Bishop who got GMA's SUV ‘gift’ later told PNoy to resign

Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos, who requested and received a luxury vehicle from the Arroyo administration, was the same bishop who told President Benigno Aquino III to resign after less than a year in office. In statement against Aquino that hogged headlines last month, Pueblos said he knew dissatisfied personalities who were already plotting an attempt to remove Aquino from the presidency. "I'll just be waiting for them to share the result of their output and see ano ba talaga ang the best for the Philippines without bloodshed and without violence," the bishop was quoted as saying. Pueblos also criticized the President for appointing friends and allies to government positions, and supposedly treating with kid gloves those who get embroiled in controversies. "He is not interested in being President. I can see that. He does not plan, does not study, does not make his own decision, and just lets his friends [make] it. Poor Philippines," Pueblos said. In a letter to President Arroyo in 2009 asking for a Montero sports utility vehicle, which was given by way of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), Pueblos assured Mrs. Arroyo of his "constant support." He requested the vehicle as a gift for his 66th birthday. The letter was presented during Wednesday’s Senate hearing on the vehicle scandal at the PCSO.

Reacting to the bishop’s statements, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda described Pueblos as "ignorant" for meddling in political affairs. "Instead of pastoral concerns, he seems ignorant of the virtues of charity, humility, and prudence, and instead fires from the hip, armed with a fanciful imagination, and utterly without any effort to discern the truth," Lacierda said in a statement. In another statement, Senator Franklin Drilon said he was "appalled" by the gall of Pueblos for calling on Aquino to resign. "Being an avid supporter of former President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo, Bishop Pueblos is the least credible person to ask for President Aquino’s resignation over unfounded allegations of cronyism," Drilon said. Late last year, Pueblos also criticized Aquino for supposedly zeroing in on only former President Arroyo in his anti-corruption campaign. "Why [focus] it [on] just one person, on Arroyo? Why not [focus] on Ramos, Erap, kay Cory, dahil I believe all presidents mayroon talaga," Pueblos said over Church-run Radyo Veritas. Donations in exchange for support In a telephone interview with GMA News Online last week, activist priest Robert Reyes said politicians usually give donations to bishops in exchange for their support, as Church leaders wield some influence over their respective dioceses. Reyes, a staunch critic of the previous administration, said the "support" that Mrs. Arroyo extended to a number of bishops softened their stance on calls for the former president to step down. The CBCP did not directly call for her resignation. Last week, Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo said the PCSO probe could be a demolition job against Catholic bishops after Pueblos called on Aquino to step down. "Naniniwala ako na mayroon itong koneksyon nung magsalita si Bishop Pueblos tungkol sa ating Presidente na negative. Na kanyang mga sinabi at iyong warning na kanyang ibinigay kay Presidente na hindi ka karapat-dapat na maging Pangulo," Bagaforo said in an interview on Radyo Veritas. The Palace is not singling out Catholic bishops in the vehicle scandal, said deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, noting that the Commission on Audit, which produced the findings on which the PCSO based its exposé, is an independent body. — RSJ, GMA News