(File photo)
MANILA - The Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines has been asked by a Bicol resident to act on a complaint against the head of the Diocese of Legazpi for alleged partiality towards local officials in Bicol.
In a letter to Archbishop Charles John Brown dated Oct. 16, Joseph San Juan Armogila claimed that Bishop Joel Baylon organized prayer rallies and released text blasts openly supporting the candidacies of Albay Governor Noel Rosal and his wife, Legaspi City Mayor Carmen Geraldine Rosal, during the last elections.
He further alleged that the Catholic prelate celebrated mass and spoke about the supposed injustice against the elected governor.
“The action of the bishop [Baylon] is divisive among the Catholic faithful as he shows partiality towards a certain group or individual. His actions directly contradict his basic function as a Bishop of the Church,” said Armogila in his four-page letter.
Since the Commission on Elections is the Constitutional body tasked to determine the qualification of candidates and resolve election cases, he said the Catholic Church should not involve itself in political issues.
“I do believe, being a good Catholic, that it is not the Church’s task to set forth specific political solutions – and even less to propose a single solution as the acceptable one – to temporal questions that God has left to the free and responsible judgment of each person, specifically if it involves interpretation of a law which does not oppose the teachings of the Church,” Armogila said.
The letter-complaint was also sent to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
Armogila is the principal complainant in separate disqualification cases against the Rosals for allegedly “disbursing public funds to tricycle drivers and senior citizens during the official campaign period to advance their candidacies, which is in violation of the 45-day public spending ban.
“Being a candidate at that time, I feel that it is my civic duty to correct certain acts and report the same to the duly recognized agency of the state so that the same maybe corrected. Despite my initial report with the local Comelec, the said candidates continued with what I perceive [to be] a violation of the law; thus, the filing of the said disqualification case,” the complainant said.
The Comelec’s First Division disqualified Governor Rosal in a ruling dated Sept. 19, 2022. Two weeks later, on Oct. 4, the poll body’s Second Division also disqualified Mayor Rosal.
Both cases are under appeal. (PNA)
