Palma lays down ‘desiderata’

MANILA — The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines yesterday enumerated several “desiderata” for the Aquino administration, saying that harping on the country’s economic progress would not be enough and that it must also assess its work based on social and environmental issues.

CBCP president and Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma made this appeal as President Aquino is set to deliver his fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona) at the House of Representatives today.

“After our plenary assembly, we issued some desiderata … the pastoral letter that we issued is already a commentary on what we feel is the performance of the (administration),” said Palma in an interview with reporters.

In a pastoral statement issued following its 107th plenary assembly early this month, the Church body expressed concerns over issues like the coco levy fund (forcibly collected from coconut farmers in the 1970s, ending up as investments in corporations now controlled by Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco), the agrarian reform program (many lands still undistributed to farmers), the environment and the proposed Aurora Pacific Ecozone and Freeport Authority (opposed by farmers and fishers’ groups in Aurora).

“We bishops are concerned about these issues because they are matters of justice which deeply touch the lives of the poor,” read the statement.

Palma said that while the Aquino administration trumpeted the economic gains, it must not look at it based on “gross profit” or numbers. “It must ask itself whether these gains are being felt by the poor. Does it cascade down to the poor?” said the senior prelate.

On Saturday, several bishops called on Mr. Aquino to establish how the country’s economic growth would benefit the people, especially the poor and the unemployed, in his Sona. Aside from this, Palma said the government must be able to give the public an idea of what was happening to the country’s natural resources — whether it was benefiting the Filipinos or foreign investors. “How much do we profit from [our natural resources]? Or are other nations gaining from it?” asked Palma.

He said the government, under the leadership of Mr. Aquino, must also take a look at how it was responding to environmental problems.   /INQUIRER