Lagdameo on Panlilio's presidential bid: Leave priesthood first
Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo yesterday joined bishops calling on Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio to leave the priesthood if he intends to run for President in next year's elections.
In a statement titled “On The Question of Political Leadership”, Lagdameo cited Canon 287, No. 2, of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (Decree 28.2) which forbids bishops, priests and religious from being actively involved in partisan politics.
“I presume that Governor Ed Panlilio, who is a priest, has been told about this and knows it. If he plans to run for (the) Presidency, in view of the Separation of the Church and the State, it would be best for him to seek dispensation from the priesthood. And so he will be free to engage in partisan politics,” said Lagdameo.
Lagdameo, also president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said he was issuing the statement as Archbishop of Jaro.
In a telephone interview, Lagdameo said that “dispensation from the priesthood” would mean removing Panlilio's identity as and authority as a priest thereby becoming a lay person.
Panlilio was suspended from performing priestly duties when he ran for governor in 2007. He defeated two administration candidates in a close contest.
The governor earlier said he was open to run for president with Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca as his running mate in next year's elections.
In his statement, Lagdameo reiterated the Church's non-involvement in partisan politics.
“The Church does not support and endorse any political candidate. This applies also to Governor Panlilio,” he said.
But Lagdameo said Panlilio's openness to seek higher office also “sends a message about the country’s political situation: that we badly need to address politically the many issues of graft and corruption in government, that apparently the present political leaders do not yet satisfactorily address and solve corruption in the country.”
Lagdameo said it is now the appropriate time for civil society or members of the laity to identify and encourage potential and “non-trapo” leaders for political renewal.
Quoting Pope Benedict XVI, Lagdameo said: “A big part of the vocation of Christian Lay people is their participation in politics in order to bring justice, honesty and defense of true and authentic values… of society.”
He said there are alternatives to the kind of political leadership at present.
“I believe that our country is not lacking in people from civil society who have the gifts of authentic, credible, moral and patriotic leadership,” said Lagdameo.
Asked whether Panlilio would be a loss to the Church in case he leaves the priesthood, Lagdameo said Panlilio's diocese already suffered a loss when he decided to run for governor and was suspended from priesthood.