Important religious achievements of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines
The primate of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines is the Archbishop of Manila.
RETIRED PRELATE STOOD GROUND AGAINST JUETENG
Retired archbishop of the Lingayen-Dagupan archdiocese Oscar Cruz continued to stand its ground against jueteng in the Philippines.
Founder of civic group Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng (Peoples' Crusade Against Jueteng) reported on 14 September 2010 that up to 12 dioceses in Luzon and the Visayas allegedly benefit from jueteng payola. But he did not name the dioceses. In fact, when he was still prelate of the archdiocese, he was offered P3 million in jueteng money for the repair of a seminary that a typhoon damaged. He refused the offer, saying: "Kung kailangan namin hihingi kami, pero huwag mo muna kaming alukin ngayon dahil meron pa kami." (If we have the need we will call you, just your offer for the meantime because we still have resources.)
He appealed to other leaders in the Church: "Hindi natin kailangan ng pera ng juetengero para magpatayo ng kung anu-ano. You don't need these people to build your churches."
He said the number of affected areas may have changed under the new administration of President Benigno Aquino III. He recently disclosed though that two Palace officials are allegedly receiving P2 million each in jueteng payola each month. [Source: Anthony Taberna: "Catholic dioceses also getting 'jueteng' money--Cruz" abs-cbnNEWS.com 14 September 2010]
During his testimony before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on 21 September 2010 (Tuesday), Cruz identified the two government officials who received a monthly jueteng payola of P2 million as for retired PNP Chief General Jesus Verzosa and DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno. He also disclosed that Antonio "Tony Boy" Cojuangco, a close friend of Puno, approached the former prelate to "take it easy" on the exposes.
Other persons named include Eddie Fontanilla ("collector on the ground") and retired General Rey Catsuela ("intermediate recipient"), both under the "nationial jueteng payola flow." Jueteng lords/operators in the list include Baby Pineda (Pampanga), Paul Dy (Isabela), retired general Eugene Martin (former Cordillera regional director) and Mayor Domogan (Baguio City), Danny Soriano (Cagayan), retired general Padilla (Pasay, Parañaque, Muntinlupa and San Pedro), Governor Espino (Pangasinan) and Boy Jalandoni (Bacolod). [Sources: Hannah L. Torregoza: "Puno, Verzosa 'Ultimate Recipients' of Jueteng Payola," Manila Bulletin 21 September 2010; Maila Ager: "Bishop bares Aquino kin request to 'take it easy' on expose," INQUIRER.net 21 September 2010]
Threats: Cruz received last week a letter containing a piece of paper with his face and the phrase "SHUT UP!" [Sources: "Anti-jueteng prelate fears for life after expose," GMANews.TV 22 September 2010]
Casualties: The Krusada Laban sa Jueteng lost one of its members when Wilfredo "Boy" Mayor was gunned down in Pasay City in February 2010.
PEOPLE POWER OF 2001 (EDSA II)
As the impeachment trial against Estrada failed in the Senate on 16 January 2001, with 11 senators voting to keep an envelope sealed and weaken the evidence in the case, 10 opposition senators and the prosecuters walked out of the Senate in protest of justice denied.
On January 17, Cardinal Jaime Sin, Archbishop of Manila, called on the people to hold vigil at the EDSA shrine "until evil is conquered by good." The call for Estrada to resign started. The following day, the crowd grew into thousands of protesters. And at 2:00 PM, Estrada left Malacañg in order to avoid bloodshed. And Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo got sworn in as the new President of the Philippines.
Sources
Juliet Labog-Abellana: "Sin opposed Vatican order, pushed EDSA II," Philippine Daily Inquirer 21 January 2008
PEOPLE POWER OF 1986
Founder of civic group Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng (Peoples' Crusade Against Jueteng) reported on 14 September 2010 that up to 12 dioceses in Luzon and the Visayas allegedly benefit from jueteng payola. But he did not name the dioceses. In fact, when he was still prelate of the archdiocese, he was offered P3 million in jueteng money for the repair of a seminary that a typhoon damaged. He refused the offer, saying: "Kung kailangan namin hihingi kami, pero huwag mo muna kaming alukin ngayon dahil meron pa kami." (If we have the need we will call you, just your offer for the meantime because we still have resources.)
He appealed to other leaders in the Church: "Hindi natin kailangan ng pera ng juetengero para magpatayo ng kung anu-ano. You don't need these people to build your churches."
