‘Noy just telling the truth’

MANILA, Philippines - Presidential Communications Operations Office chief Herminio Coloma Jr. yesterday defended President Aquino’s remark against some bishops when the Chief Executive welcomed Pope Francis at Malacañang last Friday.

Aquino reported the biases of some bishops identified with the administrations of former Presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“It is a personal testimony of someone who experienced the events he was talking about and became President and as a leader of a country that was welcoming the pope,” Coloma said, parrying netizens’ sentiments.

He said the President’s statement was truthful and was meant to tell the truth.

“The speech was a truth-telling statement. If we review the entire text, we will understand the context. It was a narrative that is historically accurate and truthful and there is no singling out of any personality or any group,” he said.

Aquino took the rare opportunity with the pope to report some bishops whom he believes took sides during the Marcos and Arroyo administrations.

“In contrast to their previous silence, some members of the clergy now seem to think that the way to be true to the faith means finding something to criticize, even to the extent that one prelate admonished me to do something about my hair as if it was a mortal sin.”

Aquino was referring to retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz, his most vocal critic from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, whom he once described as a grumpy old man for picking on his receding hairline.

In pushing for reforms that prioritize good governance and accountability and “correcting the wrongs of the past,” Aquino had thought that priests “would be our natural ally.”