MANILA, Philippines — Catholic Church leaders are speaking up on issues to guide and enlighten the people, and it is within their right to call out the government for its lapses, according to Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.
Pabillo issued the statement in response to criticism from chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo who said that a pastoral letter of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on the anti-terrorism act “appears to have” violated the constitutional provision on the separation of church and state.
Those who think the CBCP violated the constitution should file cases, Pabillo said.
“Don’t we have a right to speak on the shortcomings of the government? Just because we are part of the church, does it mean we can no longer speak? We are also citizens. Precisely we are doing that in order to open the eyes of the people,” the prelate said in an online briefing.
The CBCP has long been commenting on matters that it does not consider right, and added that it has been speaking more often lately because the country has big problems.
Pabillo got the backing of lawyer Christian Monsod, one of the framers of the Constitution, who said church officials were not precluded from speaking up on matters concerning the government.
Monsod said that church leaders, as citizens of the country, “have the right to freedom of speech.”
They could even run for public office if they wish and this would not be in violation of the law, he said. INQ