Filipino President survives after bishops shun resignation demands

FILIPINO President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has survived an attempt to force her resignation after the Catholic bishops failed to join the clamour.
The bishops refused to join the calls after the Vatican ordered them to stop meddling in politics.
“We recognise that non violent appeals for her resignation, the demand for a truth commission and the filing of an impeachment case are not against the Gospel,” the bishops said in at their semiannual plenary meeting.
Their three-page statement presented theological reflections on political leaders’ “moral accountability” as well as on constitutionality, non violence and effective governance — but stopped short of demanding her resignation.
The bishops said that, despite President Arroyo’s apology, her admission last month to a “lapse in judgment” for calling an election official while votes were still being tabulated in 2004 has “further eroded the people’s trust on the already suspect electoral system”.
It “raised serious questions on the integrity of the elections”, they added. “Beyond apology is accountability”, they stressed, and “with forgiveness is justice”.
They said that to restore trust would require a “thorough, credible and independent process” to examine the authenticity of tape recordings of the conversations to which she confessed.
For President Arroyo to be found guilty and punished, they added, the process must also verify accusations that she betrayed the public trust.
The bishops also said other people found guilty of corrupt and illegal acts such as wiretapping and involvement in illegal gambling should be punished.
They condemned the attempts of groups “who seek to exploit our vulnerable national situation” to create confusion and social chaos to seize power. “We reject calls for juntas or revolutionary councils,” the bishops said.
The bishops also said that a just political and moral order is “best promoted under the present circumstances by a clear and courageous preference for constitutional processes that flow from moral values and the natural law”.
They appealed to leaders and representatives of parishes, church communities and people’s organisations to “discern their decisions not in terms of political loyalties, but in the light of the Gospel values of truth, justice and the common good”.