Catholic bishops challenged the Aquino
administration on Friday to “let go” of corrupt officials in its ranks.
Archbishop
Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP), said the investigation into the misuse of state funds
should not be selective and should not spare administration allies.
“A
government that professes to tread the straight path must remain true to that
profession and must be willing to let go of the corrupt in its own ranks,” the
Lingayen Dagupan archbishop said in a statement.
Reiterating
Church calls for accountability, Villegas was referring to President Benigno Aquino
III’s tuwid na daan (straight path) slogan.
Villegas
made the call after the Supreme Court on Tuesday declared unconstitutional the
Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), striking down the presidential
budgetary prerogative.
The
CBCP head also called on the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Office of the
Ombudsman to tell the nation where the DAP funds went.
“While,
indeed, in many cases, it would be impractical, unhelpful even, to undo every
project funded by what the high court has ruled to be unconstitutional means,
we must nevertheless know how these monies were used, for where there was an
illegal and immoral application of funds, there must be restitution,” Villegas
declared.
According
to him, “there is no reason to direct our ire only at the three senators, or at
those presently accused.”
Different treatment
Critics
have slammed the administration for treating Aquino’s allies implicated in the
PDAF and DAP scandals differently from those linked with the opposition.
Filipinos
“must humbly recognise that the propensity to make use of what is not ours to
better the lives of our families or to gain access to luxuries that would
otherwise be beyond us will be found in all of us,” Villegas said.
“We are
all guilty by attitude and by our disposition,” he added as he renewed calls
for national conversion not only of individuals but of institutions as well.
“We
must pray together for the grace of conversion, because the prosecution and
punishment of a few will not rid the nation of the propensity to corruption
that is found in us all,” Villegas said.
Tina G.
Santos
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated
in Singapore since 1994.
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