No need for Panlilio to Run, Says Archbishop Legaspi

NAGA CITY-Caceres Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legaspi says the current situation of the country does not call for priest-turned-Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio to run for President.

"There are many qualified candidates among those who declared their intention to run for the presidency," said Archbishop Legaspi in an exclusive interview this week.

"Nagdududa ako kung Diyos nga ang tumatawag sa kanya na kumandidato sa pagkapangulo." (I doubt if it is really God who is calling him to run for the presidency.)

He said Panlilio must be careful in making assertions. But Panlilio's motive could not be questioned, he added. "It's only between him and God."

"But I don't think he can win under present circumstances. He has no political machinery. Candidacy in the national level is very different from provincial level, where charisma is enough. His biggest challenge . . . would be protecting his votes."

He said should Panlilio pursue his candidacy without seeking dispensation from priesthood, it would be a very big violation of Church Law.

"The Philippines is not Paraguay," he said, referring to the South American country now headed by former Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo.

He said Panlilio can always seek to be reinstated as priest even after he had been dispensed from priesthood.

Always a priest

"No priest can truly leave the priesthood. A priest is always a priest. And should a priest be given dispensation, he would only be barred from performing ministerial duties, and be exempted from priestly vows."

He said the Church had a regulation giving due process to a dispensed priest seeking to be reinstated.

But Panlilio would have no assurance that that he would be reinstated should he seek for dispensation and run for public office, according to the Archbishop.

He said members of the clergy other than the direct superior of Panlilio could not comment on the latter's purported candidacy "because the decision to allow him or not to run for President would be the discretion of his Bishop."

He said under Church law, a priest is not allowed to run for public office. "But the provision is not absolute. In Church history, there were many instances when Catholic priests and other members of the clergy were allowed either to run or to hold public office."

Priests in politics

He cited Robert F. Drinan, a Jesuit, who had served as US Representative from Massachusetts from 1971 to 1981; Robert J. Cornell, a Norbertine, who had served for two consecutive terms as US Representative from Wisconsin in the 1970s; and Jorge Barlin, the first Filino bishop, who became governor of Sorsogon province in the late 1890s.

But he said priests are only allowed to run for public office under "concrete extraordinary circumstances."

He cited article 2 of section 287 of the Canon Law that says priests are not to play an active role in political parties or in directing trade unions unless, in the judgment of the competent ecclesiastical authority, this is required for the defense of the rights of the Church or to promote the common good.

He said the Canon Law ordinarily forbids clerics to assume public office which entail the participation in the exercise of civil power. But he said priests were never barred absolutely from entering politics.

He said he would not allow any member of the clergy in the Archdiocese of Caceres to run for public office. "The situation now does not call for it."

Not an easy decision

Two other high-ranking members of the clergy in Bikol also said the decision of Panlilio should be respected.

"That's his choice to make," said Bishop Joel Z. Baylon of the Diocese of Masbate in a phone interview.

Monsignor Zosimo M. Sañado, parish priest of St. John the Evangelist Parish of the Naga City Metropolitan Cathedral said it was the result of a personal discernment "which could not be contested."

"No one can actually leave the priesthood. But leaving the ministerial duties of priesthood is a painful decision for any priest," said Sañado.

"It remains to be seen," said Baylon when asked if he would support the presidential bid of Panlilio.

"In a scale of 1 to 10, I place my support to the presidential aspiration of Panlilio to 5," said Sañado.

But Sañado (who is also the current president of the board of directors of Camarines Sur II Electric Cooperative, and water district) said he would never follow the footsteps of Panlilio.

"Although there is nothing wrong with priests handling civic positions as it is in some way part of their social duties."