‘Move on from polls and help nation heal’

MANILA, Philippines — Amid allegations of fraud and irregularities in the midterm elections, an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday called on Filipinos to move on from the divisions caused by the elections and help heal the country. 

“It is better to stop blaming and bashing but to move on to help one another and heal our country to peace, prosperity and unity,” said CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People chairman Bishop Ruperto Santos. 

Santos said he hoped that families would also be able to fix their relationships.

“Let us work together, mend broken relationships and extend hands of friendship to all,” he added.

Meanwhile, CBCPNews reported that Caceres Archbishop Rolando Tirona, who is also the chairman of the CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action, has called for intensive voter education following the “disturbing and frustrating” outcome of the senatorial elections.

Tirona maintained that voter education is the key to good leaders who would become public servants. He added that Catholics should be more persistent in changing the mindset and voting preference of the public.

The Caceres archbishop also appealed for prayers that those elected would deliver what they promised during the campaign season.

“We likewise pray and be vigilant that the important principle of check and balance may not be eradicated,” Tirona said.

“May the elected leaders do their fresh mandate with dedication and unselfish service for the common good,” he added.

‘Defending democracy’

Meanwhile, the Ecumenical Bishops Forum (EBF) has told President Duterte to prove that his government did not commit electoral violation or coerce the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to manipulate the results of the May 13 polls.

In its statement “Live-out Our Christian Responsibility in Defending Democracy,” the EBF said Duterte should prove that he is not using his political clout to make sure that many of his allies would land seats in the Senate.

“As the highest leader of the nation, he owes the people that obligation of guaranteeing that the results offered by the midterm elections legitimately expressed the Filipino people’s sovereign will,” the EBF added.

“He must establish that the elections has been truly a democratic process and that none has been disenfranchised with their essential right to suffrage and that their votes are honestly counted,” it added.

The EBF is a fellowship of bishops from various churches in the country. The members of its executive board are Bishop Deogracias Iniguez Jr. of the Roman Catholic Church; Bishop Rex Reyes Jr. of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines; Bishop Joel Tendero of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines ; Bishop Dindo Ranojo of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and Bishop Ciriaco Francisco of the United Methodist Church.

President Duterte, the EBF added, “must disprove that he coerced and coopted the Comelec to manipulate election results, as the breach in the transparency in the Smartmatic automated election system and the suspicious failure of (vote counting machines) are widely believed to be merely ploys to guarantee the victory of his administration’s candidates through wholesale election fraud.”

The Chief Executive should also answer allegations that public funds were used to bribe voters and that government funds were used to obtain political partisanship, the EBF said.

Duterte should also answer for the actions of state forces on the harassment and intimidation of progressive candidates and party-list organizations during the election, the bishops said.

“As the country faces its worst economic and social crisis and should President Duterte be proven to have systematically and maliciously committed fraudulent actions in the elections, he must be rendered culpable for exacerbating rather than uplifting the state of our nation’s democracy from its present predicament,” the EBF said.

“His failure to uphold the standards of electoral integrity will only strengthen the risk of democracy collapsing in our time, which could have catastrophic consequences for everyone,” the bishops added.

The EBF told Duterte that any government which exercises power through fraudulent means has no moral basis.

“Should his government not right its wrongs by itself, the Filipino people have the patriotic duty to do so for the preservation of our democracy,” it added.

The EBF also reminded Christian-Filipinos that their responsibility in shaping the country’s future goes beyond election day and that they should continue to uphold the common good.

“In a country like ours, where politics has become a rivalry of power and partisan interests, we are called to bring together our moral convictions and political choices to help build a better country,” it added.