Priestly politics
“APUNG PANLILIO is the problem. I watched you on Infomax 8.”
The most revered Msgr. Guido Aliwalas, the oldest priest in Pampanga at years past 90, greeted me as I knelt by his wheelchair to kiss his hand.
He was the first among the clergy to come to Max’s Restaurant last Monday for a meeting with the Kapanalig at Kambilan ning Memalen Pampanga Inc. (Kambilan) on the recall movement against Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio, his fellow priest, albeit suspended of his priestly faculties.
Colleague Ding Cervantes of the Philippine Star asked Apung Guido if he would sign the recall petition.
The answer was quick and drop-dead sharp: “Obat ati ku keti? (Why am I here?)
The prelate who had celebrated the diamond jubilee of his ordination some years back invoked his constitutional right to remove an elected official found wanting in competence to lead, and serve, his constituents.
One after the other, the parish priests came: Fathers Rolando Lopez of Apalit, Rudy de Guzman of Dolores, San Fernando and Simeon Pabustan, Jr. of Del Carmen, Floridablanca, all my seniors at the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary; Fr. Eric de Guzman of Manibaug, Porac, three years my junior also at MGCS; Fr. Miles Lacanlale of Minalin, already a deacon in my first and last year at San Jose Seminary; a close friend from his Porac days, Fr. Joel Tubig now of Pulung Masle, Guagua; and acquaintances Fathers Rustom Tanglao of Anao, Mexico; Lyndon Valenton of San Jose, Floridablanca; Mar Miranda of the Bulaon Resettlement, City of San Fernando; Bong Gopez formerly assigned in San Isidro, Guagua; Donatillo Ocampo; Alfred David of Baliti, City of San Fernando; Gabriel Torres of the Madapdap Resettlement, Mabalacat; and Jay Salvador.
There was Fr. Bogs Moraleja of the Chancery too.
Then there was Msgr. Jun Mercado of Lourdes, Angeles City dubbed the “General” for his closeness with and influence on the police and the military. All 16 of them make up one half of the group called Prayer Warriors.
No, they did not meet with the Kambilan to wage war against their own kind in the Reverend Governor.
This, even as Fr. Bogs admitted that their group had vigorously opposed Panlilio's entry into politics when he decided to run for governor in violation of Canon Law.
Echoing an earlier statement of former San Fernando, now Dagupan-Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz, the Prayer Warriors challenged Panlilio to choose between being governor and being a priest.
“I have always spoken against priests running as politicians and he (Panlilio) knows that very well. He has to either give up his priesthood and so become a poor politician or give up his political role and become a full priest.” So was Cruz quoted in Panlilio’s favorite newspaper.
Fr. Bogs cited a parallel case in that of former Bishop Fernando Lugo who stepped down as bishop to assume the presidency of Paraguay last Aug.15.
After initial refusal to recognize Lugo’s resignation, the Vatican eventually laicized him, that is stripped him of his ecclesiastical vows and declared him a layman.
That aside, Fr. Bogs said they welcome the recall move. And “some, but not all, would sign the recall petition.” Not only among the 16 present but other priests as well, Fr. Joel whispered to me, “but privately, of course.”
News of the priests meeting with Kambilan has most definitely created ripples in the hierarchy.
Tuesday evening on CLTV 36’s Balitaan, San Fernando Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David said the 16 Prayer Warriors should be reminded of the separation of Church and State, that which stands to be violated by their involvement in the politics of the recall process.
Perhaps anticipating a quick retort of Panlilio’s own involvement in politics, Bishop Ambo clarified that the governor was suspended for that very reason.
So was that a veiled threat? That those priests who would participate in the recall process stand to get suspended too?
A layman who watched the newscast with me cried double standard at Bishop Ambo’s pronouncements: “He is lowering the boom on the Prayer Warriors for their intended participation in a political exercise, yet he closes his eyes to priests who have politicized the very Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by allowing Panlilio use of the pulpit for his harangues against the sangguniang panlalawigan and the Pampanga mayors.”
Stirrings of some schism there, I tell you.
