PNoy sounds like Marcos, says prelate

The Madonna and Child

MANILA, May 13, 2011 — President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III's latest pitch for the controversial RH bill drew more adverse reactions from Catholic bishops today.

It was earlier reported (by Philippine Daily Inquirer) that President Aquino has said that whoever calls for non-payment of taxes and other forms of civil disobedience will possibly face sedition charges.

Several prelates reached by CBCPNews said sedition charges are most welcome.

"He can put us all in jail. We are willing to pay the price to save the unborn from modern Herods and save the executioners from the grasp of the evil one," Lipa Archbishop Ramon Cabrera Arguelles told CBCPNews.

Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Collin Bagaforo said "Amen! We obey God rather than man."

He considers PNoy's threat of sedition threat as "most welcome."

Former CBCP President Archbishop Angel N. Lagdameo called on the Catholic faithful to "wait and see" as he emphasized the need for both sides to be calm, reasonable and "consider the moral aspect of the issue."

"In the end, we must obey God and not man," the 71 year-old prelate concluded.

But Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes has a single message to President Aquino: "Let him charge all of us bishops, priests, religious, all the faithful with sedition." He added it is better to obey God rather than men and immoral laws.

For CBCP Legal Counsel Jo Imbong said if grounded on one's religious convictions that violates the free exercise clause or freedom of religious belief, then "Let's all Jericho march to jail."

But Archbishop Arguelles, former Military Ordinary, said "He (President Aquino)
sounds like Marcos when his mother called for civil disobedience. What happened
to his mother's terrorist and his father's tormentor?"

Former Senate President Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. told CBCPNews the statement at this point "is plain and simple hot air." He explained there's no RH law yet or actual call for civil disobedience. (Melo Acuña)

CBCP News :: Official news service of Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines Media Office

Source URL (retrieved on 05/14/2011 - 22:16): http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/15499