MANILA, February 26, 2008—Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, SJ added his voice to the mounting clamor for truth in the face of allegations of corruption of the Arroyo administration daring GMA to come clean on the accusations thrown against her government.
In a statement, concerned citizens of Cagayan de Oro led by Archbishop Ledesma called on the president to speak out saying "the allegations are very serious and even point to her as being the core of all the anomalies happening in her government."
"We ask her, devout Catholic as she is, to level with us her people, to take us into her confidence in the spirit of lent, with God as her witness—but spare us the legal/technical jargons of politicians," the statement said. It urges Arroyo to do some soul searching and speak out to the people on why the country has become so corrupt.
"If she finds herself wanting, then in all humility, let her resign as an act of penance, and pave the way for national self-renewal eventually to evolve into a renewed nation embarked on high moral grounds and not just of power and self-aggrandizement alone," it said.
The statement lamented the pervasiveness of corruption: "in the use of public funds, among friends, in our dealing with foreigners, in public offices, among high and low officials."
But it also says that corruption is not bred by government alone since even those in the private sectors, even churches and schools, also gets its share of the blame.
Acknowledging the increasing clamor for "both immediate and long term actions," the statement nevertheless challenges the people that "before we leap, let us pause to reflect, to discern, to do penance, and to pray for renewal done on a national level during this time of lent." (CBCPNews)
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