CEBU’S two top Catholic officials ride in a 4×4 pickup or a sports utility vehicle (SUV).
But unlike the seven Philippine bishops implicated in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) controversy over donated luxury cars, they didn’t get their vehicles from the state-owned lottery.
The vehicles were all bought by the Cebu Archbidocese as service vehicles for use of the prelates, said Msgr. Achilles Dakay, media liaison officer answering queries about the origin and type of their vehicles.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma uses an Isuzu Alterra, a seven-seater pickup-based wagon.
It was assigned to him a month after he was installed as Cebu Archbishop in January.
When Palma arrived from his old archdiocese in Leyte, he brought over a 1980s model Toyota Corolla sedan.
His predecessor Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal used an Isuzu Trooper, which is an SUV, and a Toyota Grandia van prior to his retirement last January and continues to use them today.
Dakay said both prelates have not received a vehicle donation from the PCSO for their personal use.
Both prelates attended the weekend Plenary Assembly of bishops in Manila and were due back today but Palma confirmed in a text message that he had to extend his stay in the capital to discuss “CBCP concerns.” Palma was elected the next CBCP president with her term starting in December.
When asked by Cebu Daily News if he would meet with the new CBCP officials to discuss the PCSO controversy, Palma replied, “Yes. Likewise Cardinal Vidal expressed wish for me to extend my stay.”
Msgr. Esteban Binghay, episcopal vicar of the Cebu Archdiocese, said “There is no separation of the Church and State, rather there is cooperation.”
He confirmed that he had received donations from the PCSO in the past, the same way PCSO has been giving donations to the clergy in Cebu since the 1970s to support social projects and activities.
He said the donations are used to buy medicine and pay the hospital bills of indigent patients.
Since the donations came, he said the PCSO would not require for paper works, so none were given.
“They see for themselves where the funds go,” he said.
Binghay said some clergy in Cebu bought vehicles using PCSO donations, but these were used for social work./Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya