Saycon: Church can be used to destabilize gov’t

Pastor “Boy” Saycon. INQUIRER file photo / LYN RILLON

A government official is not discounting the possibility that the Catholic Church could be used to destabilize the Duterte administration.

“Mayrong posibilidad na ganoon ang mangyari [There is a possibility that this will happen],” Pastor “Boy” Saycon, member of the three-man team formed to have a dialogue with religious groups, said in an interview with Radyo Inquirer 990AM on Wednesday.

Saycon said there are “radical” members of the Catholic Church but he believed that the leadership of the Church do not meddle in such destabilization efforts.

“Mayroong mga member din naman ng simbahan na radikal ang pag-iisip pero in general, ‘yun namang leadership ng simbahan ay hindi naman nakikialam,” he said.

(There are church members who are radical in mind but in general the leadership of the church is not meddling.)

The threats to oust the President, he said, was not directly coming from the Church but from organizations connected to foreign groups with “foreign interests.”

“Well, hindi naman nanggagaling sa simbahan ang banta. Nanggaling ang banta, nangagaling diyan sa mga organisasyon na konektado kung minsan sa banyagang interes,” he said.

(Well, the threat is not coming from the church. The threat is coming from organization connected most of the time with foreign interests.)

Saycon said destabilization moves against the President could be because he “does not tow to the whims” of foreigners particularly the Americans.

Asked if he thinks that were “destabilzation initiatives” by the Americans, he said, “Ganoon na nga ‘yan [That’s what it is].”

Preventing a ‘very bad situation’

Saycon said the dialogue between the government and the Church sector is meant to “foster good relationship” with all religious groups.

“We have to come with clean hands, clean hearts, to listen and ask the Church on how we can foster this good relationship between the government and the Church,” he said.

Saycon, who is also a member of the Edsa People Power Commission, said the government wanted to prevent a repeat of the Edsa uprising where the Catholic Church had a big role in the ouster of former presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph “Erap” Estrada.

“Things went into a very bad situation that caused the removal of Erap from his office so ayaw natin mangyari ang ganoong klaseng pangyayari [we do not want that to happen],” he said.

He said he doesn’t want that the “conflict” between the government and the Church “becomes untenable.”

But he admitted that a repeat of Edsa where the Church took an important role was still far from happening

“Malayo pa naman doon sa ganoon [It is still far from that scenario],” he said.

On Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte has formed a committee to dialogue with the Catholic Church and other religious groups following his scathing remarks against the church.

Saycon, Roque and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ernesto Abella comprise the three-man team formed recently by Duterte.  With a report from Kristine Macasiray / INQUIRER.net trainee / jpv

READ: Duterte forms team to dialogue with Catholic Church, other groups