CBCP sets novena for clean polls May 3 – 11

In a bid to ensure the country's first nationwide automated polls are clean and honest, Catholic Church officials will hold 12-hour novenas from May 3 to 11. Radio dzBB reported Wednesday the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has started making plans for the novenas, which will take place from noon to midnight. CBCP spokesman Msgr. Pedro Quitorio III said they expect the novenas, which they are initially planning to hold in Metro Manila, to mobilize prayer power to thwart threats to a credible election. Earlier, CBCP President Nereo Odchimar and Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales urged other Catholic bishops to lead the novenas in their turfs. Both bishops made the call amid concerns surrounding the coming elections, including calls for a parallel manual count to guard against automated cheating. Odchimar, who is also Tandag bishop, added the country really needs “true moral and social transformation," according to an article on the CBCP news site. He also said elections provide means for people to take dedicated and significant steps toward urgent regeneration, changes and hope. Odchimar appealed to the faithful to be united in praying the novena for honest elections. “Let us be one in self-sacrifices and in hope for our great people and our beloved land," he said. For his part, Rosales - who chairs the committee for the Year of Two Hearts - sent copies to the diocesan bishops and to the members of the Council of the Laity of the novena prayer. Last year, the CBCP declared the year June 2009 to June 2010 as Year of Prayer and Work for Peace-Building and Lay Participation in Social Change under the guidance of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. At the time, the CBCP issued a challenge to the Catholic laity to evangelize politics and renounce corruption and “take the lead in the task of moral renewal towards a deeper and more lasting change in the Philippine society." — LBG, GMANews.TV