Bishops against politics for religious leaders

Bishops say religious leaders planning to run for president in next May's election could unwittingly help preserve the system they seek to change, because they will surely lose and divide the opposition. "If they read history, they would see that even in the Middle Ages people could be good at religious leadership but not when they combine it with politics," Bishop Antonio Tobias said.

Bishop Tobias, spiritual adviser to Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME), or "movement for a nationalist economy," spoke with UCA News after Mariano "Brother Mike" Velarde, founding leader of El Shaddai, a Catholic Charismatic movement, commented on his potential candidacy. Velarde said he would declare by the Nov. 30 filing deadline whether he would run.

Eduardo "Brother Eddie" Villanueva of the Jesus is Lord (JIL) Pentecostal movement announced on Aug. 21 that he would run again for president. He had declared earlier in March that he would temporarily resign his pastoral duties with JIL to concentrate on leading the Bagong Pilipinas, Bagong Pilipino (new Philippines, new Filipino) Movement for good governance.

Last month, Father Eddie Panlilio, a 55 year-old Catholic priest on leave from the ministry while serving as governor of Pampanga province, announced he was willing to seek dispensation from priestly duties so he could run for the presidency next year.

Later, he said religious leaders' sense that they might need to run for the nation's highest post reflected a yearning for moral reform.

However, Archbishop Oscar Cruz of Lingayen-Dagupan, interviewed on national television, said that a field with three candidates claiming to represent similar religious ideals would divide the voters they are targeting.

The opposition to the current administration stands a better chance if it is united and supports one candidate, he said.

Velarde led the blessing of El Shaddai's International House of Prayer on Aug. 19, the day he turned 70. He told reporters the movement's 4 million members are campaigning to encourage people to register, get involved and vote in the 2010 election.

He said they will also ask people: "If I (Velarde) run, will you vote for me? If you don't want me to run, will you vote for the candidate I will endorse?"

Villanueva, 63, ran against Arroyo and ended up in last place in the 2004 presidential election, which he claimed was fraudulent.

Bishop Tobias, however, sees no reason for religious leaders to run at all, a view shared by Auxiliary Bishop Pablo David of San Fernando, in Pampanga.

In a separate interview the same day, Bishop David, a member of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines who serves on its Permanent Council, said these men should not use their "religious power base" for their political plans.

Father Panlilio, he noted, has not asked his bishop for dispensation, "so he's still using his religious office" in preparing to run for political office, the bishop observed.

If Velarde is expecting Catholic bishops to support his presidential bid, he will be disappointed, Bishop David added.

"The bishops will never openly support him or Governor Panlilio for president," he said.