Local clergy asks Erap to resign

PASTORAL LETTER ON THE CURRENT NATIONAL SITUATION

To the Faithful of the Island-Diocese of Virac:

The Lord of freedom and justice be with you!

We cannot ignore anymore the call to speak out on the current national crisis. The nation is ailing and the presidential leadership is under thick, dark clouds.

We are aware that in our province, whether out of fear or indifference or for some other motives, people and institutions do not usually openly speak out on controversial national issues. With this pastoral leter, therefore, we risk causing disappointment to some, even outrage to others. But the alternative is to remain silent or to make a statement noble in substance and intent but devoid of meaning. We cannot remain silent. Our prophetic duty to God and to our people compels us to speak out.

Bribery, graft and corruption. Culpable violation of the Constitution. Betrayal of public trust. All these accusations could have been avoided - if the person concerned had been more responsible and morally sensitive, more respectful of his office's dignity and honor, more uncompromising with the nation's welfare, and had a higher regard for the people's sense of right and wrong. Sadly, the president has not been such. If he had been, the accusations would not have been made in the first place, or would have been promptly dismissed by the people.

The alleged crimes cannot be traced to mere flaws in government policies, lack of rational discernment of issues or even poor intellectual capacity. They are the result of a propensity to confuse private, personal and family interests with public interests. They are the product of an option to put a low premium on, if not ignore, morality, decency, propriety, honesty and integrity in public office. What is clear is that the alleged crimes are crimes committed, not in the process of executing the laws of the land, or implementing government policies, or pursuing the public good, but in the pursuit of self-interests.

Only a people without a sense of honor and self-respect, without a high regard for morality and decency, without strong ethical convictions, a people that equates legality with morality or popularity with legitimacy, can not feel offended and betrayed by the moral, ethical and legal misadventures of their highest official. In other civilized societies such official does not wait to be impeached - he voluntarily resigns, and the people are grateful to him and proud of their race. For a people to allow an official who has toyed with and mocked their sense of decency and morality to remain in office, is to own up to their own moral and ethical bankruptcy. Such a people sin against themselves and against God.

Nevertheless, we should not think that the malevolent forces of selfishness and deceit, immorality and dishonesty are confined to the higher echelons of power. They are as strong in the other strata of our society. And this is what causes us grave apprehensions. Malacanang may be freed from evil forces. But for as long as such forces remain among us, the general populace, the morning sun will remain far from the horizon.

Hence, even as we cast a vigilant eye on the presidency, we need to carefully reflect on our own individual and collective responsibility in this affair. We are all part of this tragic episode. So let these trying times be an opportunity for national awakening and conversion. A moment of rising but with each one beating his breast for pushing our country into a deplorable state, in danger of becoming the laughing stock and the object of contempt in the international community.

• The road to repentance is what we exhort every well- meaning Filipino to take.

• And to the President, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, we say: the many scandals that have marked your incumbency, which climaxed with the Singson expose, have badly and irreparably eroded your moral ascendancy to govern our nation. Under this circumstance, we see a sad and painful scenario wherein you and our people can no longer work  together in harmony and in an atmosphere of trust in  nation building.

The question revolves not so much on culpability or innocence as on credibility and trust. The impeachment process may not find you guilty. But your irresponsible conduct and behavior, which brought about the impeachment in the first place, have compromised the honor and dignity  of your office. As a result, you have ceased to be a trustworthy and effective guardian of the Presidency. You have lost the moral authority to govern.

So, without hatred or malice in our hearts, we ask you:  PLEASE, RESIGN. Let your sense of honor as well as love of country prevail over any other consideration. Resignation may yet prove to be a heroic and patriotic act on your part. It could gain you the respect and gratitude of the whole nation. It will certainly restore the Filipino's self-respect and moral standing in the family of nations.

Finally, we find Dr. Jose P. Rizal's El Felibusterismo worth re-reading during this crucial moment of our history. There, our national hero through Padre Florentino exhorts us:

      "...Freedom must be deserved, by improving the mind and enhancing the dignity of the individual, loving what is just, what is good, and what is great, to the point of dying for it ... Our misfortunes are our own fault, let us blame nobody else for them ... What is the use of  independence if the slaves of today will be tyrants of tomorrow? And no doubt, they will be, because whoever submits to tyranny loves it!"

May the Lord bless the Philippines and have mercy on us all!

For the Clergy and Religious of the Diocese of Virac:

(Sgd.) +MANOLO A DE LOS SANTOS, D.D.

                                Bishop of Virac

15 November 2000