Fr. Soc tells flock: Don’t ask for pork
THOU shall not ask.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas told his Catholic flock that this should be their guiding principle when relating to politicians as a major scandal hounds Congress over the use of the pork barrel, formally known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Villegas urged church-based organizations and institutions to make “Walang hihingi!” their mantra when dealing with politicians.
“We in Church can contribute to the corruption by grabbing a piece of the pie through our solicitations from government officials — from candles to basketball uniforms to bags of cement to government bulldozers. We tempt the public officials to get money from jueteng or the pork barrel in order to accommodate us, ” Villegas said in a statement issued Monday to the archdiocese.
Filipino voters become “grateful” beneficiaries of legislators whom they expect to give them something when they need it, he added.
In turn, politicians become “thankful” recipients of the largess of pork barrel which is not released without due approval from the executive branch.
“Politics of patronage not stewardship cascades from top to bottom,” Villegas said.
TRANSPARENCY
At the same time, he called on people who serve as “stewards of the materials goods of the Church” to be themselves transparent in their fund-raising projects.
“We must prepare our accounting reports of how Church funds are disbursed insuring all the time that the principle of accountability is observed. When we are less than transparent in our accounting, we hurt the truth. Ang sinungaling ay kapatid ng magnanakaw,” he said.
The same goes true for government officials, he said, who handle stewardship of public money.
Villegas said the existing system, particularly with legislators having the PDAF, is very vulnerable to conflict of interest, parochialism and corruption in the selection of suppliers and the bidding of contracts.
“Let the legislators legislate and the executives execute,” he said.
The archbishop said he issued the statement as many of the Catholic faithful have come to them seeking moral guidance on the issue of the pork barrel.–Eva Visperas
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