CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Archbishop Paciano B. Aniceto has turned the table on corrupt politicians and their cohorts as he admonished them to return what they stole from the people during his homily at he 57th anniversary of the Canonical Coronation of Virgen Delos Remedios at the Villa Del Sol Subdivision
here last Sunday.
“Eku no man pag dependi reng obispu. Itang sinabi ra atin lang Pajero, dela ropa king Senadu. Inosenti
la. Ala lang kasalanan. Kasi meyakit metung man ala lang Pajero. Sibli rala. Sana pu subli yula reng scam a ren! (I am not defending the bishops.
They said that they had Pajeros… then they wereeven brought to the Senate. They’re innocent. They have no guilt. Then it was found that not one has a Pajero. But they returned (the vehicles they received).
I hope you will also return all that you got from the scam),” an angry Aniceto, who was the main celebrant in the Holy Mass, said.
The Archbishop was referring to accusations hurled by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) against Catholic bishops who were summoned by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee in 2011 but were later cleared when not one of them was found to have acquired he said luxury SUV manufactured by Mitsubishi
Motors using PCSO money.
Peace in Syria
During his homily, Aniceto also echoed the call of Pope Francis for world peace especially in Syria and the Middle East. Calling the Holy Father as the “Pope of Encounter” and “Pope of Solidarity,” Aniceto said the church should go out to the peripheries of the world and there bring hope and salvation to the people.
He said Pope Francis’ call for world peace should be heeded with prayer. “Let’s listen to the Pope. Let us have a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria. All the people on earth should pray because we all belong to the same humanity that’s why we have to focus our concern on Syria,” he said.
“Syria is a Biblical place where St. Paul was converted on the road to Damascus. In Antioch, there the first Christians were known that’s why it is a very important place,” Aniceto said. “Dapat madurug ing gera (War should be vanquished),” the archbishop said. “Let us pray so that there will be no military solution to the
crisis in Syria,” he added.
“We must be sensitive to what other people are saying. Let us look at the context of their lives, their situations, their grief, anguish, joys and sorrows and then they encounter the Lord in a particular situation,” he said.
“We are also praying for peace in our country,” the archbishop reminded the faithful. “Let us cry, let us grieve, he said, because we insulted the Lord, because we hurt the Lord when we used up the taxes of the people through the pork barrel scam.”
“The money used in the pork barrel scam are the taxes of the people entrusted to the Republic of the Philippines. Even the poor, they pay taxes,” Aniceto said. There should be a “just anger” as preached by Cardinal Tagle, he said.
“Be angry with the sins of injustice, cheating, graft and corruption but not with the people, that is why we honor Virgen Delos Remedies and Sto. Cristo Del Perdon because we are given hope and salvation by their graces.”
“Mother is the most important title of the Blessed Virgin Mary because if we don’t have a mother we are not here.
We need our mothers,” he said. “Mary performs the role of mediator not as a protagonist but as a servant and follower of her son Jesus Christ. Let us all follow her example.” Based on police estimate, some 5,000 people
joined the event last Sunday.
