Church urged to stop extra collections

Instead of perpetually criticizing the government, the Catholic Church – to which 85 percent of Filipinos are flock members – should do its share in providing relief for hard-up parishioners by doing away with burdensome second and even third collections.

This was suggested yesterday by Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, who underscored the sorry plight of the laity in light of the continuous rise in the cost of living – both in cities and rural areas.

“The church should try to regulate the second and third collections,” she told reporters who attended the weekly Serye forum in Quezon City.

The lawmaker, herself a Catholic, clarified she is not speaking ill of the church, but is only making practical suggestions.

“The first collection should already have been budgeted, whether a percentage should go to the priest, a certain amount for (church) management and an allocation for charity.”

The first collection usually goes to the maintenance of the church, while the second or third collections are usually allotted for the improvement, construction or beautification of churches, and for other church-related advocacies.

Garin also proposed a significant reduction in the exorbitant fees charged by the church for KBLs –kasal (wedding), binyag (christening) and libing (funerals).

“Many are not buried or baptized (because of the excessive fees). Many also do not get married because of the choir and decoration in church” which, she lamented, are pre-requisites.

The senior administration legislator also proposed that the local Catholic hierarchy “stop remitting to other countries” its collections because the Philippines seems to be “subsidizing” other countries, which should not be the case.

The church, which wields enormous influence in Philippine politics, and whose transactions are all tax-free as guaranteed in the constitutionally enshrined separation of church and state, has been criticizing the government for its imposition of unnecessary taxes.

Garin observed that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the powerful bloc that often condemns government policies, has been full of assessments and analyses but always fall short on providing solutions.

“The CBCP keeps on criticizing the government but they do not give concrete alternative solutions,” she stressed.

“It all boils down to population, many are already poor,” the lawmaker, an obstetrician-gynecologist by profession, said.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol, who was among the guests at the forum, insisted they do not expect any good word from the Catholic bishops, because they have always been critical of the administration.