MANILA, Philippines – Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle was set to lead a prayer meeting with the Philippines’ top presidential aspirants on Monday, September 7, along with other bets for the 2016 elections.
Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II confirmed to reporters that he was set to meet with Tagle on Monday.
“I was just invited,” Roxas said. He said it was supposed to be a “pray-over” session with Tagle.
Rappler learned that Vice President Jejomar Binay and Senator Grace Poe have also been invited to the meeting organized by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV).
Tagle is only set to lead the candidates in an evening prayer, a source said. The cardinal also intends to give them “points for meditation.”
Tagle, the most prominent leader of the Catholic Church in the Philippines, is known to avoid talking about politics.
He is also less outspoken about national issues compared to other Catholic bishops.
One of the times he talked about a national issue was on August 13, 2013, when he broke his silence about the pork barrel scam, the Philippines’ biggest government scandal in recent history.
Not endorsing bets
Back then, Tagle cried as he backed an investigation into the “heartbreaking” controversy.
Breaking into tears, the cardinal said in August 2013: “Siguro maglakad-lakad kayo sa gabi, kapag nasa bangketa ka na, makikita mo 'yung…'yung mga pamilya na nagbubukas ng kariton, para doon matulog. Mahawakan lang ninyo ang kamay ng mga mahihirap. Siguro naman maaantig ang inyong puso, sana.”
(Maybe you could walk around at night, and when you reach the alleys where the poor live, you can see the… the families who open their carts, to sleep there. Hold their hands. I hope it will move your hearts – hopefully.)
The Catholic Church remains an influential force in the Philippines, as 8 out of 10 Filipinos belong to this religious group.
The church has often lobbied for or against certain laws, such as the reproductive health law that it opposed.
Still, it does not openly endorse political candidates unlike the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), a century-old Christian church that practices bloc voting. (READ: How potent is the INC’s vote delivery system?)
Other Catholic bishops, however, have been more outspoken about politics.
Tagle’s predecessor, the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, helped in leading popular movements that ousted Philippine presidents – dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and actor-turned-pollitician Joseph Estrada in 2001. – Rappler.com