He said the number of affected areas may have changed under the new administration of President Benigno Aquino III. He recently disclosed though that two Palace officials are allegedly receiving P2 million each in jueteng payola each month. [Source: Anthony Taberna: "Catholic dioceses also getting 'jueteng' money--Cruz" abs-cbnNEWS.com 14 September 2010]
During his testimony before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on 21 September 2010 (Tuesday), Cruz identified the two government officials who received a monthly jueteng payola of P2 million as for retired PNP Chief General Jesus Verzosa and DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno. He also disclosed that Antonio "Tony Boy" Cojuangco, a close friend of Puno, approached the former prelate to "take it easy" on the exposes.
Other persons named include Eddie Fontanilla ("collector on the ground") and retired General Rey Catsuela ("intermediate recipient"), both under the "nationial jueteng payola flow." Jueteng lords/operators in the list include Baby Pineda (Pampanga), Paul Dy (Isabela), retired general Eugene Martin (former Cordillera regional director) and Mayor Domogan (Baguio City), Danny Soriano (Cagayan), retired general Padilla (Pasay, Parañaque, Muntinlupa and San Pedro), Governor Espino (Pangasinan) and Boy Jalandoni (Bacolod). [Sources: Hannah L. Torregoza: "Puno, Verzosa 'Ultimate Recipients' of Jueteng Payola," Manila Bulletin 21 September 2010; Maila Ager: "Bishop bares Aquino kin request to 'take it easy' on expose," INQUIRER.net 21 September 2010]
Threats: Cruz received last week a letter containing a piece of paper with his face and the phrase "SHUT UP!" [Sources: "Anti-jueteng prelate fears for life after expose," GMANews.TV 22 September 2010]
Casualties: The Krusada Laban sa Jueteng lost one of its members when Wilfredo "Boy" Mayor was gunned down in Pasay City in February 2010.
PEOPLE POWER OF 2001 (EDSA II)
As the impeachment trial against Estrada failed in the Senate on 16 January 2001, with 11 senators voting to keep an envelope sealed and weaken the evidence in the case, 10 opposition senators and the prosecuters walked out of the Senate in protest of justice denied.
On January 17, Cardinal Jaime Sin, Archbishop of Manila, called on the people to hold vigil at the EDSA shrine "until evil is conquered by good." The call for Estrada to resign started. The following day, the crowd grew into thousands of protesters. And at 2:00 PM, Estrada left Malacañg in order to avoid bloodshed. And Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo got sworn in as the new President of the Philippines.
Sources
Juliet Labog-Abellana: "Sin opposed Vatican order, pushed EDSA II," Philippine Daily Inquirer 21 January 2008
PEOPLE POWER OF 1986
The fortuitous event exemplies the critical role that the Church plays in the political environment of the Republic of the Philippines. And in February 1986, when the Archbishop of Manila became forced by the situation to get involved in the politics of the country, the world-renowned peaceful revolution called People Power Revolution brought an end to 13 years of martial law tyranny under the strongman President Ferdinand Marcos.
After the unsolved assassination of Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. on 21 August 1983, the Philippine economy took a very alarming drive when it contracted by at least six percent. Civil unrest is boiling. And the people received a confirmation that Marcos had a hand in the death of Ninoy when the Agrava Board issued their investigation report on 24 October 1984 that the military staged the conspiracy to assassinate Ninoy.
The result of the February 1986 Snap Election fueled the rage of the people no longer satisfied at watching corruption, fraud and murders emanate from the Marcos government. While COMELEC declared Marcos teh winner, third-party poll watchers NAMFREL found Aquino winning instead. On February 9, 29 COMELEC computer technicians walked out from their office to protest what they see as deliberate manipulation of the official election results to favor Ferdinand Marcos.
Soldiers too started to defect, which culminated at the public announce of withdrawal of support to Marcos by Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Vice Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos. That happened at 6:30 PM on 22 February 1986.
At about 9:00 PM of 22 February, Archbishop Jaime Sin of Manila (1974-2003) called on the Filipino people, through a broadcast over Radio Veritas, to leave their homes and go to camps Crame and Aguinaldo to secure the rebel soldiers and bring them food. Priests and nuns took the streets, together with the laity, at EDSA. And the number of people swelled to around one million in EDSA. Four days later the Marcos family and some loyalists arrived arrived in Hawaii to be exiled, ending the corrupt and violent regime. [Source: "People Power Revolution," Wikipedia]
