AT the risk of being accused of living in another planet and not caring for their flock, leaders of the Catholic clergy in the Philippines found their voice and aired their concern over the way the P6.3-trillion national budget had been loaded with billions of pesos for “ayuda” (financial assistance).
Like the opposition, these priests have been resigned to the very real possibility that the dole-outs would promote patronage politics and corruption in the midterm elections.
It is not just a possibility, as we see when we go around the provinces today that posters and tarpaulins are everywhere, welcoming this and that senator or congressman, to hand out cash and other goods as ayuda. These politicians are incumbent lawmakers who signed the national budget bill carrying provisions for hundreds of millions of pesos in assistance, and many of them are running in the May elections.
‘“As the elections draw near, we see how platforms of popularity, dynasty, and patronage are again exploited, making politics into a family business,” he said.’
“It is time that we each take a stand about corruption, and that we be able to do something positive towards overcoming corruption. We must lobby, we must protest, yes, but more importantly, we must agree to come together and become the light to overcome the darkness of corruption,” Fr. Tito Caluag said in his homily last Sunday.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David issued a pastoral letter titled “Is there still hope?” in which he noted the “scandalous misuse of public funds and resources; the questionable insertions, cuts, and adjustments in the national budget; and the anti-poverty programs that promote a culture of patronage and mendicancy.”
“As the elections draw near, we see how platforms of popularity, dynasty, and patronage are again exploited, making politics into a family business,” he said.
“We sense a strong surge of hope, above all, in the feeling of uneasiness and disturbance — symptoms of an inner affliction, prodding us that something is wrong, yet at the same time urging us that something can and must be done within, among ourselves, and our institutions,” he said.
For Caluag, protesting the ayuda is a “non-negotiable moral imperative,” for while is it a temporary measure to alleviate the poor’s hunger, the dole-out is ephemeral. What they truly need, he said, are solid programs that will empower them to genuinely improve their lives. “They should be masters of their lives and not need to depend on ayuda.” That way, their human dignity would be restored.
Joining the discussion, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas called on the faithful “to study diligently, judge critically and act with vigilance on the moral concern of the 2025 national budget.” He criticized budget cuts for the education sector and the zero subsidy for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.
“We can be light to our people, to our society. And I’m sure there are many leaders in government who will be welcoming our support and our participation in helping create a government that is really not corrupt, and a government that will really push for the genuine development of our people,” he also said.
It is good to hear the voice of the Church on these social and political issues, and know that their various positions are in accord with those of the majority of the people.