Lipa archdiocese severs ties to church-backed election watchdog

Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles. Photo from southernluzoninquirer.com

MANILA, Philippines—The Archdiocese of Lipa, one of the country’s largest, has decided to cut its ties with the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, an official citizen’s arm of the Commission on Elections.

Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said the clergy in the archdiocese decided on that course of action last Friday after learning the clergymen were not going to be shown the contents of the fourth copy of precinct-level election returns that church volunteers would be collecting on election day before turning them over to the PPCRV. He indicated other dioceses may soon follow suit.

“They won’t inform us of the result and I don’t think that’s right because we will only look pitiful in the local elections. So that triggered [our decision],” Arguelles told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.

During a discussion among the members of the clergy, Arguelles said, he expressed the opinion that “it seems we cannot rely anymore on the present PPCRV since some of their leaders used to be Comelec people with a reputation that is questionable” and that “There seems to be personal interests in the leadership.”

Arguelles clarified that the archdiocese will continue to work for credible and orderly elections in Batangas province on May 13.

“We are committed to work even harder to ensure honest, peaceful, credible and meaningful elections in Batangas province and work for good governance thereafter,” he said in a statement.

While the archdiocese was severing ties to the PPCRV, it did not mean that they now preferred working with the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel).

Arguelles said he was not discounting the possibility that other bishops would also question the objectivity of the PPCRV.

“We admire Ambassador de Villa. But lately, for some reason, we are no longer sure if she’s still objective…. What others complained about Namfrel in previous elections the PPCRV is now guilty of the same, and we don’t want to be involved with them,” said Arguelles. “I think some bishops are also beginning to ask.  I cannot speak for them. I don’t want to influence them.”

Arguelles said some of the bishops he informed by text messages about his archdiocese’s decision informed him that they were following Lipa’s lead.

“Some said they are following our example, but that’s not my purpose. I just want them to know what we are going to do here,” he said.

Sought for comment, PPCRV chair Henrietta de Villa said she respected Arguelles’ decision.

“I can’t do anything if that’s his decision, but I respect that. I also feel sad that this happened with only 40 days left before the elections,” said the former ambassador to the Vatican.

But she assured the public that the PPCRV has contingecy measures for them to carry out its mandate as a citizen’s arm of the Comelec.

“And regarding the thing he was complaining about, it’s not that they would not be able to see the contents of the fourth copy of the election returns. Maybe he (Arguelles) cannot see it personally unless he goes to each and every precinct, but their poll watchers who are assigned in the polling places can see that,” De Villa said.

The Lipa archdiocese’s move came two weeks after the social action arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines also ended its partnership with the PPCRV and backed the Namfrel instead.  But the CBCP’s National Secretariat for Social Action (Nassa) said it was up to the individual bishops to decide whether to follow their lead or continue supporting the PPCRV.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Nassa chair, said the reason they dropped PPCRV was the election watchdog’s refusal to coordinate with them.

“There were several attempts made to convene the citizens’ arms to discuss coordination agreement, but the Church-based group of election volunteers did not participate,” Pabillo said earlier.

Both PPCRV and Namfrel were accredited by the Comelec as its citizen’s arms for the May midterm elections.