Bacani: I don’t have a wife

Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani Jr. denied yesterday having two wives as President Duterte had claimed in a speech, but stopped short of calling the Chief Executive a liar whom he prays for just the same.

“I do not have even one wife,” the retired bishop said. “I hope anyone who says I have two will produce even one. Poor guys who can only use lies versus truth.”

Irked by the Catholic bishops’ criticisms of his bloody war against illegal drugs, Duterte specifically hit Bacani

last Tuesday for going against priestly values himself.

Bacani said he would have sued Duterte for defamation and libel if not for the President’s immunity from criminal suits.

“I pity him. Parang sira ( He’s like crazy). I pray for him,” Bacani said.

In his speech in the recent World Apostolic Congress on Mercy held in the country, Bacani criticized the rising death toll in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, calling the Philippine National Police a “bringer of death.”

The President, in response, slammed Bacani during a dialogue with relatives of the 44 police commandos who died in the Mamasapano clash in

2015 at the Palace last Tuesday. “P— inang Bacani na iyan, dalawa pala ang asawa. Pareho ko. Parang mayor din ang buang. Tapos kung magsalita itong mga

unggoy na ito, ‘t— ina (That son of a b*** Bacani! Turns out he got two wives – like me. That crazy guy’s just like a mayor. But this monkey talks like son of a b***!),” Duterte said.

In 2003, Bacani’s 35-yearold female secretary named Rosalyn accused the bishop of sexual harassment, a scandal that reached the Vatican but was never proven.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, meanwhile, said the Catholic Church has remained unshakeable amid numerous attacks, but still encouraged the faithful to report erring clergymen as a way to help keep clean the institution that God built over 2,000 years ago.

Bishops won’t resign

Several other prelates also slammed the President as they rejected his call for their resignation from the Catholic Church.

They said they serve at the pleasure of Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic hierarchy, and not of the President.

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes called Duterte’s challenge “nonsense.”

“These are mere words uttered thoughtlessly, not worthy of consideration. He is fond of talking nonsense,” Bastes said.

Lipa, Batangas Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said bishops are unlike politicians, who have the option to resign upon public clamor.

“Bishops are not voted upon by nor chosen by people. They are appointed by the Holy See,” Arguelles said.

“I will resign if Rome thinks I am no longer trustworthy,” he added, stressing that a bishop or priest guilty of serious offense should indeed resign if their action “harms the Church and the faithful.”

Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos echoed this argument, saying bishops can only “resign to the pope, not to anyone – even a president.”

Santos argued that while church leaders have their shortcomings and failures, “we are contrite and rise up.”

“God forgives and trusts us again and again. God will never resort to our past. Let God be our judge. Let our people decide for us,” he said.

“Doctors should not stop healing people just because they get sick. Nobody is perfect,” Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco pointed out.

The bishops were reacting to the challenge made by the President for them to resign with him, for they have the same disgrace.

“You should resign because we both stink,” Duterte told the prelates.

Unshakeable church

Over local radio station Bombo Radyo Dagupan, Cruz

said: “Sasabihin ko sa inyo ang totoo ha. Nakasulat ito in black and white. Napakarami na ang umatake sa simbahan,

napakarami na at ang nagyayari lamang, yung atake at yung umaatake ay sila ang namamatay at ang simbahan ay nakatayo pa rin eh 2,000 taon na po yang

simbahan eh ( I will tell you this. It’s written in black and white. Many have attacked the Church, so many, and what happens is, the attack and the attacker are the ones that die and the Church still stands because it is already 2,000 years old).”

Cruz said God built the Church and it has withstood the test of time.

“But it doesn’t mean people should just keep quiet if men of the Church err,” he pointed out. “I repeat, the Church is different from churchmen, and churchmen, like any one of us, commit mistakes, but the Church is infallible.”