Church dared to explain funding for Shrine

Piqued at claims that the ongoing rally of Estrada loyalists has resulted in the "desecration" of the Roman Catholic EDSA Shrine in Mandaluyong City, the opposition challenged Church officials to reveal the source of the money used to build the shrine.

Lawyer Jesus Crispin Remulla, spokesman for the opposition Puwersa ng Masa-Lakas ng Demokratikong Pilipino (PnM-LDP), urged the Ombudsman to look into the building of the shrine.

"We believe that it is now high time for the Catholic Church to bare the expenses and other facts surrounding the building of the EDSA Shrine. Was it really private money? How much did the government contribute if any?" Remulla asked.

But the shrine’s curé, Monsignor Socrates Villegas, and Catholic prelates have deplored the "desecration" of the shrine, and lamented that some rallyists have even made its roof a public urinal.

Meanwhile, Remulla said the EDSA Shrine is for all members of the Catholic faith "regardless of their station in life. Unless of course the rich and the elite had filed a franchise before the Catholic Church for its exclusive use."

To make the accounting more transparent, Remulla suggested the Ombudsman look into the matter and "demonstrate the same zeal and fervor it showed in the investigation of the charges against jailed president Joseph Estrada."

The EDSA Shrine was built to commemorate the peaceful 1986 People Power revolution which led to the ouster of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos.

The Vatican has declared the site "holy ground," where the faithful may obtain plenary indulgences.

Estrada loyalists on Wednesday also started gathering at the shrine to protest Estrada’s arrest and detention on the capital charge of plunder. They are calling their rally, "people power III."

Villegas said rallyists piled garbage on the marker declaring the site "holy ground" and hung streamers on the image of the Virgin Mary atop the chapel of the shrine.

Estrada loyalists who stayed on the roof of the chapel also urinated on the roof, causing a leak and damaging portions of the shrine’s ceiling, Villegas added.

Aside from the physical damage, Villegas also deplored the behavior of angry Estrada loyalists who sang lewd songs from their perches around the chapel.

But Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said Estrada critics do not own the term "people power," saying they are in a denial stage for refusing to accept the reality that thousands of Estrada loyalists are now at the shrine pressing for his return to power.

"The arrogant rich people now label the masses as ‘mangmang’ (ignorant) and ‘bayaran’ (hirelings). They should be reminded that nobody has the monopoly of ‘people power,’" she said.

"The rich people think they are the only civilized beings in society. They ridicule the poor as rude and ill-mannered. They have forgotten that they don’t own the EDSA Shrine," she added.

Meanwhile, Estrada’s wife Dr. Luisa Ejercito called on Estrada loyalists gathered at the shrine to continue their vigil and protest the violation of Estrada’s rights and government’s blatant disregard of the Constitution.

"I am calling on the people not to leave. Let’s stick together at EDSA," Ejercito said in a radio interview.