Church's intelligence network confirms corruption serious

MANILA, Philippines – The Catholic Church's intelligence network has confirmed corruption as a serious problem affecting government bureaucracy from “top to bottom" as well as the whole of society. Tagbilaran Bishop Leonardo Medroso said on Saturday that priests and basic ecclesiastical communities have been reporting information on specific cases of corruption. "Bishops have their own network and they know the situation in their diocese from top to bottom because we have our priests down there ... So when we said it (corruption) was from top to bottom, that is serious," Medroso said in an interview on Church-run Radyo Veritas. This was the reason why the CBCP issued a pastoral letter last Feb. 26 condemning the culture of corruption from "top to bottom" of government and society, he added. Excerpts of the interview were posted on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Web site Saturday night. Meanwhile, Manila auxiliary bishop Broderick Pabillo said that doing something about political and economic issues is the laity’s responsibility, and not the clergy’s. Speaking at the 38th pastoral assembly of the Malaybalay diocese, Pabillo asked the laity to be "Catholic enough" by doing their social duties. Last Tuesday, Catholic bishops slammed endemic government corruption but stopped short of urging President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign. The statement by the CBCP, issued after a 10-hour emergency meeting, was a small victory for Mrs Arroyo's efforts to serve out the last two years of her term amid widespread calls for her to step down. The bishops' group has played a key role in nonviolent revolts that ousted two leaders in the last two decades, and a strong statement against Arroyo could have bolstered protests against her. ''We strongly condemn the continuing culture of corruption from the top to the bottom of our social and political ladder,'' the bishops said in a pastoral statement. ''We must seek the truth and we must restore integrity. We are convinced that the search for truth in the midst of charges and allegations must be determined and relentless.'' The statement urged Mrs Arroyo and her government to fight graft ''wherever it is found'' and for the president to rescind restrictions on officials testifying without her permission. The bishop's statement came as a consultant in a questionable telecommunications deal testified before the opposition-controlled Senate that millions of dollars in kickbacks went to Mrs Arroyo and her husband. - GMANews.TV