Palma says Church to be extra careful; says PCSO to blame for scandal

Brotherly reminders” will be issued to priests who will receive or solicit donations from government, the incoming president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said yesterday.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said this as he admitted that the recent fallout over the Pajero controversy involving seven bishops compelled the Church to become “extra careful” about accepting donations especially from public officials.

“Donations are considered expressions of love…Usually we are just channels of the donations. If there was any fault at all, it was with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO),” Palma told local media in a press conference held yesterday.

Palma, who was recently elected CBCP president, said the vehicles and funds allocated by the PCSO during the term of the Arroyo administration were received by the seven bishops in good faith.

Palma said there was nothing anomalous nor unconstitutional in those donations. “They were actually used for health care, for medical mission, for poverty alleviation, for projects and delivery of goods,” Palma said.

He cited his experience as parish priest of St. Anthony de Padua in Barotac, Nuevo Iloilo when he received a donation from a congressman.

“I said I hope this is not your community development fund and he said, no, no, no, this is personal. So, I received the money. And that was meant for construction of our restrooms in the church,” he said.

Palma explained that each diocese uses a “corporation sole” in which donated vehicles are registered under the name of the bishop. He said the bishop signs it for use on all their social outreach programs.

When asked if they will impose discipline against priests found to be soliciting donations from public officials, Palma said they will simply issue “brotherly reminders.”  “Nobody is above the individual bishop but the Holy Father,” he said.

Due to the presence of the Internet, Palma said news about the PCSO controversy may have reached the Vatican.  But Palma, who recently received a pallum or vestment from Pope Benedict XVI, said the Pope trusts them that they could handle the case.

Archbishop Palma uses an Isuzu Alterra, a seven-seater pickup-based wagon assigned to him a month after he was installed in January. When Palma arrived from his old archdiocese in Leyte, he brought over a 1980s model Toyota Corolla sedan.

Palma said he considered the Senate inquiry as “part of God’s plan.”  “I believe it’s part of God’s plan that the bishops were summoned. The Senate hearing gives us an avenue where they were able to express an insight,” he said.

During the Senate inquiry, Palma said he saw a copy of an agreement between the Church and PCSO.

He said the agreement indicated that the donated vehicles were intended for the delivery of goods, medical missions, and health care.

“Considering the nature of the PCSO, it’s really meant for charity. It’s meant for charity, it should be given for charity. The Senate hearing reveals that a lot of repair needs to be done in our government agencies,” Palma said.

Palma, who will assume as CBCP president in December, said despite what happened, they will still continue to do the “mandate of the gospel.”

“While there is a need to continue working with charitable government, in principle, many of these things that we are doing are primarily the work of the government. In many other countries, this is primarily the work of the government,” he said.

The Senate will investigate today reports that the PCSO signed an anomalous contract for a lotto system during the term of its former chief Manuel Morato. Morato earlier criticized the present PCSO board of spending more funds for the agency’s PR campaign. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus with an Inquirer report