Rosales: RP needs change in values, not political system

The country needs to change its value system, not its political system, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales said yesterday.

Instead of changing the Constitution or form of government, Rosales said Filipinos should instead strengthen their own moral governance.

Rosales compared Charter change (Cha-cha) to "improving the house but not the character of the people" living in it.

"We should be careful about Cha-cha. We are right now in the middle of a crisis. The change in the Constitution and even the shift to a parliamentary form of government is only structural... We are changing the law but we are not changing the people making the law and the people who will be living under the law," he said.

Rosales also expressed disappointment with President Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), saying she failed to tackle key issues that would have had an impact on the people’s lives, particularly the issue of poverty.

"She should have said something about poverty in her SONA. There are now so many of our brothers who are poor. I was expecting her to mention poverty in her SONA at length," he said in Filipino.

Rosales was also disappointed that the President did not mention anything about corruption in government and how she is addressing it.

However, the Manila Archbishop said the President did mention good things in her SONA, specifically in calling for cooperation.

"I go for that. Our enemy is ourselves. We are like a tree. Can a tree exist without leaves, without branches, without roots?" he said.

Meanwhile, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said the President’s SONA was nothing more than a "squid tactic" to divert attention away from her and the legal issues raised against her.

Mrs. Arroyo is fending off allegations that she rigged last year’s presidential election and claims that her husband, eldest son and brother-in-law received payoffs from operators of the illegal numbers game jueteng.

Cruz said that aside from announcing the formation of the truth commission that would investigate the allegations of electoral fraud against her, the President has not fully responded to the challenge issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

While the CBCP did not call for the President to step down, the bishops said Mrs. Arroyo should immediately implement reforms in government and use constitutional means to resolve the ongoing political turmoil.

In his online web log, or "blog," Cruz said the national government is faced with three problems: corruption, jueteng payoffs allegedly given to those close to the President, and a scandalous tape in which the President is purportedly heard talking to a senior election official, widely believed to be then Commission on Elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

These issues have created deep rifts between various groups, growing dissent and distrust in government, Cruz said.

He also questioned how a change in the Constitution and even a change in the form of government could help remedy the situation.

"The form of government is not the problem but those governing. The system does not work because of the people behind it. The fundamental problem is not politics but morality among politicians," Cruz said.

He warned that "immoral leadership, amoral governance and demoralizing agenda are the (ingredients in a) formula for social disaster."