Corruption cries out to heaven for vengeance, says prelate

MANILA, Philippines – Corruption in the Philippines has become so foul a crime it now cries to heaven for vengeance, a senior Catholic bishop said on Friday. Archbishop Oscar Cruz of Lingayen and Dagupan said the offender in such cases deserves not only earthly punishment but also revenge from a "higher authority." "Needless to say, there must be but few crimes, few criminals that rightfully merit such severe retribution. Even the Holy Book makes mention of such dastardly actions that said to be 'crying to heavens for vengeance," he said in his web log (ovc.blogspot.com). He said even the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) had to officially condemn widespread corruption in government "from top to bottom." Aside from this, he said the Philippines had been rated with distinction in the index of corruption in the region and in the world. Worse, he said some public officials in both the national and local levels of government were not well noted and commonly considered as much corrupt characters. "These Philippine situational factors are definitely neither gratifying to say, nor inspiring to hear. This could be precisely the reason why not few upright and trustworthy OFWs are looked down upon in the foreign countries they are unhappily deployed in—even up to the extent of being painfully discriminated," he said. "This is why it might be not only necessary but also quite timely to say that the crime of corruption in the Philippines has become so gross and rampant that such already cries to heaven for vengeance. In other words, so profound and so pervasive have corrupted and is corrupting criminals especially in the government sector that they already earn vengeance from the heavens above," he added. Cruz said millions of children do not have enough food to eat, no acceptable chance to grow up healthy and no realistic opportunity to go to school. Millions of adults have neither acceptable employment nor decent livelihood while millions of elderly and sickly people have no resources to buy the medicines they badly need. Also, he said millions of citizens are deprived of their needed common social services. "All these are eventually caused by flagrant and endemic corruption in the country perpetrated by big and habitual theft, misuse and waste of public funds particularly by notorious government officials. Their ultimate victims are categorically millions. Their well-deserved retribution can only come from above. Only if they realize the pitiful and fearful predicament they are squarely and deeply in!" he said. Malacañang has repeatedly claimed it is addressing the corruption problem, citing a long list of officials being charged with graft and corruption. But critics have accused President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of sending public officials the wrong signal by condoning her allies involved in corruption scandals, such as the ZTE Broadband Deal and Fertilizer Fund scam. - GMANews.TV