The Catholic bishops of the Philippines yesterday said they will oppose moves by allies of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to cancel elections next year.

"Elections in 2007 should not be cancelled," said a Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines statement issued by its president, Jaro Archbishop Angel Ladameo, yesterday following a conference of the country's prelates, also attended by Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra. "As a first step we strongly urge our political leaders to undertake electoral reforms posthaste," the bishops said.

Confidence and trust in the political process have to be restored, they said.

And to achieve this, "the Commission on Elections has to be transformed into a competent and reliable body beyond reproach," the bishops said.

"The call for resignation or even prosecution of a number of the commissioners should not be lightly brushed aside. The electoral process, including counting of votes, needs to be reformed and modernized before the next elections," the CBCP said.

The bishops also said they agree that some aspects of the 1986 Constitution should be revised but said it requires widespread participation from the public.

"The reasons for constitutional change must be based on common good rather than on self-serving interests or the interests of the political dynasties," the CBCP said.

The bishops yesterday also reiterated their stand in July 2005 that they would never condone extra-constitutional means or violence to resolve the current political crisis. They, however, stressed that there is an urgent need for renewal in the public life of the country.

"We have all observed the failure of political processes to make public servants accountable for wrongdoing. What we have seen instead are acts of evasion and obstruction of the truth, as in the case of the wiretapping and Garcillano tapes controversy," they said.

There seems to be a paralyzing gridlock in the political sphere as partisan interests prevail over the demands of the common good, and tragically many Filipinos have lost trust in political leaders, the bishops said

. "Truth has become a victim of political partisanship as well as of transactional politics," the bishops said.

Meanwhile, poverty remains the heaviest burden of the nation, they said.

The bishops said in calling for renewal of country's flawed political culture and corrupted public life, they show solidarity with the poor who suffer from the present state of public life and politics.*CPG

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