Business Circuit

Hypocrisy of the Church

The leadership of the Roman Catholic Church has been consistent in preventing its flock and also the state from using artificial methods of birth control.

It is very much looking at the mirror and refusing to see your own blemish. How many priests are celibate? I do not think there is one.

How many priests are going to bed with women? There are many. I knew of a few.

How many priests have children? I do not know of any. And why don't their women get pregnant?

Likely than not the priest and his woman use contraceptives to prevent pregnancy.

Last week the Church reiterated its dogma that artificial methods to prevent conception are taboo. It is a sin.

The Holy Father himself admits excesses of Catholic priests. In a visit to the United States last year, He privately met with a few victims of men of the cloth. In Australia, last week, the Pope apologized for the abuses by priests of children.

The hypocrisy of the Church must be exposed. It is a case of "do what I say, not what I do."

Let women organize and educate themselves on artificial ways of having fewer children.

Let them defy the Church which does not help them anyway.

I know of cases where two priests were proven to have sexual affairs. In fact one is in my place.

Investigations were conducted. Guilt of the two men of the cloth was established. One was so shameless because the widow he was having sex with complained that the priest does not regularly provide support.

Another case happened in Mandaluyong City. Two priests were found having sexual affairs.

As punishment, they were both banished to the United States to serve as drivers of two American priests. They love the punishment. They were able to go to the United States because they sinned.

Of course, their investigations were conducted in utmost secrecy. But the sexual peccadilloes of the priests were widely known in their parishes.

Using influence, the Church facilitated their visas to the US. A crime was rewarded instead of being punished.

The trouble with the Church is it denounces crimes in public office but covers its own. In a manner of speaking, they granted themselves executive privilege before President Arroyo got hers from the Supreme Court.

Given the fact that many men of the cloth are themselves guilty of violating their vow of celibacy, the investigation of their offenses should be public. The fact that pregnancies are few suggests only one fact: The priests having themselves are using contraceptives to prevent pregnancies.

How in conscience can the Church pressure the state into submitting to its command or threat that the use of the same contraceptives offend God and is therefore a sin?

The separation of the Church and State should not permit a quiet investigation of a crime when the victims themselves complain.

The priests find their sexual acts shameful and they are shameful by the rules of the Vatican.

Aren't other offenses involving plain citizens just as shameful? But the offenders are punished based on the evidence.

In the case of men of the cloth, the offenders are practically rewarded by having them banished abroad.

They escape the punishment of a society whose economy is turning belly up.

Once upon a time, there was a Court of Industrial Relations (CIR) which I thought had exclusive jurisdiction over corporate disputes.

This function has been taken over, may be even usurped, by the Supreme Court. Many of the rulings are disastrous. They prevent the growth of a business because the decisions sometimes defy practices in free market systems.

For example, a rehabilitation program agreed upon between the creditors and the owners of the enterprise should be beyond the pale of the Supreme Court.

A valid agreement, not contrary to law, is law between the parties. In the case of a rehabilitation agreement, the presumption is the creditors want to get their money back by helping the failed enterprise get back on its feet.

The CIR must be restored for two reasons. First, it helps unclog the dockets of the Supreme Court.

Second the CIR is presumed to be composed of lawyers whose expertise is in commercial law and nothing else. We may not say the same of the Supreme Court. The justices are men of varied expertise, not necessarily limited to their ability to interpret laws of business in the interest of business that complies with the law.

Marianito Roque, former administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and now secretary of labor, has kept intact about P8 billion in OFW contributions. He wants to make sure it grows and is not dissipated.

He moved fast and negotiated with the Development Bank of the Philippines for a special long-term placement that gives the money better yield on longer maturities.

But how come he thought about it only now? Because he knew that under his watch the money will remain in good hands.

Now that he is secretary of labor, he has serious doubts about the ability of the next OWWA administrator to handle the funds. So he had it invested in safe instruments with the DBP.

I had my own experience with Roque. Our former maid died in Africa. Before the cadaver could arrive he handed the family about P100,000 in compensation. Roque ordered that about P20,000 in burial expenses be given to the family of the OFW who was murdered in Africa by another Filipino.