While all of us should respect the views of pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao on the Reproductive Health Bill no matter how much we may be for it, we feel that Quiapo Church parish priest Rev. Msgr. Clemente Ignacio was guilty of a disservice to Pacquiao and his congregation.
Monsignor Ignacio turned the thanksgiving Mass—before parishioners that showed up to share in the blessing of a champion—into a protest rally against the RH bill.
With the monsignor setting the tone, Pacquiao had no choice but to respond by saying that the RH bill meant “disobedience to God’s laws.”
Frankly speaking, there are many of God’s laws that all of us, including Manny, disobey at one time or another and it therefore seems odd to preach about disobedience in that context.
Our position is that Pacquiao has the right to speak out until his lungs burst against the RH bill, but the thanksgiving Mass was not the proper venue for it.
The Inquirer reported that in his homily, Monsignor Ignacio criticized the RH bill and urged Pacquiao not to support it and to stick to his stand opposing it in Congress.
It seems that some members of the Church fail to show the circumspection desired in this case and continue to use the pulpit at every occasion to push their stand, in the process triggering walkouts from Mass and dwindling attendance.
The use of colors to signify support or opposition to the pending legislation shows that the controversy is degenerating into a political battle between the Church and the State.
We recall how Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, vice president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, branded advocates of the RH bill as being no better than terrorists.
Perhaps the good monsignor Ignacio should have appealed to Manny to help the poor like never before considering the money he is raking in. We know for a fact, though, that Pacquiao does more than his fair share for the less fortunate.
The monsignor could have drawn attention to the ostentatious display of wealth in the midst of poverty and the sapping of the meager income of the poor by gambling.
Maybe he should have tasked Pacquiao with trying to influence his colleagues to spend their millions in pork barrel allocations wisely and honestly and to shun corruption that has been the bane of our nation.
Who knows, there may not have even be a need for an RH bill because our economy would be much stronger than it is right now and capable of sustaining a rapidly growing population.
In the end it may well come down to priorities.
With all due respect to monsignor Ignacio, we believe he got his priorities all wrong.