MANILA, Philippines — The camp of presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has urged the Catholic clergy to refrain from “meddling” in politics.
In a statement, Atty. Victor Rodriguez, Marcos’ spokesperson and chief of staff, said that while Marcos is calling for unity, their camp is “saddened by the men and women of the Catholic clergy who are doing the exact opposite and have abused the pulpit, allowing it to become a platform for hateful and negative campaigning.”
“As men and women of the cloth, they should be more circumspect, refrain from openly meddling with politics and stop making reckless imputation or statement that only serves as a spiritual, moral, social and cultural poison,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez did not mention the exact instance of the supposed actions of the Catholic Church on negative campaign and meddling with politics that he was referring to.
But in an earlier pastoral letter on the anniversary of the 1986 People Power Revolution, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president Bishop Pablo Virgilio David warned Filipinos against “radical distortions” in the history of martial law, which was imposed by Marcos’ father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
READ: CBCP warns Filipinos of ‘radical distortions’ on martial law history
David said the CBCP is “alarmed by this distortion of the truth of history and the attempt to delete or destroy our collective memory through the seeding of lies and false narratives.”
“This is dangerous, for it poisons our collective consciousness and destroys the moral foundations of our institutions,” the Church leader added.
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