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The Catholic Church will not play an active role in calling people to
the streets to depose President Arroyo or oppose Charter change to
prolong her stay in power, a bishop said today.

Caloocan bishop Deogracias Iniguez said the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of the Philippines should not be expected to be in the
forefront of any uprising since such is the primary duty of the lay
people. Iniguez is one of the few bishops who have been open about
their anti-Arroyo stance.

“I don’t think the CBCP will say: Let us now go to the streets and
overthrow this government. I don’t think the CBCP is in position to say
that because that is a decision of the populace, the decision of the
Filipino people,” Iniguez said in an ambush interview at the Ilustrado
restaurant in Intramuros.

Iniguez was responding to a question on the public waiting for a
concrete signal from the Church before they pour into the streets.
“That’s the problem; they are waiting for the wrong thing.”

Iniguez said the public should take the cue from the pastoral statement
the CBCP issued earlier where they declared that the Arroyo government
is suffering from “moral bankruptcy.” In that pastoral statement,
Iniguez said the CBCP urged that “we should reflect together so that we
can make a decision together and take proper action.”

Recently, a surge of old scandals re-surfaced--the fertilizer fund
scam involving former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc-joc"
Bolante and the President's questionable role in the ZTE national
broadband deal project, marred by allegations of bribery--followed by
noisy moves to amend the Constitution and allegedly extend President
Arroyo's term.

Leadership vacuum

The Church hierarchy has been hounded by a leadership vacuum following
the death of Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin three years ago. No
one among the high-ranking Church officials could match Sin’s political
skills and charisma in rallying people to action.

With no figurehead authoritative enough to marshal the bishops to a
collective action, the CBCP has been wracked with an internal but
silent leadership squabble. A clique of bishops are openly supportive
of President Arroyo, matched by another group who are openly critical.

Majority of the bishops have no official stand on political issues.

Its positions on political issues vary, depending on which group gains the upper-hand in the plenary discussion.

At the height of the Hello Garci wiretap scandal, where the President
was caught on tape giving orders to the disgraced poll commissioner at
the height of the canvassing during the 2004 elections, the CBCP sought
“to ferret out” the truth on the scandal.

Two years later, they issued another pastoral statement calling for
closure of the political problems, which they say distract efforts to
address poverty, especially in the rural areas.

The division within the CBCP has undermined the leadership of CBCP
president Angel Lagdameo and his critical positions toward the
administration.

Interfaith rally

Meanwhile, several groups today announced plans for an interfaith
prayer rally against Charter change to be held on Dec. 12 in Ayala,
Makati.

Among those which have expressed their intention to participate are the
Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines, Youth Act
Now!, Promotion of Church People’s Response, the United Opposition, the
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Bangon Pilipinas, Concerned Citizens
Movement, Edsa 3 Coalition, Sanlakas and the Coalition for National
Transformation. The participants are calling themselves the “No to
Gloria’s Cha-cha Committee” for the purposes of the broad action on
December 12.