Catholic bishops in the Philippines vowed Tuesday to
vigorously campaign against politicians who ignored their "moral"
teachings, after the church failed to stop the passage of a birth
control law.
The powerful Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)
said it had decided to target suspect politicians in mid-term elections
in May, when thousands of posts from the local village level to congress
will be contested.
In a statement following their annual plenary, the bishops said they
would demand politicians publicly voice their views on critical social
issues, ranging from same-sex marriage and divorce to contraceptives and
corruption.
"We will force them to walk the talk and state their positions on the
moral stance of the church, as well as their convictions on how they
will run the country," said Francis Lucas, who heads the group's media
unit.
"We will bring it out to the people and we will tell them to choose
based on the answers. If a politician refuses to make a stand, that will
be taken very negatively."
More than 80 percent of Filipinos are Catholics, a legacy of over 300
years of Spanish rule that ended in the late 1800s, and the church has
long enjoyed strong political influence.
The church helped lead peaceful uprisings that removed two corrupt
presidents, Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Joseph Estrada in 2001.
However CBCP president Archbishop Jose Palma conceded the church may
be starting to lose some of its influence.
"We are tossed about by the waves of the secularist spirit, which
continues to reduce the role and place of religious faith in the public
sphere," Palma said. "Our cherished moral and spiritual values are at grave risk."
In this light, the church intended to step up its efforts to pressure
politicians during the election campaign.
The church will only support "election of candidates who are upright
and guided by moral teachings of the church", said Bishop Gabriel Reyes,
another senior member of the conference.
He said church members would not be forced to vote as a bloc, but
would be told to carefully scrutinise candidates.
Reyes said among the key issues was whether politicians supported the
birth control law, which was approved by parliament last year and
officially took effect this month.
The law requires state health centres to hand out free condoms and
birth control pills and mandates that sex education be taught in
schools.