While corruption continues to hound the government, two Cebuano priests said the Catholic Church will never endorse candidates or compel its members to vote for particular individuals.
“All we could do is educate voters and hope that people would make decisions with an informed conscience,” said Fr. Roberto Ebisa, SVD and station manager of dyRF in yesterday’s Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC) quarterly meeting held at Quest Hotel in Cebu City.
He said “bloc voting” as practiced by Iglesia Ni Cristo would not apply to the Catholic Church.
“There will never be a Catholic vote because the Church will never coerce its members to vote for someone.
Campaigning for a particular candidate might cause division,” said Ebisa, the main speaker in the meeting.
Msgr. Joseph Tan, media liaison officer of the Cebu Archdiocese, said the Catholic Church has a high regard for freedom of choice.
“Freedom rules in the Church. We do not want to take that away from the people. Her mission is not about that but forming the conscience of its people. Imagine if the Church would promote particular candidates, it would almost be like a dictatorship,” Tan said.
When the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin called people to the streets in a revolt against the Marcos regime in EDSA 1986, Tan said even the Vatican was alarmed.
“I don’t think we will ever have another Cardinal Sin. Rome cautioned Philippine bishops not to do that. But maybe we should consider that as a historical exception,” the monsignor said.
While bishops and priests are prohibited from making political endorsements, Tan said lay people can do this provided they do not carry the name of the Church.
“The Catholic Church is not just composed of bishops and priests. In fact, we are just a minority. The Church is also made up of lay people and I believe you are equipped to make wise, political choices,” he said.
Fr. Carmelo Diola of Dilaab Foundation Inc. said his group presents criteria in choosing good leaders, but they will not name names.
Guide questions
The guide is intended to help voters and candidates make choices based on values.
Called the LASER test, the guide questions include “Does the candidate have a modest lifestyle?”; “Does he or she have a track record of competence and servant leadership?”; “Who are the persons supporting his candidacy?”; “Is he or she engaged in vote-buying?”; “What is his moral background?”
Diola said Dilaab Foundation visited 4 sitios in Cebu city to urge residents to reject vote-buying and discern whom to vote for using the LASER test.
Before the May 2013 elections, Dilaab volunteers conducted a house-to-house campaign.
They distributed stickers that read: “Tulo ka adlaw nga kalipay, tulo ka tuig nga pagmahay (Three days of happiness, three years of misery),” “Kristiyano kami, dili baligya ang among boto (We’re Christians, we don’t sell our votes).”