Archbishop seeks Arroyo’s ‘healing’ and ‘respect’ for Supreme Court decision

While her political fortune is going downhill, like her health, there were kind words for former president Gloria Macapgal-Arroyo from Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma.

“I pray there would be healing,” Palma told reporters yesterday.

“And that the doctors will grant her the healing she desires and that she continues to serve her people as representative of Pampanga.”

Palma was interviewed after celebrating feast day Mass at the National Shrine of the Birhen de Regla in Lapu-Lapu City, where thousands of devotees flocked to church to offer thanksgiving prayers.

In his homily, Palma talked of “unity,” “acts of charity” and “forgiveness.”

Asked later by reporters if he was referring to the travails of Arroyo, who is under arrest in St. Luke’s hospital in Taguig, Metro Manila, pending trial on charges of electoral sabotage, Palma said the pastoral message “partly” applies to her.

“She knows how to wait for what the court decides and I pray above all that there would be healing. I understand what it means to be sick,” he said.

As incoming president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Palma’s stand is much sought after on the political controversy, which has split Filipinos between support for the Aquino administration’s “tough” measures to prevent Arroyo from leaving abroad to possibly evade prosecution and alarm over its “vindictiveness” in preventing her from seeking medical treatment abroad for a serious bone ailment.

Palma was cautious in saying he does not speak for all bishops when he seeks respect for the decision of the Supreme Court.

“From a simple point of view, I only wish that for instance, when the Supreme Court has made a final commentary on certain legalities, I think that is the highest law of the land and I think, from that angle, I would wish that many other lower bodies in terms of law would respect that. And that’s my main consideration,” he said.

The High Court earlier issued a temporary restraining order on the Department of Justice’s  hold-departure order against Arroyo, who wanted to be treated abroad and to get a bone biopsy, which is not available in the Philippines.

The TRO, which the DOJ contested and the Supreme Court reaffirmed, has been deemed inoperative after Arroyo failed to fulfill one of the conditions for its implementation.

“There are many dimensions to this problem, like the right of the State, the right of the individual person, the power of the executive, the power of the judiciary. And I am not in the position to evaluate all of these dimensions. I am more of a pastor. I am more of a shepherd,” Palma told reporters.

Even as he prayed for calm among Filipinos amid the brewing crisis between the executive and judicial branches of government, Palma said that Arroyo’s rights need to be considered in the context of the demands of justice.

“It’s just not just a question about a person, (about) former president GMA. It’s a question of evaluating her situation and her plight at present, in the context of what these interpretations and recommendations from the Supreme Court, from the Regional Trial Court, or even from the Department of Justice and from many other people,” Palma pointed out.

Palma said he hoped the Filipino people would place their trust “in the goodness of the people” who are evaluating the electoral sabotage case against Arroyo.

“We leave it to the goodness in the heart of people and also to the expertise of the law, but again, I repeat, from a pastor’s point of view, I would wish that if a higher body like the Supreme Court would have made a decision, I believe that the lower courts should also try to find a way to respect that,” Palma said.

The archbishop also urged Filipinos to do everything to stay united amid the political crisis.

“As I mentioned in my homily, more than anything else, this case does not augur well for the nation knowing that before other people we’re presented as a fledgling democracy. It has been so some time,” Palma said.

“As of the moment, we give the impression that we do not get  our act together and so my prayer is that the goodness in the people’s hearts may overcome whatever temptation there is for personal interest and that we will more than anything else show that we can be united as a people,” he added. /Correspondents Fe Marie Dumaboc, Norman Mendoza, INQUIRER