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Bataan bishop: Conjugal dictatorship is back

By Dona Pazzibugan

Philippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 06:14:00 03/17/

MANILA, Philippines—A conjugal dictatorship, along with the kind of corruption seen during martial law that led to a people power revolt, has returned, a Catholic bishop said Monday.
Balanga Bishop Socrates Villegas said corruption in the Arroyo administration had reached “an alarming state” that it prompted comparison to the Marcos regime.

“Thirty years ago we coined the term ‘conjugal dictatorship,’ referring to the martial law President (Ferdinand Marcos) and his wife (Imelda Marcos),” Villegas said in a statement titled “Corrupt and Corrupting Families.”

“In those days, we rallied and protested against crony families and fought the political dynasties. The reasons for our social discontent 30 years ago have resurrected,” said Villegas, a trusted aide of the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin who played a pivotal role in the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.

Villegas noted that being “family-based” was “the singular trademark” of graft and corruption in the Philippines.

“The shadow of corruption perennially haunts the President and her husband. Can all the accusations be purely politically motivated without any grain of truth?” he said.

The Balanga bishop also cited the case of former military comptroller Carlos F. Garcia, who along with his wife and two sons, has been charged with unexplained and undeclared wealth. His wife and children were arrested recently in the United States.

Villegas is one of the more outspoken members of the Catholic hierarchy.

New government

On Oct. 28 last year, Villegas was among the five bishops who declared that “the time to form a new government is now.” They strongly condemned corruption in government that they said had become “endemic, massive, systemic and rampant in our politics.”

The others who called for radical reforms were Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Masbate Bishop Joel Baylon and Legazpi Bishop-Emeritus Jose Sorra.

Lagdameo is the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
Villegas followed up the group’s declaration with a statement on Nov. 27 calling on the Catholic faithful to “fight the sin of graft and corruption” and not to leave the solution to corrupt officials.
Feast of St. Joseph

Villegas issued his statement Monday as part of his reflections for the March 19 feast of St. Joseph, patron saint of the cathedral of the Diocese of Balanga in Bataan.

In his statement, Villegas rued that corruption had become a family affair.

“We have deteriorated. We have turned from bad to worse. The glaring proof that corruption has reached its alarming state in or country is that families are no longer just corruptible, but have become blatantly corrupt and corrupting,” he said.

He said “the corruption syndicate is either a husband and wife partnership or a father and son connivance or a whole family in cahoots.”

Simplify lives

Villegas urged families to pray together, to simplify their lives and to spend more time together to restore integrity in the family.

He said sharing stories among family members should replace the habit of watching telenovelas.
“I am sure you want to tell me that I am too simplistic. Can such family acts fight corruption? Believe me, when fear of God is brought back to the family, we will be a better nation,” Villegas said.

“When a sense of honor and dignity returns to the home, we will be able to bounce back to moral uprightness… The best school is the family. There is no teacher better than a credible parent,” he said.