Cebu Archbishop Jose S. Palma (center), who helped organize with Imam Aurangezeb M. Ali of the National Commission on Muslim Filipino-VisMin, and Joe Steven C. Berdin of the UCCP Bradford Church the signing last April 8 of the peace covenant of Cebu City candidates, is calling on Filipinos to pray for an honest and clean elections. (CDN PHOTO/FERDINAND EDRALIN)
CEBU Archbishop Jose Palma yesterday advised Filipinos to elect a leader who is decent enough to face leaders of other nations.
“When we elect people in power, we expect them to serve, but at the same time they should also relate with other people in many parts of world,” he told reporters after presiding over a Mass and diaconate ordination at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.
He was asked to comment regarding the controversial remarks of Davao City Mayor and presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte about the 1989 gang rape of Australian missionary worker Jaqueline Hamill.
“What if this kind of joke will spread to other people from different parts of the world? Can we feel at ease with that kind of person?” the 66-year-old prelate asked.
Palma, the former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said it will be up to the electorate to decide whether or not to vote for a person like Duterte.
“Are we happy with what he (Duterte) said? Do we agree with it? Some say it’s okay. Others say otherwise,” he said.
“The future of our country depends on the votes we make. The electorate should discern and decide. That is where the power of the ballots comes,” he added.
On election day, Palma encouraged the faithful to pray for an honest and clean polls as well as for Filipinos to choose the best leaders for the country.
A YouTube video has gone viral, showing Duterte commenting how beautiful the missionary was and then joking about how the hostage-takers had raped her before he did.
“Naunahan pa ang mayor. Patayin lahat yan (They did it ahead of the mayor. Kill them all),” the mayor recalled saying during the 1989 hostage-taking inside the Davao Metrodiscom Headquarters.
Last Sunday, Duterte admitted he said those words, but he said he just wanted to express his anger about the heinous crime.