The Thin Line That Separate The Church and The State

 Another controversy is brewing last week when Marcos spokesperson Atty Vic Rodriguez shaded and made below-the-belt remarks when they protested that priests and other members of the church are spewing " hateful and negative campaigning."

The Catholic Church was quick to respond that the Church does not incite hatred, headed by the head of Catholic Bishops of the Philippines, they can't stress enough that spiteful and naysaying is not what they are doing.

"No, we don't foment hatred. That's un-Christian..." was the automatic response from Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, the CBCP prexy as reported by Sandra Aguinaldo of  GMA's 24 Oras.

"The only enemy we are taught to renounce is Satan—who is the prince of lies and who alone is happy when the social media are used to spread lies and disinformation," he added.

Vic Rodriguez, over the weekend, countered that: “As men and women of the cloth, they should be more circumspect, refrain from openly meddling with politics and stop making reckless imputation or statement that only serves as a spiritual, moral, social and cultural poison,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez issued the statement after David released a pastoral letter coinciding with the anniversary of the People Power Revolution on February 25, warning the public of the "radical distortions" of the events of Martial Law, during Marcos' father Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship.

"We are alarmed by this distortion of the truth of history and the attempt to delete or destroy our collective memory through the seeding of lies and false narratives. This is dangerous, for it poisons our collective consciousness and destroys the moral foundations of our institutions," the pastoral letter said.

CBCP Permanent Committee on Public Affairs executive secretary Reverend Fr. Jerome Secillano in a separate statement said that "this candidate might not tolerate factual information and dissenting opinions after all."

In an FB post, Secillano reiterated that being non-partisan and staying neutral have different meanings and insinuations. "In the battle against evil, injustice, lies, etc., the Church has always been brave in expressing her stand - she is against evil, she is NOT neutral," he said, adding at the end, "no to incompetent, unjust and self-serving politicians. No to thieves and liars too!"