Amid the growing number of religious leaders openly endorsing specific candidates for the May 9 elections, an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) reminded them that they may be crossing the line.
In a recent interview on Radyo Veritas, CBCP vice president Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara said that while priests and nuns had every right to choose their candidates, they also needed to protect their identities as servants of the Church.
“You can state your preference, you can say who your candidate is and why… but because this is your identity, maybe when you try to persuade others, you can do it unassumingly with prudence. It is much better that way,” Vergara said.
He added that a priest or bishop might be crossing the line by publicly endorsing the candidate they were supporting and …“we do not know the consequences.”
Vergara noted that even wearing a mask of a particular color associated with certain candidates could be perceived by parishioners as campaigning.
“Yes, we are clerics, bishops, priests or nuns, and we are faced with our humanity of wanting to fight for what is true, what is good, beautiful, right [and] just,” he said.
But, he added, “it’s also good also to look at ourselves on what would be the best creative way that we will pursue it, given our identity.”
Vergara reminded them to be mindful of the Church’s mission and advocacy which could be compromised because of their endorsement of a candidate.
But earlier this month, Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David gave his blessing to the Kalookan Laity for Principled Politics (KLAPP) as it backed the candidacies of Vice President Leni Robredo and Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan. (©Philippine Daily Inquirer 2021)
