Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 4) – An executive of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Monday urged the public to be more cautious in criticizing the decision of the church heirarchy to allow one of its offices to join the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
After the group drew flak from different organizations, Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Public Affairs (ECPA), explained in a statement that ECPA’s work with the government will be done “to help the people.”
“Sa pagiging member namin dito sa NTF-ELCAC [In our membership in the NTF-ELCAC], we’re provided with a platform for the betterment of the people in the country,” the statement said.
Speaking at a press conference organized by the NTF-ELCAC Media Bureau, Secillano also clarified that only the ECPA, and not the whole CBCP, will collaborate with the anti-communist task force.
“Only the ECPA and ‘not the whole CBCP’ would be the point of convergence for the Task Force because the commission’s mandate is to deal with issues and concerns on public and private matters that affect the Church,” he added.
On Friday, CBCP President and Caloocan City Bishop Pablo David confirmed that ECPA — one of the CBCP’s 31 departments — has joined the NTF-ELCAC to present “social concerns and issues of the Church” that need to be addressed by the government.
David said the issues include the task force’s red-tagging of some cause-oriented groups and church organizations.
READ: CBCP confirms office to join NTF-ELCAC to ‘raise social, church issues’ in gov’t
