Two years ago, over 1,400 Filipino bishops, priests, and deacons known as Clergy for the Moral Choice (CMC) endorsed presidential candidate Vice President Leni Robredo and her running mate, Sen. Kiko Pangilinan. CMC reminded the Filipinos “of their sacred duty to vote and to vote only for the right leaders of this our beloved country, the Philippines, to choose and to elect true servant-leaders whose hearts are really after the heart of the Good Shepherd—just like Leni and Kiko.”
The CMC did not see the fulfillment of their dream to have the right servant leaders of the country. However, credible forces continue to pose serious questions on the results of the national elections and claim that the results were rigged.
Retired General Eliseo Rio, on many occasions, has been disputing the physical impossibility of 20-million plus votes within an hour of closing. As Information Communication Technology secretary in 2019, he chaired the Comelec Advisory Committee for that year’s midterm election. Time-and-motion exercises showed that election returns (ERs) trickled in the first two hours, peaked at one point, then dwindled. Yet, the Commission on Elections has yet to heed his stand and the others who have presented their case.
Priests affix their signatures to the CGG declaration.
With just more than five months before the 2025 local elections, 12 bishops and 211 priests launched a movement called Clergy for Good Governance (CGG) at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral of Cubao on Nov. 29, 2024. Lamenting their experience of witnessing first-hand “the sufferings of our people—extreme poverty and lack of opportunity, continuing human rights violations, ecological destruction, political dynasty and elite rule, corruption at all levels, swelling foreign debts, and the proliferation of lies and disinformation campaigns, to name a few,” they declare that they cannot be silent and refused to be silenced.
They declare their belief that God has called them “to be stewards, prophets and pastors of the Church—the people of God” and thus have “to stand for what is right, for what is true, and for what promotes the common good.” And for this they vow to reach out and go to far-flung areas in the country to persuade other bishops and clergy to join this social movement, like what they did for CMC.
The men of the cloth rising up to wage social action is not a new phenomenon. One hundred and fifty-two years ago, three Filipino Catholic priests, Mariano Gómes, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, better known as Gomburza, were charged with subversion and sedition arising from their campaign for equal rights among priests and against the Spanish friars. The 1872 Cavite mutiny was used as pretext by the Spanish colonial authorities to execute the priests by garrote on Feb. 17, 1872 in Bagumbayan, now Luneta. The execution had a profound impact on the Filipinos of the late 19th century and one of them, our Jose Rizal would dedicate his book El Filibusterismo to their memory.
Gomburza would be in the nation’s imagination at different junctures of history. One hundred and five years after the three priests’ execution, San Jose seminarians and Jesuit scholastics formed Gomburza at the Ateneo de Manila Loyola School of Theology on Feb. 17, 1977. They became the vanguard of Church activism fighting against the Marcos dictatorship during the dark days of martial rule.
The execution had a profound impact on the Filipinos of the late 19th century and one of them, our Jose Rizal would dedicate his book ‘El Filibusterismo’ to their memory
Five years earlier, the Christians for National Liberation (CNL) was founded by Fr. Edicio dela Torre in the worship room of the Sampaloc University Center in Manila, also on Gomburza’s anniversary of martyrdom. They adopted the battle cry, “Love your neighbor. Serve the people.”
A seminarian, Ed Garcia, would lead another organization called Lakasdiwa, composed of students and other seminarians, out-of-school youth, and professionals founded on the day of the martyrdom of Frs. Gomez, Burgos and Zamora on Feb. 17, 1970. Lakasdiwa espoused the ideals of non-violent struggle after reading and discussing the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Archbishop Helder Camara, and other liberation theologians of Latin America, as well as the writings of our own Filipino heroes. They opted for a militant non-violent campaign inspired by the philosophy of civil disobedience against the Marcos regime.
A Jesuit, Fr. Romeo “Archie” Intengan, SJ founded PDSP, Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas, together with former Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales. Established on May 1, 1973, the PDSP was said to play “a leading role in the difficult task of establishing and expanding a progressive and democratic alternative to the Marcos dictatorship and to Marxism-Leninism.” It made an important contribution to the mass campaigns which eventually led to the People Power revolution in 1986.
There would be other moderate and militant organizations which were born during that period of discontent— Student Cultural Association of the Philippines (SCAUP), Kabataang Makabayan (KM), Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan (SDK), Movement for Democratic Philippines (MDP), and ML-MTT Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) with its armed wing, New People’s Army (NPA), as well as the Malayang Pagkakaisa ng Kabataang Pilipino (MPKP) under the pro-Soviet Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP).
