CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Archbishop Paciano Aniceto has denied endorsing the candidacy of Filipinas Sampang, one of three candidates contesting the bid of President Macapagal-Arroyo to get a seat in Congress through Pampanga’s second district, saying he would not back any bets even the President in the May 2010 elections.
Reacting to talks in local civil society circles, Aniceto said: “I did not endorse Mrs Sampang’s candidacy to the priests of her district.”
He said she came to him last January to be “blessed and [she] signified her intention to run for Congress.”
“She asked for the names of the priests of the second district and I wrote a note of introduction for her since she has not met the priests before. I welcomed her as a parishioner and blessed her but I did not endorse her candidacy to our priests,” Aniceto told this correspondent.
Apparently, the talks were fuelled by a claim of Sampang in an email to a group discussing the need to unite her and two more candidates against Ms Arroyo.
The two other candidates are Adonis Simpao of the Liberal Party and Feliciano Serrano, an independent.
“Our built-in network are the numerous Christian communities that call themselves the “Body of Christ” and lately the Catholic Church through Arch. Paciano Aniceto gave us endorsement to all the diocesan priests in the District,” she said in a Jan. 31 email.
Sampang said she got a letter. It was not her intention to mislead the public, she said.
Her files at the Commission on Elections showed her having no certificate of nomination from Bangon Pilipinas, Pampanga election supervisor Temie Lambino said.
A copy she gave, dated Jan. 11, was not notarized but attached with a certification from two Jesus is Lord leaders in Pampanga.
NOT POLITICAL
Aniceto said he will not engage in partisan politics and expects priests and nuns in the Roman Catholic Church in Pampanga to do the same.
“I will not endorse any candidate, not even PGMA. Endorsing a candidate is divisive,” he said.
He said he has also “instructed our clergy to form circles of discernment in the parishes to that our voters will form their consciences according to Gospel values. The [Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines] guidelines on the choice of candidates will help them judge the candidates according to their integrity, character, performance and defense of family and human life.”
“We will not endorse names or parties but principles and moral values,” Aniceto said.
Since March 1989 when he headed the archdiocese that has suffragans in Bataan, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija, Aniceto has not been known to endorse any political candidate.
He did not campaign for his priest, Eddie Panlilio who was pushed to run as governor in 2007. Aniceto suspended Panlilio’s priestly faculties and duties.
Aniceto, who chairs the CBCP family and life commission, is acknowledged by Ms Arroyo as her “adviser on population and family concerns.”
He has not tacitly opposed her congressional bid, saying that in an “imperfect democratic system,” nothing bars her from seeking a lower post.
Reacting to talks in local civil society circles, Aniceto said: “I did not endorse Mrs Sampang’s candidacy to the priests of her district.”
He said she came to him last January to be “blessed and [she] signified her intention to run for Congress.”
“She asked for the names of the priests of the second district and I wrote a note of introduction for her since she has not met the priests before. I welcomed her as a parishioner and blessed her but I did not endorse her candidacy to our priests,” Aniceto told this correspondent.
Apparently, the talks were fuelled by a claim of Sampang in an email to a group discussing the need to unite her and two more candidates against Ms Arroyo.
The two other candidates are Adonis Simpao of the Liberal Party and Feliciano Serrano, an independent.
“Our built-in network are the numerous Christian communities that call themselves the “Body of Christ” and lately the Catholic Church through Arch. Paciano Aniceto gave us endorsement to all the diocesan priests in the District,” she said in a Jan. 31 email.
Sampang said she got a letter. It was not her intention to mislead the public, she said.
Her files at the Commission on Elections showed her having no certificate of nomination from Bangon Pilipinas, Pampanga election supervisor Temie Lambino said.
A copy she gave, dated Jan. 11, was not notarized but attached with a certification from two Jesus is Lord leaders in Pampanga.
NOT POLITICAL
Aniceto said he will not engage in partisan politics and expects priests and nuns in the Roman Catholic Church in Pampanga to do the same.
“I will not endorse any candidate, not even PGMA. Endorsing a candidate is divisive,” he said.
He said he has also “instructed our clergy to form circles of discernment in the parishes to that our voters will form their consciences according to Gospel values. The [Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines] guidelines on the choice of candidates will help them judge the candidates according to their integrity, character, performance and defense of family and human life.”
“We will not endorse names or parties but principles and moral values,” Aniceto said.
Since March 1989 when he headed the archdiocese that has suffragans in Bataan, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija, Aniceto has not been known to endorse any political candidate.
He did not campaign for his priest, Eddie Panlilio who was pushed to run as governor in 2007. Aniceto suspended Panlilio’s priestly faculties and duties.
Aniceto, who chairs the CBCP family and life commission, is acknowledged by Ms Arroyo as her “adviser on population and family concerns.”
He has not tacitly opposed her congressional bid, saying that in an “imperfect democratic system,” nothing bars her from seeking a lower post.
