Mabini Hall - Access to Justice

Father Ed Panlilio  is a man of the cloth. He is now the chief executive of Pampanga. Father Ed is the first Catholic priest to be elected to public office in the Philippines. He is the 26th governor of the province since 1901.Is it the beginning of the genre of priests as politicians? Can priests stand the challenge of leadership and governance in a country starving for both? It is time we test the proposition.The constitution declares a separation between church and state. Our fundamental document says that the state recognizes no official religion and will not interfere in religious matters.

There is no priestly disqualification. Our Catholic church however frowns on priests running for office. It is understandable because his primary duty is to minister and to spread the Gospel. While affirming its ascendancy in the realm of faith and morals, the Catholic Church finds itself in an ambiguous mode when one of its very own takes the exhortation literally and enters the world of politics with all its temporality. That’s why Father Ed had to take a leave of absence. But can one really stop being a priest for even a day?            

Recall the biblical injunction of rendering to Caesar’s what is his and to God what belongs to Him. I am sure Father Ed will not stop reading the good book. In fact, he will go into it more to draw strength and inspiration. How does he live out the message? Liberation theology which had its beginnings inSouth America precisely faced the issue of failing government and chose to take the cudgels of power in the name of Christ. What better to way to honor the Lord than to build bridges and dig wells. The best way to be a servant of God is to be a public servant. Then there is the question of competency. Actors are obviously ill-qualified. Surely a priest with his solid scholarly background, full academic credentials, experience in managing parishes and socio-cultural events are much better prepared not to mention the built in type of participatory leadership with pastoral councils and the need to listen to the flock, now his constituents. The priestly career is after all the toughest of professions. A priest has to do public speaking via sermons and even sing and act during portions of the mass. A priest is the ideal politician minus the self-interest.            

Throughout history, there is a host of good-intentioned people who want to change government and before they know it, become part of the system. The antidote to this is to continually listen to the little voice within us. Only prayer can do this – to sharpen our conscience and resist temptation that runs in government veins.

Who better than to do this than a priest fighting evil in the world? And yet we vaguely remember a priest named Father Damaso. Fiction or not, we hear of priests with sexual escapades and harassment of minors; of mismanagement of funds and a slew of cases and I am not talking four hundred years past when clergy ruled our land. The abuse of power, especially in this case when the spiritual and material dimensions are fused into one person, remains to be the biggest test.              

Father Ed Panlilio is a man of God; he must be true to his vows. He is governor; he must uphold his oath. He is a priest and a politician and he ought to do his work faithfully and capably. He is public servant answerable to God and accountable to his people. There can be no middle ground. The choice is between heaven and hell. For the citizens in Pampanga, it’s Gov. Ed Panlilio or bust. For the rest of us, we may be witnessing the dawn of a new polarity – the promise of moral leaders with the portrait of the priest-politician or the fall of the elected minister with feet of clay.