Roman Catholic bishops in the Philippines on Thursday denied they
received luxury vehicles as gifts that had been paid for illegally by a
former president who was trying to win political favour.
State
lottery officials alleged that bishops were given Mitsubishi Pajeros and
large donations from then-president Gloria Arroyo in 2007-2010 to get
their support during her impeachment crisis over alleged corruption and
vote fraud.
The cars and donations were allegedly financed using state lottery funds.
"Our
conscience is clear," said Bishop Nereo Odchimar, head of the Catholic
Bishops Conference of the Philippines, in a letter to the Senate, which
is holding public hearings on allegations that Arroyo illegally used
lottery cash.
"We truly believe there was no violation of the
law.... we categorically deny that the funds were used to buy 'seven
Pajeros' for the 'personal use' of bishops," said the letter, which was
made available to the press.
The lottery said donations by
government entities to religious organisations are illegal due to the
constitutional separation of church and state in the Catholic-dominant
Philippines.
The church leaders' organisation, however, issued a
separate statement which admitted that three bishops received lottery
cash for "social projects" and had used some of the funds to purchase
vehicles for those projects.
The statement said bishops had chosen more humble vehicles, such as used pick-up trucks.
Senator
Franklin Drilon said on ABS-CBN television Thursday the statements
still showed the bishops had let themselves be compromised by Arroyo,
who was elected to the House of Representatives last year.
"That
does not detract from the fact that certain prelates in the church took
advantage of their closeness to the former president and the former
president took some actions which eroded the credibility of the CBCP,"
he said, referring to the Bishops Conference.