Lay apostolate should
spur more Catholics

George Hofileña Monday gave me a copy of the Synod II document advocating the involvement of Lay Catholic Apostles in the body politic.

In short, it calls for Catholics to get actively involved in political action, not just remain as bystanders. And, I think, it is time for us to do our share in pushing for Catholic laymen and lay-women to enter politics. Not just as politicians but as politicos with a heart and mind intent on doing that right thing for the people.

In short, it also calls on us to actively support those in power so that they will be encouraged to live up to the morality of public service that does not allow them to enrich themselves.

Easier said than done. But the time has come for the Church to get more of its flock to be really engaged in political action of the right kind.

But, as I said, the guidance is what is lacking. But we have the confusion brought about by the likes of Jun Lozada. The Church leaders had taken up the cudgels for him. But the problem is that he is not as clean as he claims to be. He is currently facing charges for violating the bidding rules of Philippine Forest Corp. And it is difficult for us to justify that he did not do these despite his mea culpa.

I had high hopes for Tony Meloto of Gawad Kalinga. At least, that is one advocate of low-cost homes and cultural reformation who has succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of most of us. But the Church, itself, seems to have torpedoed Meloto and his crusade to change the mindset of illegal settlers not just provides them low-cost homes and to take pride in their communities.

Now that is just one example of how the Church speaks volumes but seems taken in by doubtful reports of a man who has devoted an entire life to helping uplift the plight of thousands of homeless Filipinos.

Under the circumstances, how can we boost Meloto? He is condemned by a segment of the Couples of Christ for allegedly forgetting to preach Good News but opting instead to minister to the material needs of the beneficiaries of GK. They apparently overlooked the fact that Meloto and company have been precisely teaching GK beneficiaries the values they need to be able to reach out to their neighbors the concept of stewardship and love for neighbors.

Still, it is about time that we rethink about our involvement in political action. In short, spurring well-meaning Catholics to get themselves involved in politics. There must be adequate guidance from Church leaders on what is to be done by Catholic lay leaders.

But take again the case of Gov. Panlilio of Pampanga. He was a priest who finally opted to throw his hat into the political ring because there were no Catholic lay leaders who dared to take up the challenge to run for the position.

He won against overwhelming odds. But when he should have been helped by Church leaders, it seems that he was left to bail himself out of trouble by himself.

And that goes for a priest. He may have violated Canon Law. But still, he is one whom the Church leaders should support because he is doing good. But it seems that he is being left in the lurch.

* * *

So the President claims that Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes was wrong in claiming that there is a power shortage in Negros and Panay.

There was the alleged scolding for what Reyes did. The President insisted that there is a whale of a difference between a power buffer stock and power shortage.

But I think it is a question of semantics. Perhaps, the President may have her statesmanship distracted by her belief that EDC has been bought by the Lopez Group of companies and, therefore, must be precluded from making use of Reyes’ shortage issue.

But if there was one thing that can be appreciated it, is the fact that the DOE Secretary took time out to consult stakeholders on the issue of the PNOC-EDC entry into the buffer zone. That Monday face-off also provided an avenue for education of Negrense about the facts of the issue. Including, of course, the realities behind the PNOC-EDC project and the buffer zone.

And, instead of just insisting on the legal, Reyes opted to let the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the province make the final decision on whether to allow or not the PNOC-EDC entry into the buffer zone.

Negros Occidental Governor Isidro Zayco himself paid tribute to Reyes for this gesture of respect to local government officials. And so did Murcia Mayor Esteban Coscolluela and Bago City Mayor Ramon Torres.

And it turned out later that the MKNP council, which was made up of several non-government organizations, had given the go-signal for the PNOC-EDC entry into the buffer zone. Duds Locsin tried to correct it. But Coscolluela pointed out that even if only 10 had voted for the entry, there was no dissenting vote. In short, it was carried out by the body.

The most telling was the statement by the DENR Executive director for Region 6 that Negros Occidental still has 13 to 14 percent forest cover contrary to the claims by environmentalists that it is way low down to just about four percent.*

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