Philippine bishops worried by new Charter Change talks

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - Catholic bishops in the Philippines have reacted cagily to fresh talks about amending the Constitution, saying lawmakers might go beyond limiting changes to the charter's economic provisions.

"Instead of calling for a charter-change, why not just amend its economic provisions?" suggested Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo in a phone interview with reporters.

The bishops were reacting to a disclosure by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Thursday that he and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte had agreed in principle on the need for deliberations on the amendments to the Constitution at the resumption of Congress sessions next month.

But Enrile emphasized that the charter-change debate must be limited to constitution provisions restricting foreign ownership of certain industries and exclude proposals to revise the political structure of the country.

Pabillo, chair of the Catholic bishops' National Secretariat for Social Action, said he was worried that lawmakers pushing for a revision of the Constitution would go beyond their pronouncement that amendments would be confined to economic policies.

He proposed that lawmakers must talk only about amendments to the Constitution's economic provisions to pave the way for needed reforms instead of moving for a total change of the Constitution.

Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez echoed Pabillo's concern, but said he would like to look at the proposed revisions.

"Let us follow what reasons they will put up and then let us weigh their relevance to the society," said Iniguez, also chair of the Catholic bishops' Public Affairs Committee.

For his part, Cotabato Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo said he would favor charter-change only if lawmakers committed themselves to limiting revisions to the Constitution's economic provisions.

"I favor it but only on agreed-upon issues such as those concerning the economic provisions... if not, then we should just go by the existing amendments process in Congress," said Bagaforo in a separate interview yesterday.

Malacanang hits Catholic prelate

Malacañang on Friday issued a statement calling for the reprimand of a Catholic bishop who claimed that certain groups were already gearing up for President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s ouster.
 
Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda hit Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos, whom he described as someone apparently “ignorant of the virtues of charity, humility and prudence.”
 
“[He] fires from the hip, armed with a fanciful imagination and utterly without any effort to discern the truth,” Lacierda said.
 
Pueblos earlier lambasted Aquino in a radio interview, saying he doesn’t deserve to be President. Pueblos was also quoted as saying in a report that “there are groups that are actually preparing for his ouster.”
 
Pueblos is perceived as close to former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
 
Lacierda said Pueblos “deserves to be rebuked in the strongest terms for being a longstanding advocate of impunity,” which he said started when Pueblos opposed attempts by the CBCP “to discern the moral culpability of former President Arroyo” for “Hello Garci.”
 
The presidential spokesman also urged the prelate to refer to a doctrine which prohibits members of the Church to “set forth political solutions.”
 

CBCP website defaced anew

A website of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) was defaced anew Thursday, while it was undergoing "maintenance."

Visitors to the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Health Care as of Thursday morning were greeted with the message "DEATH_K1ng."

However, there was no indication of who was behind the apparent hacking as the rest of the page was blank (www.cbcphealthcare.org).

In past days, the site displayed a message indicating it was undergoing "maintenance."

The site was defaced on Nov. 27 last year, hours before a major pro-life Catholic group was to hold a vigil against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

At the time, the site's home page featured the image of a man with his back turned to the viewer.

"HackEd BY LordDem0n EgYpT!0n - H4Ck3r ... Your Security Can Not Face Us !!!" read the message on the defaced website.

The defacement was removed as of noon, although the site continues to remain under maintenance.— TJD, GMA News