroded and therefore it is necessary for us to do something.”

On the issue of giving Aquino a second term after 2016, Vidal said he would leave it to the people to decide:  “It all depends on the people.”

Meanwhile, Malacañang shrugged off a call for the President’s resignation made by the  multi-sectoral.

“We obviously differ from their assessment,” presidential spokesman  Edwin Lacierda said. “We go about conducting the business of governance. We live in a pluralistic society.”

Armed Forces Chief Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang said the bishops were expressing their opinion, and this should not be seen as an attempt at destabilization.

“That’s not destabilization, that is freedom of press. That’s what I’m telling you, that we have a vibrant democracy, a vibrant politics. So everybody is free to say what he feels for as long as they will not bear arms,” he said after emerging from a Senate hearing on the 2015 budget of the defense department. /with INQUIRER

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