There were also the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP), College Editors Guild (CEG), League of Filipino Students (LFS), Student Power Assembly of the Philippines (SPAP), National Students League (NSL), the Young Christian Socialists Movement (CSM), Movement of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties (MCCCL), and the short-lived Light-A-Fire Movement.
Fr. Robert Reyes
Fast forward to post-Martial Law and the post- Edsa People Power revolution. Another juncture in our nation’s history would see the resurrection of the dormant Gomburza in 2017, with the coming together of priests of various dioceses from all over the country. Its spokesperson, activist priest Fr. Robert Reyes, popularly known as the “Running Priest,” stated the need to come out again to vigorously oppose “the creeping dictatorship of President Duterte and his evil and bloody drug war.”
The spirit of Gomburza is very much alive in the current movement of the Clergy for Good Governance. They now have a marching order as ordained ministers of Christ “to gather, discern, and resolve to do effective actions.”
Fr. Robert Reyes, Msgr. Mel David, Fr. Lito Malibiran
Bishop Elias Ayuban, CMF Cubao; Bishop Roberto Gaa, Novaliches; Bishop Honesto Ongtioco, Bishop Emeritus, Cubao
At the press conference held after the Mass at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral of Cubao on November 29 officiated by four bishops (Bishop Elias Ayuban, CMF Cubao and Bishop Roberto Gaa, Novaliches, Antonio Tobias, Bishop Emeritus of Novaliches, and Honesto Ongtioco, Bishop Emeritus of Cubao), seven priests talked about the seven calls for action that the CGG plan to make.
At the press conference held after the Mass at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral of Cubao on November 29, seven priests talked about the seven calls for action that the CGG plan to make
Fr. Tony Labiao Jr. of the Diocese of Novaliches talked about the history of CGG and discussed good governance for societal transformation and integral human development.
Msgr. Mel David of the Parañaque Diocese spoke on the advocacy for comprehensive electoral reforms, including hybrid election systems and Party List reforms as well as for active participation in ensuring clean, honest, transparent, and credible elections.
Fr. Robert Reyes expounded on the need to expose and oppose the perpetuation of political and family dynasties and elite dominance. He exhorted the clergy to enforce a non-acceptance policy of “ayuda” (largesse), especially from mining companies and politicians. He added that the Church is an important institution capable of bringing down paternalism.
Fr. Joel Saballa, Caritas director of Novaliches, who read the Clergy for Good Governance Declaration, zeroed in on the need to combat systemic corruption at all levels and address the spread of lies, disinformation, and misinformation. He called for the investigation of confidential funds as well as the public funds.
Fr. Flavie Villanueva
To uphold, protect, and respect human rights and human dignity was the call to action of Fr. Flaviano “Flavie” Villanueva, SVD. The activist priest had spoken out repeatedly against Duterte’s policies, especially his drug war which saw tens of thousands die in extrajudicial killings. In 2020, he and Fr. Albert Alejo, SJ, with nine lay people, were charged with “conspiracy to commit sedition” for speaking out against the former president’s harsh anti-drug tactics. They were acquitted due to insufficient evidence.
Fr. Lito Malibiran, parish priest of San Roque, Batangas, spoke on safeguarding our common home by working toward ecological integrity and sustainability. He mentioned Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’, the main message of which is to care for the Earth and all people, and take action to address the ecological crisis.
And finally, Fr. Christian “Toots” Buenafe of the Order of Carmelites talked about the advancement of national interests and sovereignty by addressing foreign debt concerns and confronting the threat of war.
The enlightened clergy are in fighting form! To the question of a cynical member of the press as to how they could accomplish the almost Sisyphean tasks they have brought upon themselves, considering the local election is just around the corner, they replied that they will mobilize church networks from Aparri to Sulu. It means organizing to challenge the clergy not to just do their “priestly duties” of saying masses and administering sacraments, and the “kingly duties” of administrating the goods, but also to break the barriers and reach the masses, and do the “prophetic duties” of seeking out the truth and telling the truth.
Those are the three duties of the clergy but sad to say, according to the Running Priest, the third one is usually left out, because it’s difficult to “Comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.”
With the Clergy for Good Governance’s mandate “to love and serve God and His People,” they have committed “to carry out the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ in the world, to build His kingdom here and now.” And by following Him, they find themselves commanded and empowered to ‘bring the good news to the poor and announce the year of God’s favor’.” (Luke 4: 18, 19).
Amen!
