The cardinal and the NTC

RETIRED archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal has been drawn again into a controversy involving the marginal group that calls itself the National Transformation Council (NTC). We use the word “again” because a similar controversy erupted in October last year.

Vidal, with archbishops and bishops both active and retired standing behind him, read during his post-birthday celebration an NTC statement calling on President Noynoy Aquino to resign in the wake of the Mamasapano incident.

The cardinal spoke in an assembly of the NTC in Cebu in October last year and also read an NTC statement that called for the President to resign. That was when the pork barrel scam and issues like the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) were the vogue.

In both instances, Vidal appeared to backtrack days later. Or to be precise, the cardinal personally denied last year that he was asking the President to resign. In the latest controversy, Vidal has been mum while Msgr. Joseph Tan, media liaison officer of the archdiocese, clarified that it was not Vidal's nature to make such a call.

Tan also had his hands full clarifying the misimpression that Palma was supporting the NTC demand, noting that the archbishop is in no position to make a “political statement.” He asked the NTC through its Facebook account to be “honest in its pronouncements,” telling the group that Palma is not supporting its initiative.

While the archbishop has been forthright about his relation with the NTC and its goals, the same is not true with the cardinal.

There are speculations that he is merely being used by the NTC as a deodorant considering that some of the group's leaders, like former senator Francisco Tatad and former national security adviser Norberto Gonzales, have been tagged as “discredited.” But being manipulated twice does not seem consistent with the term “used.”

In this sense, it would be best for the cardinal to also be forthright about his links to the NTC. If he really is one of its leaders and shares its goals, then he should make that clear to the public. If he is not with the NTC, then he should explain why he allowed himself to act as the “reader” of NTC statements twice.