President Noy spoke out of turn when he blasted some bishops who tolerated corruption in the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when Pope Francis paid a visit to Malacañang.
Why should the President wash dirty linen in public? To emphasize that his administration is clean while the previous one was corrupt?
He should have seen Vice President Jojo Binay and other Cabinet members squirming in their seats when the Pope urged government officials to reject corruption and instead embrace “honesty, integrity and commitment to the common good.”
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Why did the President have to talk about the suffering his family went through during martial law?
What was its relevance to the Pope’s visit?
The President said, “These teachings (of the Church on temporal matters) have been central to my family’s advocacy, which is understandable considering what we, along with millions of Filipinos, went through under the dictatorship… I had a front row seat to that tyranny and persecution. After all, the dictator wasted no time in having my father, one of the (country’s) most influential and vocal opponents, imprisoned.
“Martial law deprived our family not only of a loving husband and father. Many of our friends avoided us.”
Katherine Mina-Closa, a high school teacher at Colegio San Agustin in Makati City, voiced the sentiments of many people about the President’s speech.
In her blog, she said: “Mr. President, the theme of our Pope’s visit [is] Mercy and Compassion, but it seems you have failed to remember [this].
“The themes of your speech are ‘How’s my childhood, who wronged my family, who insulted me, who ridiculed me (apparently referring to a Catholic bishop who said that he had thinning hair in jest—RT).’ Revenge time, as always, and pure arrogance!
“You are not just disappointing, you are definitely an embarrassment!”
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The President was right in complaining against some members of the local Catholic clergy.
But his complaint was ill-timed.
If the President were competing in a singing contest, a buzzer would have gone off as he was way out of tune.
He could have registered his complaint with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines and if he was ignored, he could have gone to the Filipino people.
The citizenry, who claims to be his “boss,” would have understood him and flayed the erring Catholic bishops.
But reporting to the Pope?
In the first place, the Pope is not interested in this country’s politics.
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Pope Francis was so impressed by the popemobile made for him by former Ambassador Tony Cabangon-Chua that he invited the latter to the grounds of the University of Santo Tomas to thank him personally.
“Beautiful, beautiful car,” the Pope was quoted as telling the former Philippine envoy to Laos.
The making of the popemobile, used mostly by the Pope during his four-day visit, was a joint undertaking of Almazora Motors and Gencars, which sells Isuzu pickup trucks and sports utility vehicles and is owned by Cabangon-Chua.
The vehicle was a converted Isuzu D-Max pickup.
It will be taken to the Vatican to be used for future trips of the Pope.