MANILA, Philippines—A Malacañang Palace aide on Saturday called on Filipinos, who are mostly Catholics, to stick to the issues in the ongoing controversy involving bishops who accepted allegedly questionable donations from the Arroyo administration.
“Lets stick to issues. That’s always our call when there’s an issue of national interest. Let’s stick to issues and let’s not dwell on the personal,” Valte said over the state-run radio station dzRB.
Valte acknowledged that the government and the church were partners in helping Filipinos but indicated that the issue of whether the bishops have to return the donated vehicles would depend on how the bishops were using the donations.
“I think that the church and the government are partners in helping our people is not in question. We recognize that,” Valte said.
“But as regards the return of the vehicles, remember at this point there is still an ongoing determination on what the vehicles were used for,” she added.
The Commission on Audit has questioned the donations for being unconstitutional, citing the provision on the separation of the church and state.
Lawmakers have expressed the opinion that the government donations to the bishops would be unconstitutional if they were used to promote religion.
“The versions of the events as of now are still confusing. Perhaps, it would be better to first determine for what purpose these vehicles were used, whether they were really used for charity,” Valte said.