Bill withdrawal pleases Church

ANTI-ICON PROPONENT APOLOGIZES

The Catholic Church is pleased over the withdrawal of the House Bill 6330, which seeks to ban religious activities including Masses, prayers, Christmas parties and blessings in government premises.

“We’ll be happy for that gesture. Oppressive man g’yud ang bill,” Cebu Archdiocese Episcopal Vicar Msgr. Esteban Binghay said.

Catholics in the country, he said, are so expressive of their religion that they are fond of putting religious icons in government offices.

“We’re just expressing our own religion, not imposing on others,” he said. Kabataan party-list led by Rep. Raymond Palatino withdrew on Friday the controversial bill.

APOLOGY

In a statement, Palatino said he is withdrawing House Bill 6330 “in response to the appeal and clamor of some of our members, constituents and supporters, various groups, institutions and the general public to reconsider the filing of such measure.”

Palatino said the bill has no intention to “ban God,” suppress any religion or belief and prevent government employees from practicing their faith.

“The purpose of the bill is to ensure that government offices do not favor one religion over the other, or discriminate one against the other,” he said.

Palatino said they apologized for hurting the reli- gious sentiments of many, although their desire was only to guarantee religious freedom.

“Kabataan Partylist sincerely apologizes for any offense the bill caused. We are sad that we hurt the religious sentiments of many, when our desire was to uphold and promote religious sensitivity and harmony,” he said.

But for Binghay, the bill does not actually guarantee religious freedom.

“He (Palatino) is free to express his religion, too,” Binghay said, “but he is not free to enforce it by passing a law because it will oppress the Catholics of this Catholic Country,” he said.

“Like another expression of the Catholics: God is free to come to the place where I am,” the Church official further said.

The controversial measure, titled An Act Empowering Heads of Offices and Departments to Strictly Implement the Constitutional Provisions on Religious Freedom in Government Offices, seeks to ban religious activities including Masses, prayers, Christmas parties and blessings in government premises.

The measure also pushes for the removal of religious symbols like the crucifix, Bible, and Koran in public offices.

Palatino, who is Catholic, earlier said he has received many complaints from government employees who are “forced” to attend Mass or other religious activities by their superiors even during office hours.

He criticized some government offices who do not transact business during lunch break because they hear Mass.

“There are people who go to government offices during lunch break and they can’t transact because there’s a Mass. Ano yung ma-i-interpret nila? Ito ba ay official na ine-endorse ng government agency?” he told ABS-CBN’s “Umagang Kay Ganda.”

SUPPRESSIVE BILL

However, Fr. Melvin Castro of the CBCP Episcopal Commission of Family and Life said the bill actually suppresses freedom of religious expression instead of guaranteeing religious freedom.

“Hindi freedom of religious expression ang mangyayari diyan sa panukalang batas bagkus ay pagkitil pa nga sa freedom of expression of religion,” he said.

In the statement, Palatino said he hopes the conversations on the need to respect different beliefs in society will continue.

“We are encouraged by the fact that despite the misunderstandings, the bill initiated relevant discussions on freedom of religion as one of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution,” he said.

He added that the party-list would rather continue prioritizing other pending bills and advocacies that it had been promoting for the past three years including passage of the Tuition Regulation Bill, review of the K+ 12 program, Students’ Rights Act, Anti-No Permit, No Exam Act, BPO Workers’ Welfare Act and Public WiFi Bill.

STANDING UP On Wednesday, retired Cebu archbishop Ricardo

Cardinal Vidal has called on the faithful to stand up against the religious freedom bill.

“This is no longer the issue of religion. It is the culture peculiar to you,” Vidal said in an interview, citing the devotion of Catholics to the Señor Sto. Niño as part of Filipino culture.

“You are not there for yourself. You are there to represent the people. If you represent us, please respect us,” he said, referring to Kabataan party-list.

Yet another prelate has voiced opposition to a party-list lawmaker’s proposal to ban prayer services and religious symbols in government offices.

Archbishop Socrates Villegas, vice president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said he is confident many Filipinos will oppose the passage of House Bill 6330. “There are more God-loving and God-fearing Filipinos than him (Palatino),” he said. “Even before the Philippines existed, God was already here and God created the Philippines. Let’s just see where he (Palatino) will go after this life,” he added.

Villegas said there is no such thing as separation of God and man.

“There is separation for Church and State but there is no separation of God and man. The Philippine Constitution itself invokes God Almighty,” he said.

HB 6330 seeks to ban religious activities including Masses, prayers, Christmas parties and blessings in government premises. The measure also pushes for the removal of religious symbols like the crucifix, Bible, and Koran in public offices.

Palatino earlier said displaying religious symbols and holding religious ceremonies in and around public offices could be seen as an endorsement of one particular religion.

“The religion of the minority ought to be respected, too. In a democracy, the rights of the minority should be protected also,” he said.