The most revered Msgr. Guido Aliwalas, the oldest priest in Pampanga at years past 90, greeted me as I knelt by his wheelchair to kiss his hand.
He was the first among the clergy to come to Max’s Restaurant last Monday for a meeting with the Kapanalig at Kambilan ning Memalen Pampanga Inc. (Kambilan) on the recall movement against Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio, his fellow priest, albeit suspended of his priestly faculties.
Colleague Ding Cervantes of the Philippine Star asked Apung Guido if he would sign the recall petition.
The answer was quick and drop-dead sharp: “Obat ati ku keti? (Why am I here?)
The prelate who had celebrated the diamond jubilee of his ordination some years back invoked his constitutional right to remove an elected official found wanting in competence to lead, and serve, his constituents.
One after the other, the parish priests came: Fathers Rolando Lopez of Apalit, Rudy de Guzman of Dolores, San Fernando and Simeon Pabustan, Jr. of Del Carmen, Floridablanca, all my seniors at the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary; Fr. Eric de Guzman of Manibaug, Porac, three years my junior also at MGCS; Fr. Miles Lacanlale of Minalin, already a deacon in my first and last year at San Jose Seminary; a close friend from his Porac days, Fr. Joel Tubig now of Pulung Masle, Guagua; and acquaintances Fathers Rustom Tanglao of Anao, Mexico; Lyndon Valenton of San Jose, Floridablanca; Mar Miranda of the Bulaon Resettlement, City of San Fernando; Bong Gopez formerly assigned in San Isidro, Guagua; Donatillo Ocampo; Alfred David of Baliti, City of San Fernando; Gabriel Torres of the Madapdap Resettlement, Mabalacat; and Jay Salvador.
There was Fr. Bogs Moraleja of the Chancery too.
Then there was Msgr. Jun Mercado of Lourdes, Angeles City dubbed the “General” for his closeness with and influence on the police and the military. All 16 of them make up one half of the group called Prayer Warriors.
No, they did not meet with the Kambilan to wage war against their own kind in the Reverend Governor.
This, even as Fr. Bogs admitted that their group had vigorously opposed Panlilio's entry into politics when he decided to run for governor in violation of Canon Law.
Echoing an earlier statement of former San Fernando, now Dagupan-Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz, the Prayer Warriors challenged Panlilio to choose between being governor and being a priest.
“I have always spoken against priests running as politicians and he (Panlilio) knows that very well. He has to either give up his priesthood and so become a poor politician or give up his political role and become a full priest.” So was Cruz quoted in Panlilio’s favorite newspaper.
Fr. Bogs cited a parallel case in that of former Bishop Fernando Lugo who stepped down as bishop to assume the presidency of Paraguay last Aug.15.
After initial refusal to recognize Lugo’s resignation, the Vatican eventually laicized him, that is stripped him of his ecclesiastical vows and declared him a layman.
That aside, Fr. Bogs said they welcome the recall move. And “some, but not all, would sign the recall petition.” Not only among the 16 present but other priests as well, Fr. Joel whispered to me, “but privately, of course.”
News of the priests meeting with Kambilan has most definitely created ripples in the hierarchy.
Tuesday evening on CLTV 36’s Balitaan, San Fernando Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David said the 16 Prayer Warriors should be reminded of the separation of Church and State, that which stands to be violated by their involvement in the politics of the recall process.
Perhaps anticipating a quick retort of Panlilio’s own involvement in politics, Bishop Ambo clarified that the governor was suspended for that very reason.
So was that a veiled threat? That those priests who would participate in the recall process stand to get suspended too?
A layman who watched the newscast with me cried double standard at Bishop Ambo’s pronouncements: “He is lowering the boom on the Prayer Warriors for their intended participation in a political exercise, yet he closes his eyes to priests who have politicized the very Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by allowing Panlilio use of the pulpit for his harangues against the sangguniang panlalawigan and the Pampanga mayors.”
Stirrings of some schism there, I tell you.
posted by A.Caesar Z. Lacson at 8:35 AM
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