Cebu archbishop asks Cebuanos to join Nov. 30 anti-corruption assembly

Cebu Archbishop Alberto "Abet" Uy on Saturday urged Cebuanos to take part in a "prayerful and peaceful assembly" on November 30 to call out corruption and demand good governance.

"I, your Archbishop, together with the Cebu Anti-Corruption Coalition, invite all peace-loving and pious Cebuanos to gather as one community this November 30, 2025, for a prayerful and peaceful assembly—an expression of our collective dismay, righteous anger, and deep desire for a renewed nation founded on integrity, honesty, and good governance," Uy said in a letter posted on social media and reposted by GMA Regional TV Balitang Bisdak.

Uy said Cebu has always been known as "a land of faith and goodwill."

"We are a people known for our devotion, our resilience, and our deep longing for truth, justice, and peace," he wrote.

"Yet today, our hearts are wounded and our spirits disturbed by the continuing shameful, immoral, and destructive practice of graft and corruption in our country," the archbishop said.

"Corruption is not only a political issue; it is a moral disease, a spiritual crisis, and a grave sin against God and neighbor," he added.

Uy said the Nov. 30 event dubbed SuPaKK (Sugboanong Pakigbisog Kontra Korupsyon) will start with a Holy Mass at 2:30 p.m. at the Pilgrim Center of the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu.

"The Holy Eucharist will be offered for the purification of our nation and the conversion of all who have been involved in corruption," he said.

"Our non-Catholic brothers and sisters will gather at Plaza Independencia," Uy added.

After the Mass, participants are encouraged to join the Peaceful March at 3:45 p.m. starting from the Pilgrim Center to Fuente Osmeña Circle "as a symbolic act of solidarity, humility, and hope."

A program will be held at the Fuente Osmeña Circle at 4:45 p.m.

This will include prayers, testimonies, and messages "that echo our longing for a society where public service is sincere, transparent, and accountable," Uy said.

Uy stressed that the assembly is not meant to create division, provoke violence, or endorse any political group.

Rather, the assembly will be held for Cebuanos "to stand together as one moral voice, declaring:
 • Enough with corruption.
 • Enough with deception.
 • Enough with systems that hurt the poor and betray the common good."

"We gather as citizens whose love for Cebu and the Philippines springs from our love for God. We gather as a people who believe that faith without justice is empty, that devotion without integrity is hypocrisy, and that silence in the face of wrongdoing is complicity," he added.

Uy urged parish communities, religious organizations, renewal movements, youth groups, schools and universities, civic organizations, government and civic leaders, and families and individuals to join the assembly.

"Let us show our children what it means to be truly Christian—not only in name, but in life… not only in churches, but in society. Let us pray together. Walk together. Stand together. Witness together," he added.

Uy said: "Evil triumphs when good people remain silent. Corruption grows when honest citizens lose courage. But when God’s people rise—not in violence, but in prayer…not in hatred, but in moral conviction—something powerful happens: society begins to heal." —KG, GMA Integrated News