Otso Diretso's
sacrilegious
campaign graphic
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dates you RI{ARDO
feel like SALUDO
voting for
That's the latest advice from the
Commission on Elections and the
Catholic Bishops Conference of the
Philippines. Both the Comelec and
the CBCP toldvoters not to base their
choices on voter preference surveysl
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Otso Diretso's sacrilegious campaign graphic
So, even ifopinion polls are de-
signed to show their top senatorial
prefercnces, voters are supposed to
disregard their own preferences, as
indicated by scientifically crafted
suweln, and vote for those who are
not their dominant choices.
One cannot recall in any election
over the past decade or more when
election officials and Catholic prel-
ates gave this advice They certainly
did not tell voten to set aside suwey-
leading candidates in the last three
elections. So, why now?
One suspects it's because ad-
ministration candidates dominate
the latest voter suwqn, while the
Otso Diretso line-up ofthe opposi-
tion Liberal Party (LP) has just one
candidate seauely in the Magic 12
winning circle for the Senate contest
And with the Catholic Church
at odds with President Rodrigo
Duterte over his bloody war on
drugs and his tirades against clergy
and Christianity, the anti- Duterte
faction in the Church seems set on
givingrhe LP a big boost.
Using God's images in vain
That faction or its LP campaign
cohorts have now resorted to
sacrilege in an aggressive effort
to sway the faithful.
Now spreading online is a seem bothered by Christ cruci-
poster that aims to harness the
religious vote for Otso Diretso.
And in the propaganda graphic
there are three ofthe holiest im-
ages of lesus Chris! the Second
Person ofthe divine BlessedTrin-
ity, used in place ofletters in the
word "CAIHOLIC."
Christ crucified replaces the
letter "T", while pictures of the
Blessed Sacrament "- the conse-
crated host and the host and chal-
I rHunsoRv
kaonr PAq€'l
ice take the place of the lette$
-
"O" and "1". Cod has been turned
into letters in a campaign graphic.
As a journalist, this writer
would normally have run a pic-
ture of the sacrilegious poster.
But as a devout Catholic, one
is so offended by this unprec-
edented misuse of God's images
for partisan politics, thatone can-
notbearto see it rcproduced and
disseminated in a daily paper.
Scour the countless election
campaigns in Christian countries,
and one will not find a similar
misappropriation of the divine
Body and Blood of Christ, and His
redemptive sacrifice on Calvary for
political campaigning.
The CBCP should denounce
sacrilege, which is at least bad as,
as
if not wdtse than, say, candidates
being ponrayed as fesus, Mary
or popular saints. If the bishops
don't speak up, then their silence
gives license for other religious
imagery to be exploited for politi-
cal propaganda.
If the misused
images were
Islamic, there would surely be a
nationwide outcry ftom Muslims,
considering how deadly fatwas
were declared against cartoons
satirizing the Prophet Mohamed.
But many Catholics don't
fied as the letter T and His Body
and Blood as O and L When the
. graphic appeared in a chat group
for alumni of a Catholic school,
there were even thumbs-up icons
posted in response.
Whether most believers are
scandalized or not, Church lead-
eN must stand up for this lack of
respect for saoed images of Gdd
Himself. It may not be as bad as
calling God stupid, but turning
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March 28,2019
the crucifix and the Eucharist into
font designs remains sacrilegious.
The Liberal Party and its can-
didates should denounce the
graphic, and apologize for the
disrespect to God and offense to
devout Catholics. The.LP should
also strongly reprimand those
who conceived and designed the
graphic, and institute steps for vet-
ting cainpaign materials. Religious
imagery shor.ild be totally avoided.
As the Inrd said. render to Cae-
sar what is Caesar's, and to God
what is God's.
A record of LP sacrilege
Defenders of Otso Diretso's cam-
this paign graphic may point to Prcsi-
dent Rodrigo Duterte as commit-
ting far graver offenses against the
Church, with his cussing against
God and Pope Francis,.as well as
his invectives and even threats
against bishops and pdests criticiz-
ing his war on drugs.
Those presidential excesses
certainly deserve to be denounced
by Catholics, but they do not at all
excuse or justify exploiting the Pas-
sion and Death.of Chdst and His
Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist
for partisan campaigning.
What's worse, the LP seeking
to hamess the Catholic vote also
committed $ave offenses alainst
the bishops and even God Him-
self (http s :f/ www. m an i I atime s.
net/pre sident- dutene -vs - go d - a l -
mighty-w hos-winningl4 9 2 4 1 5/).
Then President Benigno Aquino
3rd did his own bishop-bashing
and even went so far as under-
mining the voiie of God Himself.
Early in his'rule, his appointed
head of the Philippine Charity
Sweepstakes Office accused eight
5. n gt
prelates of receiving luxury spons
utilityvehicles from PCSO during
the Anoyb administration.
That was utterly false, but Aqui
no let his sweepstakes maven
Margaret Juico publicly malign
what she labeled as "Pajero bish-
ops." Thankfully, Senators Juan
Ponce Enrile and the late Miriam
Defensor-Santiago came to the
prelates' defense, and it emerged
thatPCSO funds were used to buy
mostly used vans and pickups for
Church charity projects all per-
-
fectly lawful for non-govemment
organizations aidiag the poor.
The bigger affront to heaven
came during the deliberations
on the reproductive health bill
in Congress. Aquino called on
legislators to vote according to
their conscience which is the
-
voice of God in their souls. But
when voting came in December
2012, solons were told to approve
the contmceptive measure ol lose
their pork barrel.
Thus, mammon was used to in-
duce lawmakers to disobey God's
inner promptings.
And in January 2015, dght in the
face ofvisiting Pope Francis, Aquino
falsely claimed that bishops criticiz-
ing his regime were silent during his
predecessor Gloria Anoyo's rule In
. fact, the CBCP used stronger lan-
guage in her timq even lamenting:
"We look at our landscape and see
darkness everywhere. "
Now this political party wants
to get Catholic votes misusing sa-
cred images of God in its election
propaganda, with the eager help
ofsome prelates, priests and laity.
May Cod enlighten all political
stalwarts 10 see and repent oftheir
offenses against Him, His Church,
and His ministers.