WE REJECT A MORALLY BANKRUPT GOVERNMENT!

Statement of Archbishop Lagdameo rejecting a morally bankrupt Arroyo administration

 

WE REJECT A MORALLY BANKRUPT GOVERNMENT!

 

We are gathered in the midst of crisis to unite and help overcome the grave challenges the nation faces.

 

When Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took office as President in January 2001, she proclaimed that she would usher in good governance, that she would show honest leadership by example, and ensure transparency in public transactions for public welfare.

 

We are now in the seventh year of that presidency – and that presidency has instead reaped pain and ruin for our nation and people.

 

We are pained by the extrajudicial killings; by the forced disappearances which have heightened despite the fact that this pattern of abuse was brought to the attention of the President early on, long before the outcry of concerned international officials and organizations condemned them before the world.

 

We are pained when billions of pesos are shamelessly diverted to serve personal political interests – such as the abrasive diversion in the fertilizer scam of public funds meant for farmers to ensure victory in the tainted presidential elections of 2004.

 

We are pained when demonstrators are bludgeoned by police and military men misled and emboldened by an erroneous "calibrated preemptive response" policy, a distorted policy already declared illegal by the Supreme Court but still enforced in the Parliament of the Streets.

 

Worse, our values have been degraded, our collective integrity blighted by the wanton examples of bribery, graft and corruption. Parents cannot adequately answer the questions of their own children – about the ZTE, how much bribes are involved, why? They cannot answer how come Congressmen and Governors receive so much money. Who are guilty? Why do they go unpunished? What kind of justice do we have?

 

Neither can they answer adequately what kind of future lies ahead for their children. For they themselves see no real future. There exists no vision, no real production, no genuine development – only self serving assertions of a "strong republic" -- whose doctors want to become nurses in order to go abroad, whose teachers are diminishing, whose farmers' and workers' future continues to slide dismally.

 

We cannot allow the pain and ruin of the Filipino. We cannot have a nation without a soul, governance without morality. We must unite! We must struggle for Truth! For Justice! For Meaningful and Fundamental Change!

 

 

 

SIGNATORIES:

 

 

 

Archbishop Angel N. Lagdameo D.D.
Diocese of Jaro

 

Archbishop Oscar Cruz D.D.
Diocese of Lingayen-Dagupan

 

Teofisto T. Gungona Jr.

 

Fr. Jose Dizon
Solidarity Philippines

 

Sharon Joy Ruiz Duremdez
National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP)

 

Father Rudy Abao, MSC (Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus)

 

Mo. Mary John Mananzan. OSB (Benedictine Sisters)

 

Sr. Maureen Catabian, RGS
Chair, W-JPIC Committee of the SIsters of the Good Shepherd

 

Bro. Edmundo Fernandez, FSC (De La Salle Brothers)

 

Sr. Teresa Mueda, DC (Daughters of Charity)

 

Ma. Luz Mijares, OSA (Order of St. Augustine)

 

Fr. Jesus Maliit, SSS (Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament)

 

Sr. Elen Belardo, RGS

 

Pastor Rey Geloagan
United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP)

 

Mayor Jojo Binay
United Opposition (UNO)

 

Betina Legarda
Concerned Citizens Group

 

Teresita Quintos Deles
Black and White Movement

 

Dr. Carol P. Araullo
BAYAN

 

Ver Eustaquio
United Movement for Democracy and Justice

 

Paco Alcuaz
Kubol Pag-asa

 

Manjette Manalo
Laban ng Masa

 

RC Constantino

 

Boy Morales

 

Linggoy ALcuaz

 

Oscar Orbos