MANILA, Philippines—In what appears to be a growing sentiment among Catholic Church leaders, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Wednesday urged the government to abandon plans for Charter change until after the 2010 presidential election.

“Filipinos deserve a better kind of leaders than what we have now,” the bishops said in their latest statement against efforts of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s allies in the House of Representatives to railroad amendment of the 1987 Constitution through a constituent assembly.

“We fervently pray especially for our government officials to forgo their plans of amending the Constitution until a new set of leaders will have been elected in the 2010 presidential election,” the bishops said in the statement titled, “Let us not allow selfish interest to undermine democracy.”

The CBCP president, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo of Jaro, who issued the statement on behalf of the entire group and with the concurrence of its Permanent Council, said that by focusing on Charter change, the government was not addressing “the real problem.”

Lagdameo cited two major scandals that have implicated the President — alleged bribery and overpricing in a now-scuttled $329-million government contract with China’s ZTE Corp. to build a national broadband network (NBN) and alleged diversion of a $728-million fertilizer fund to Ms Arroyo’s campaign war chest during the 2004 presidential election.

Corruption is the ‘real problem’

Said the bishops’ statement: “Cha-cha [Charter change] distracts the attention of the people and government officials from collectively addressing the real problem — corruption.

“The successive controversies on the NBN-ZTE deal, the fertilizer fund scam and others are the real obstacles to progress, and not the protectionist policies of our present Constitution, as Cha-cha advocates would have us believe.”

The bishops said a new Constitution would not end poverty and the Philippines’ other problems.

“On the contrary, the drafting of a new constitution may fall prey to the machinations of the few who stand to profit from a liberalized economy and possibly an extended term of service,” they said, adding:

“Filipinos deserve a better kind of leaders than what we have now. The 2010 election will allow us to perform a very serious and civic moral duty to vote into office the people who will lead us in our continuing quest for a mature, responsive and morally transformed society.”

Critics included

The members of the CBCP Permanent Council, whose term will end on Nov. 30, 2009, include a number of prelates who are vocal critics of Ms Arroyo.

They are led by Archbishop Lagdameo as president, Bishop Nereo Odchimar as vice president and Bishop Honesto Ongtioco as treasurer.

Bishops Ramon Villena, Pablo Virgilio David, Manolo de los Santos, Jesse Mercado and Buenaventura Famadico are the representatives of Luzon; Archbishop Jose Palma and Bishop Jose Advincula Jr., the representatives of the Visayas; and Bishops Antonieto Cabajog and Guillermo Afable, the representatives of Mindanao.

The CBCP holds a plenary assembly twice a year. The Permanent Council acts for and in behalf of the entire organization when the plenary assembly is not in session.

One of the major functions of the Permanent Council is to prepare joint statements or pastoral letters of the Catholic Church hierarchy on matters decided by the plenary assembly, provided that copies are sent to other members for comments before the documents are officially released.

In October, in the course of assailing corruption in the Arroyo administration, Lagdameo and four other bishops declared that “the time to form a new government is now.”

Lagdameo subsequently clarified that he had issued the statement in his capacity as archbishop of Jaro, and not as CBCP president, which meant that he did not obtain the support of all the bishops for such a strongly worded statement.

Don’t let go of people power

The CBCP position is that any amendment of the Charter should be made through a constitutional convention whose members are elected.

Having the congressmen themselves amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly is “an affront to prudence and undermines democracy,” the bishops said in their latest statement.

They added: “If we allow Congress to convert itself into a constituent assembly, we essentially relinquish the remaining power that we have as a people over our Constitution. People’s participation in this exercise is a prerequisite that must be satisfied.

“This is a new expression of people power.”

Despite the growing public opposition to Charter change at this time, Malacañang has not stopped its allies in the House from pushing the matter.

And while it has not issued any statement directly attacking Ms Arroyo, the CBCP has taken a strong stand against revived Charter change moves.

“Let us be reminded that the people, especially the poor, continue to suffer from poverty and social exclusion and that Cha-cha will not guarantee the reversal of their condition,” the bishops said. With editing by INQUIRER.net