Bishop tells Pope to shun Arroyo invitation to RP

Saying he could end up as yet another excuse for more corrupt deals - or worse, a victim of crime - a senior Catholic bishop urged Pope Benedict XVI not to accept President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s invitation to visit the Philippines. Worse, Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop Oscar Cruz said Monday that a papal visit at this time will be used to dignify an administration with a "dire lack of moral ascendancy." "A papal visit to the country might be neither wise nor prudent these times. The country is anything but safe and crime free. The visit will give the government officials the salivating occasion to make money for themselves. Furthermore, a papal visit would dignify a national leadership that is suffering from dire lack of moral ascendancy not to mention its big socio-political liabilities," Cruz said in his Web log. Besides, he cited one travel advisory after another issued by a good number of foreign governments to their citizens advising them that the Philippines is not a safe place to go to. Killings and abductions, angry rallies and their violent dispersals, terrorist threats, and syndicated crimes are but some of the dated dangerous happenings in the country, he said. Cruz also cited Sunday’s abduction of Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi, and last year’s murder of Aglipayan bishop Alberto Ramento. "Pastors were also killed or are in hiding. Even foreign catholic priests are not spared from unceremonious murder and sudden abduction ... More than the question of who did the killing and abduction, the fact remains that these uncivilized deeds continue to happen in the country," he said. On the other hand, he said the Arroyo administration is not exactly known for integrity and honesty in the handling of funds especially when staging big public events. He said it has become an expert in graft and corruption such that the Philippines was recently given the shameful and disgusting title of being the first placer in corruption in the whole Asian region. Cruz cited in particular the January Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Cebu last January. "No less than some 1,800 lampposts were purchased and installed for the occasion. While each only costs from P7,000 to P9,000, the government was reported to have spent no less than P300,000.00 per lamppost!" he said. - GMANews.TV