MANILA, Philippines -- Do the right thing and don’t wait for another Cardinal Sin, a Catholic bishop urged the people Monday.

Bishop Teodoro Bacani asked the people to denounce corruption in the Arroyo administration, press for the truth and not wait for somebody like the influential Jaime Cardinal Sin to lead them.

The late Manila archbishop’s call for the public to converge on EDSA (Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue) in February 1986 resulted in the downfall of a dictator.

In his homily at the Our Lady of Peace Shrine on EDSA in Mandaluyong City, Bacani compared the Arroyo administration to that of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was forced to flee the country on Feb. 25, 1986, after millions of Filipinos gathered at EDSA to denounce his oppressive regime and replace him with Corazon Aquino.

“Today, we are not faced with a conjugal dictatorship but with conjugal greed,” Bacani said in the 2:30 p.m. Mass to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the bloodless revolt, noting that this had led to corruption in the government.

He said bureaucratic corruption had taken on “nicknames” like “Hello Garci,” “Jocjoc,” “ZTE” and “broadband.”

Bacani was referring to the election scandal in which Ms Arroyo found herself accused of colluding with an election commissioner to ensure her million-vote margin over her nearest rival and the so-called fertilizer scam allegedly engineered by Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante.

The last two “nicknames” referred to the latest controversy to hit the administration: The $329-million National Broadband Network deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

Senate witnesses implicated the President’s husband and ex-elections chief Benjamin Abalos Sr. in the allegedly graft-tainted and overpriced deal.

Like Marcos, Bacani said the Arroyo administration tried to hide the truth. He said the President and those in power should keep in mind that the truth would eventually come out. “There is nothing hidden that is not revealed,” he said.

Bacani, however, stopped short of calling for Ms Arroyo’s ouster. In his homily, the bishop recalled the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ stand after the 1986 snap elections: “If a person stole public office, he was bound to give it up.”

With the administration intent on hiding the truth behind the controversies, Bacani, who celebrated the Mass with Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, issued a challenge to the public to press for truth and “not let the light die.”

“Today, we have no such giant as Cardinal Sin. Today we are called to be giants. We should not be allowed to be cowed by anyone,” he said.

“Cardinal Sin took the lead because the people were afraid. I hope now that the people are not afraid … After 22 years of EDSA I, after EDSA II, we can now stand on our own and speak as one,” he added.

“This is another kind of people power. We are a mature people. We have found our voice. We will do our thing,” he added.

Outside, close to a thousand militants breached the police cordon around the Shrine for the first time since 2001.

The EDSA Shrine, also the site of EDSA II which ousted President Joseph Estrada, was declared by the late Pope John Paul II to be a “Sacred Place” resulting in the banning of protests and rallies in the area.

Some 1,000 militants from groups like Sanlakas, Akbayan, Freedom from Debt Coalition and Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino managed to outwit policemen at EDSA and step into the shrine area, with only a phalanx of policemen and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s pink fences between them and the church.

Argee Guevarra, an official of Sanlakas, said the groups split into three and took different routes to the shrine, which caught some 600 policemen onsite by surprise.

Bearing streamers and banners, the protesters called for Ms Arroyo’s ouster and the resignation of the officials involved in the NBN deal. The marchers, along with the Mass-goers, lit candles on the street to show their unity.

The protesters, led by former Akbayan party-list Rep. Loretta Ann “Etta” Rosales, asked the Eastern Police District to let them stay beyond the initially agreed-upon dispersal time of 4:30 p.m.