On May 10, 2010, the Filipino people will freely choose their leaders whom they expect to serve them, and whom they will hold accountable for their service to people in the Republic of the Philippines. Freedom in an election means no physical coercion, nor is threat or money used to influence or to buy votes. Excessive campaign expenses in the past did not augur good and responsive governance.
In choosing leaders, the electorate should carefully study and match the traits of candidate with the needs and issues disabling the country today. Two major and perennial issues haunting the country are poverty and government graft and corruption, with such destructive mutuality, that as corruption increases, poverty worsens.
Responsible voting, like stewarding one’s vote, begins with conscientious citizens meeting in serious groups, studying the traits needed for responsible leadership and weighing the candidates’ claim for personal integrity.
Among those candidates scrutinized by these groups of discerners will be God-fearing persons, who are moral, not given to vices, reverent of life and its deserved decency, consistent true friends of the poor, ever protective of the integrity of creation (friend of world ecology), simple and humble, and who are good examples of responsible Filipino citizenship.
These groups of conscientious citizens will not only scrutinize candidates and weigh their personal choice and options; they should also become groups of praying citizens who ask the Lord’s guidance for their choice. Needless to say, like the entire country, we should all pray for a peaceful election and a unified people before, during, and after the election.
May the Lord and His Mother bless and protect our country, because they know that as a God-fearing nation, we also love our people.
God love and bless us all!
The Archbishop and Bishops of the Manila Metropolitan Ecclesiastical Province
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