We lament the bitter fruits of dishonesty - Bacolod bishop

The Catholic prelate of Bacolod has asked for prayers for the truth to come out in the P10-billion pork barrel scam controversy.

Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra declared this Sunday, the Feast of Pentecost, as the “Diocesan Day of Prayer for Enlightenment and Conversion.”

 

Navarra has issued a pastoral letter that will be read at Mass in all parishes and chaplaincies in the Bacolod Diocese on Sunday, three days after the Ombudsman charged alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan.

Similarly indicted for their allegedly involvement in the scam were senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.

 

"We lament and bewail the bitter fruits of dishonesty, fraudulence and decay brought about by the shameless stealing from the nation’s coffers," Navarra said in a pastoral letter, the news site of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines reported on Friday. 

 

In his letter titled “Defeating Babel with Pentecost,” Navarra also urged the faithful in Bacolod to “pray to the Holy Spirit for the Truth.”

 

He also called for vigilance against corruption and to be insistent in demanding justice.

 

The prelate also called on government officials to “face up to the Truth’s abiding demand for transparency and accountability.”

 

Navarra appealed to government leaders to “initiate without delay and without partiality the necessary legal proceedings and let all those ‘named’ in the controversial pork scam lists, prove that they are innocent in a proper forum.”

 

The bishop likewise warned the faithful against letting political affiliations block the truth-seeking process. -Joel Locsin/NB, GMA News