No evil spirit in GMA bishop

MANILA, Philippines – Infanta Bishop emeritus Julio Labayen believes President Arroyo is no “evil spirit” but a person with reason and emotion.

Labayen’s statement came after human rights advocates yesterday called Mrs. Arroyo the “she-devil in Malacañang.”

Earlier, Commission on Higher Education Chairman Romulo Neri allegedly called the President evil during a meeting with opposition senators last December.

“I do not see evil spirit in the President, I just don’t know if you see one,” Labayen told The STAR during a forum on human rights at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani along Quezon Avenue in Quezon City.

The participants, holding lighted candles, encircled a masked “devil’ resembling the President who was being subdued by an angel holding a shield and a sword.

Participants in the forum said the symbolic slaying of the “devil” represents the current human rights violations perpetrated by the military against people opposed to the Arroyo administration. – Perseus Echeminada