Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra yesterday said that if he had the opportunity to speak with President Gloria Arroyo, he would tell her that the people of Negros are "insistent that she steps down".

Navarra said he would also raise the position of the people of Negros at the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines permanent council meeting on March 9 and 10 and it would all depend on how its members react to this issue.

Navarra said he could not say if the CBCP position, that stops short of calling on the president to step down, will change in the light of the public outcry against her declaration of a state of emergency and threat to reimpose it again and again if the situation calls for it.

"The Holy Spirit works according to the signs of the times, and I know that our bishops are faithful to the Spirit…so they will answer to the call of times," Navarra said.

"Time will tell what the call of the times will be," Navarra said.

The bishop is calling on Negrenses to join a prayer rally at the Bacolod public plaza tomorrow afternoon with the theme "Never Again" to Proclamation 1017 and Martial Law. Yesterday he issued a pastoral letter calling for an end to what he called the "proliferation of lies."

Organizers expect about 20,000 participants at the rally.

"If truth liberates, then all falsehoods enslave. A nation that is fed and thrives on lies, half-truths and double-talk is not truly free. It is under the shackles of the 'father of lies'," he said in his pastoral letter, which he read at a press conference at the Bishop's House.

"This is how we, as a people find ourselves - adrift in a turbulent sea of lies and falsehoods. We are confused. And we feel demeaned, insulted and deeply offended.

"Our rightful claims to the truth have never been answered. And our transgressed dignity as persons have never been redressed. Our Christian conscience keeps on shouting to the high heavens," Navarra said.

Due course of the law has not been given to resolve the Garcillano tapes, jueteng and fertilizer scandals to name a few burning issues faced by the Arroyo administration, he also said.

In Negros Occidental, the dismissal of the illegal logging case in Don Salvador Benedicto town and the "unjust dismissal" of human rights lawyer Francisco Cruz from the practice of law have also not been addressed, despite his having brought them to the attention of the President, Navarra said.

"Why have the legitimate clamors and legal complaints of intelligent and well-intentioned concerned citizens as well as of rightful stakeholders all fallen on deaf ears of the president, of the Department of Justice, even of the Supreme Court, so it seems?" he asked.

The people, he said, have to make their voice heard as they search for the truth and for "redress of our human dignity impaired by the machinations of people with vested and partisan interests."

This is the very reason why, as a Church and concerned citizens, we strongly registered our protests against the imposition of PP1017 that has now been lifted, he said.

"We register our protest as Christians dictated by the Gospel values of Christ, Who valiantly stood for the truth at all costs, even at the price of His own life," Navarra said.

Navarra said he issued his pastoral statement yesterday to disturb the conscience of the people concerned.

He called on the people of Negros to continue to be vigilant, "Let us defend the truth and remain steadfast witnesses of the truth."

Navarra stopped short of personally calling for the president to step down saying he has to be true to his brothers in the CBCP.

If the president steps down according to the Constitution, well and good, the CBCP will not object, but the CBCP is not for her removal from office through violent means, he said.

The CBCP has not taken a neutral stand, it is for all-out change by the president's giving us clear signs and proof that she is eradicating graft and corruption in the government, he said.

At the press conference, Cesar Villanueva read the unity statement of the Concerned Negrosanons for Freedom and Democracy that said that, amid the increasing doubts about the legitimacy of Arroyo's presidency and allegations of corruption, fraud and human rights violations, "in her fear of being deposed by the people and the reformers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police blatantly issued Proclamation 1017 for her political survival."

"Proclamation 1017 is the worst form of GMA's penchant for imposing iron-fist rule, the hallmark of the kind of governance which makes her say of herself 'I am the best person to lead this nation'," the CONFREDEM statement said.

CONFREDEM called on Arroyo to make the supreme sacrifice to step down and pave the way for a peaceful turnover of power.*CPG

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