By Pearl Gumapos
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Thursday (Sept. 30) said the One Godly Vote campaign launched by the Archdiocese of Manila’s Commission on Social Communication is a civic duty, not a means to promote political candidates.
“When One Godly Vote was launched, ito pong program na ito will not focus on personalities. It will dwell more on the issues that affect the country and the Filipinos,” CBCP Permanent Committee on Public Affairs executive secretary Fr. Jerome Secillano said during the Laging Handa public briefing.
“Ang simbahan ay may karapatang mangaral, lalong-lalo na sa publiko,” he added.
According to Secillano, the launching of the campaign was to inform the public about relevant issues that are affecting the whole country.
“On the contrary, iyan pong pag-launch ng One Godly Vote, number one, is a civic duty. Number two, we want to inform the public about the issues that affect the whole Filipinos, the whole country,” he said.
“And, number three, ay iyong tinatawag namin na evangelization of politics. We want to evangelize politics. Meaning: we want to put Christ at the center of politics. Iyan lang po ang layunin namin. Wala po kaming iendorso na mga kandidato. That is not in the nature of the Catholic church,” he added. -rir
