MANILA, Philippines?Philippine prelates Sunday night issued a pastoral statement urging Filipinos to follow their conscience?not the results of pre-election surveys?when they vote in May.

?Do not be swayed by survey results or political advertisements. Follow the dictates of your conscience after a prayerful and collective period of discernment,? said the statement by the Catholic Bishops? Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

??Winnability? is not at all a criterion for voting!? read the statement, titled ?A Call for Vigilance and Involvement,? issued by Tandag Bishop Nereo Odchimar, the CBCP president, in behalf of the collegial body.

The CBCP released the statement during its 100th general assembly at the Pius XII Center in Manila over the weekend. The prelates are scheduled to also attend the Second National Congress of Clergy on Monday.

?We appeal directly to you, our fellow countrymen and women, as well as to all members of our Basic Ecclesiastical Communities and religious lay organizations to exercise your right to vote wisely, i.e., following the criteria indicated several times in our previous pastoral letters,? the CBCP said.

?Automated elections will not give us good public officials. Ultimately the leaders that our country shall have will depend on our wise choice of candidates,? it said.

Senators Benigno Aquino III, Manuel Villar and deposed President Joseph Estrada are the consistent leaders in the election surveys by private polling firms Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia and other survey groups.

Aquino has topped the surveys since he announced his candidacy for president following the death of his mother, former President Corazon Aquino, in August last year. He supports the Reproductive Health Bill, which is pending in Congress and is being opposed by the Church.

Antifamily policies

On Dec. 27, the feast day of the Holy Family, the CBCP?s Episcopal Commission on Family and Life issued its Catechism on Family and Life for the 2010 Elections.

The document said it ?would not be morally permissible to vote for candidates who support antifamily policies, including reproductive health (in the particular understanding being presented in the recent debates, which includes, among others, promotion of abortifacients, penalties for parents who do not allow their adolescent children to engage in sexual acts, etc.), or any other moral evil such as abortion, divorce, assisted suicide and euthanasia.?

?Otherwise, one becomes an accomplice to the moral evil in question,? it added.

Villar, on the other hand, remains embroiled in an ethics scandal involving a multimillion-peso highway project that cut through his real estate properties in southern Metro Manila and jacked up their values.

Estrada was deposed by a popular revolt in 2001 following a failed impeachment trial for his involvement in the illegal numbers game ?jueteng,? tobacco excise tax kickbacks and insider trading in the stock market. He was convicted of plunder but was later pardoned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Competence, integrity

In its Pastoral Exhortation on the 1998 Elections issued on Jan. 31, 1998, the CBCP outlined its criteria to guide voters in choosing the right candidates: Competence, leadership, personal integrity and a commitment to the common good.

?The candidate should not only be competent. He should also be God-fearing, God-loving and moral,? it said.

?And morality means first of all an absolute commitment to uphold the human rights and freedom of others, and honesty in the handling of public funds. Morality also means truthfulness, and upright conduct in one?s private and family life,? it added.

In its statement on this year?s elections, the CBCP asked the candidates to run an honest and sincere campaign and not to manipulate the perceptions of the people.

?We ask the candidates, already at this point, to start serving the nation by being honest and sincere in educating the people on the situation of our country in their campaign,? the pastoral statement said.

?They should not campaign to manipulate the perceptions of the people but to help them to make good choices for the sake of the country. They are to present their platforms and convictions rather than attack others,? it said.