CBCP offers poll winners “vigilant collaboration”
THE Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) promised winners in the 2016 “vigilant collaboration.”
“And that offer, we make now,” said CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in a post election statement titled “Get up, let us go!”
“We will urge our people to work with the government for the good of all, and we shall continue to be vigilant so that ever so often we may speak out to teach and to prophesy, to admonish and to correct — for this is our vocation,” he said.
Villegas said several critical, even spiteful, voices have asked them to desist from “interfering” in politics.
“We cannot. We do not aspire after office and we have sought none. We do not even impose upon the Catholic faithful a set of anointed candidates. But it would be a denial of Christ’s universal lordship were we to desist from reminding his disciples of what fidelity to him — in all things, including political life – demands,” Villegas said.
He assured poll winners of prayers and told non-winners they are infinitely so much more than the positions after which they aspired.
“To those who have been voted to office, we assure them of our prayers, principally for wisdom, that they may discern God’s will for his people and courageously do as he bids,” her said.
He said God’s hand is to be recognized in the events of history.
“Credit then your victory, neither to fame nor popularity, but to God who calls you to service and to care for the weakest and the most distressed in our midst,” he said.
He reminded the victors about children care that cannot be postponed, women still in situations of exploitation, indigenous peoples who remain marginalized and the vaunted growth in the economy that still has to mean something significant for Filipinos living outside urban areas.
To those who did not succeed, the CBCP advised them that rather than becoming despondent and discouraged, “you should challenge yourselves by asking how it is that the Risen Lord sends you “to make disciples of all nations“.
He said, “It is for you to discover your paths, in faith and in docility to God’s spirit.”
Meanwhile, Villegas said people must move on from the 2016 national and local elections.
He added they must not sacrifice their human relationships as friendships and family relationships because of politics.
He also advised candidates who might find cause to charge electoral fraud not to jump to conclusion without giving government bodes a chance to investigate.
Before the elections, the CBCP advised the laity to “reject a morally reprehensible bet. ” (Tita Roces/Johanne Macob)
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