Church joins battle

A CARDINAL'S warning against a return by the backdoor to the Marcos era in the Philippines catapulted the church into a political battle with President Cory Aquino this week.
Cardinal Jaime Sin of the Philippines told the president, whom he helped achieve power after Marcos was toppled in 1986, that the man she had chosen as her preferred successor ahead of national elections in May, former Chief of Defence Fidel Ramos, was a turncoat who had propped up the dictator's regime.
"What the country needs now is a healing president who can bring our people together," the cardinal said. But a spokesman for Cardinal Sin denied that the prelate was preparing to endorse the speaker of the Philippines Congress, Ramon Mitra, for the election. The Filipino bishops could not express support for individual candidates for the office of president, a statement from the cardinal's office said.
• A 78-year-old retired bishop has declined offers to nominate him as a candidate for the governorship in the Philippines province of Western Negros. Bishop Antonio Fortich of Bacolod condemned the spirit of "graft and corruption" in province, but said his position in the church prevented him running for office.