No epals, yes to cash

CEBU, Philippines - There will be no place for epals (attention seekers) and opportunistic trapos (traditional politicians) in the 51st International Eucharistic Congress. Their donations, however, will be very much welcome.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma firmly specified that no political advancements or motives will be tolerated for the activity come 2016.

The same year happens to be the scheduled presidential election year.

“As a general rule, we are very careful with being accused of making use of the elections. The International Eucharistic Congress shall not be used for any political agenda,” Palma said point-blank.

While donations are welcome, they particularly prohibit fanfare and announcements from politicians especially those who have been viewed to run for public office that year.

Palma said that politicians who will donate will be treated as regular parishioners who want to contribute to the success of Philippines’ hosting of the 51st IEC where most activities are set to happen in Cebu.

“Any donation from them will be taken ordinarily. We do not allow parading donations in a party. Nothing like that should happen. We will be coming up with definite rules as the event and the election near,” the archbishop said.

P1.3 million from Cebu parishes

The local organizers of the IEC recently launched a fundraising drive dubbed “Piso-Piso Para sa Misa ng Mundo.”

Donation boxes were distributed to different parishes and establishments so that donors may drop their contribution towards hosting the IEC which is seen to gather thousands, perhaps even millions, of Catholics.

Palma happily reported yesterday that they have so far accounted around P1.3 million from Cebu alone.

Volunteers

While around 3,000 volunteers are expected to be needed to help out in the IEC preparation and actual event, the committee on volunteer formation only has about 100.

Monsignor Dennis Villarojo explained that this is because the event his still over one year away.

“For the moment, we only recruit the people that we already know. This is also the briefing on the local church workers in inviting volunteers. They must be those we already know and familiar with. Anyway, the online registration has just started and this also included enlistment of volunteers from around the world,” Villarojo said. — /BRP (FREEMAN)