News Roundup 20 July 2020
Jul 20, 2020 • 4 min Read
CBCP: Catholic Church cannot keep silent when wrongs are committed | PHILSTAR.COM – The Catholic Church will cease to exist if it stays silent on serious matters affecting people’s fundamental rights, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said Monday. The CBCP issued a strongly-worded pastoral letter Sunday, denouncing the passage of the contentious Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which is feared to be used as a weapon to suppress legitimate dissent and opposition. “The dissenting voices were strong but they remained unheeded. None of the serious concerns that they expressed about this legislative measure seemed to be of any consequence to them. Alas, the political pressure from above seemed to weigh more heavily on our legislators than the voices from below,” read the letter signed by Caloocan bishop Pablo Virgilio David, CBCP acting president. The pastoral letter also expressed concern over the shutdown of media giant ABS-CBN. “We cannot just be quite about all these things. Otherwise, we also risk losing our voice at the same time, we also risk not doing our moral obligation to our country,” Fr. Jerome Secillano, CBCP spokesperson, said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel. “If the Church does not anymore speak about all these matters when in fact there are wrongs being committed left and right, then we cease to exist as a Church,” he added. Secillano also said the Constitution does not bar church leaders from expressing their opinions, contrary to the claim of Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo that the CBCP violated the Constitutional provision on the separation of the Church and State. “From my legal understanding of the constitutional provision of separation of Church and State, it means that the State is not actually going to put up an official religion. Secondly, that state funds should be used to fund a particular religion… But it doesn’t actually bar Church leaders, priests, bishops or any religious for that matter to express their political opinions,” he said.
‘Sue us’: Bishop defends pastoral letter assailing anti-terror law | INQUIRER.NET – A Catholic bishop on Monday challenged Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo to file a case over the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP) pastoral letter raising concerns over the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. Panelo earlier claimed the CBCP’s pastoral letter “appears to have violated” the constitutional provision on the separation of the Church and the State. He further accused the CBCP of pressuring the Supreme Court in calling for prayers amid the recent signing of the highly controversial measure. But at a press conference, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said that if government thought that the Church had committed a violation on that account, then he would challenged it to file a case. “Alam niyo, kung it violates, sila na ngayon ang magkaso sa amin. Hinahamon ko na kung talagang nagva-violate yun,” Pabillo said during a virtual press conference on Monday. (If it really is violative, they should file a case against us. We are challenging them if our letter really violates that.) “Don’t we have a right to speak sa mga kakulangan ng pamahalaan? Dahil ba kami ay Simbahan hindi kami pwedeng magsalita? We are also citizens,” he added. (Don’t we have the right to speak about the government’s shortcomings because we are the church we cannot speak out?)
Drilon: BuCor can’t withhold info using Data Privacy Act | Manila Bulletin – Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Monday said the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) cannot use the Data Privacy Act (Republic Act No. 10173) to withhold information regarding the deaths of high-profile inmates who reportedly died due to COVID-19. Drilon said it is wrong for BuCor to invoke the Data Privacy Act to justify their move not to disclose the real condition and reported deaths of inmates inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City, saying the fact of death is not a sensitive personal information protected by the said law. A death certificate, the former Justice Secretary pointed out, is in fact a public document required to be filed upon any person’s death. “In fact, upon any person’s death, there is a requirement to execute a death certificate which is a public document,” Drilon said. “Disclosing information about a prisoner’s death is not a protected information under the Data Privacy law,” the Senate Minority Leader stressed.
City-wide lockdown eyed in Parañaque | The Manila Times – Paranaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez warned residents that he may impose a city-wide lockdown for two weeks if cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) continue to surge. Olivarez called on residents to “unite and cooperate in the battle against Covid-19” as the city’s confirmed cases reached almost 2,000. “At this critical moment, I’m appealing again to my constituents to come together to defeat this terrible disease. Each of us has a role to play, whether through unselfishness or humanity,” the mayor said.
