CBCP to officials: Admit your lapses

The influential Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) urged the country's leaders yesterday to admit their lapses, express regret and offer to reform in a bid to resolve the crisis confronting the nation.

"The solution to the crisis of today is, therefore, nothing more and nothing less than the admission of sinfulness, expression of sorrow and the will to change," the CBCP said in a statement.

In his own Easter Sunday message, Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin also fired a broadside at the Estrada administration as he called on the faithful to disallow the "culture of death and other sinister forces to lord it over us."

While the pastoral letter issued by CBCP president Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo did not specifically mention President Estrada, or specify the policies which need to be changed, the bishops' organization has been an outspoken critic of the government.

"If one were to speak of the political and economic fields, then changes in political and economic values, policies and programs need to be made," the letter stated.

The prelates also called on the country's leadership to admit its shortcomings, saying denying them will not solve the crisis.

"We cannot solve any crisis when we deny any culpability, when we simply blame others for our woes, and then go on our merry way."

The CBCP acknowledged that the times were "extremely difficult."

"The economic crisis that hit other countries severely has had a delayed impact on our country. Various forms of injustice continue. The gap between rich and poor continues to increase. More and more people considered themselves poor. Politics continues to retain a low level of credibility. There is now an increasingly visible fracture in the body politic. There does not seem to be any change in the near future," the CBCP noted.

The CBCP said reconciliation is not accomplished with a handshake or a make-up kiss, and that true peace comes after an acknowledgement of guilt.

"At this time of crisis, let us never waver in faith, hope and love. Let us put our trust in God rather than in men," Sin's message stated.

The cardinal also urged the people to let the resurrection of Christ be the "pledge of our victory in the struggle against sin and death, and the sign of our triumph in the attainment of salvation and eternal life."

"Through our faith in the resurrection, we can vanquish sin and moral decadence," he stressed.

Mr. Estrada, a former movie actor who admits to a history of gambling, drinking and womanizing, was subtly opposed by the bishops when he ran for the presidency in May 1998.