Bishop denies Palace influence on pastoral letter

Malacañang had no influence on the pastoral letter issued Tuesday by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, which surprised critics when it did not call for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. This was according to Nueva Vizcaya Bishop Ramon Villena, who said President Arroyo did not pressure the group in their meeting Tuesday to come up with a statement favoring her. “Definitely she had no influence on the meeting. She left the whole thing to us. There was no pressure on her part that we do something in her favor. She let us decide for ourselves," Villena said. Villena, who is among the bishops allegedly identified with Malacañang, admitted that he is a close friend of the President. He, however, said that he is using their friendship “as a bridge to let people have an access to her, like the urban poor." Fifty five out of the CBCP’s 131 bishops attended the 10-hour meeting Tuesday, where they voted among others to ask President Arroyo to scrap Executive Order 464 to allow government officials to attend congressional hearings on government wrongdoings. The statement of the CBCP disappointed many government critics who had been expecting the influential Catholic bishops’ group to call for President Arroyo’s resignation in the light of the ZTE broadband controversy hounding her administration. Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, former vice president of the CBCP, said demanding the president’s resignation is a “political call that’s not within the competence of the bishops." However, Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz, a vocal critic of President Arroyo, said the CBCP “has practically put the premises for a call for resignation" when it admitted that the culture of corruption has reached as far as Malacañang. “It is not to be taken lightly. That is quite a very strong pronouncement," Cruz said. He added that while the bishops are divided on the issue of President Arroyo’s resignation, they arrived at a “middle ground" which resulted to Tuesday’s pastoral statement. – GMANews.TV