SHOW YOUR CATHOLIC FAITH AS YOU VOTE

Tomorrow we Filipino Catholics will exercise again our right to choose our community leaders. We vote as Filipinos. We vote as Catholic believers. Our citizenship and our faith must go together in our decision making for whom to vote as barangay leaders.
 
The barangay elections are important. Pope Francis refers to the ecology of everyday life as the setting in which we live our lives influencing the way we think, feel and act (cfr. Laudato Si 147). In the building of our neighborhood and barangays, we reflect national and even global patterns (cfr #150) so that can create a network of solidarity and belonging (cfr. #148).
 
We appeal to our partisan political leaders to respect the non-partisan nature of our barangays and to desist from using our barangay leaders as political wards.
Here we invoke the principle of subsidiarity which means that the city or municipal government must take on the role of “harmonizing and guiding development” ( Centesimus Annus #48), helping to coordinate the interests of local communities and enterprises without taking over the legitimate functions of our barangays.
 
In choosing our barangay leaders please be guided by the five fingers of our Catholic social teachings.
 
The first principle is the dignity of the human person. Every person is created in the image of God. When they offer you money or food or goodies in exchange for your votes, get angry and feel insulted. Vote buying is an attack on your dignity. When they offer you money, they are putting a price tag on you. Get mad!
 
The second principle is the common good. We are part of a bigger whole. Do not vote for your own sake. Vote thinking of the good of society. Remember those marginalized by previous leaders . Bayan muna bago ang sarili.
 
The third principle is solidarity. We must be promoters of justice and human development not just in the barangay but for the town, for the province, for the nation and for the world. The principle of solidarity also mandates us to demand from our government to preserve our territorial sovereignty. The Chinese expansionism is only a few miles away from Pangasinan. We are already getting Chinese radio programs in our province. Our barangay leaders who are quietly tolerant are harming our nation.
 
The fourth principle is subsidiarity. What the barangay can do, the higher body must not do. What the barangay cannot do, it must humbly appropriate upwards so that the good of the people can be served best. I appeal again to the barangay leaders to be elected not to allow themselves to be used as wards or armies of the higher ups in government.
 
The last principle is option for the poor. The face of Christ is the face of the poor. We must fight the crimes against the poor like the killing of the poor in the name of the drug war and the unabated rise in basic food commodities. The children and the youth are poor and defenseless too against the vulgarity of words and gestures that is so widespread. We must protect the youth and the poor. Let the new barangay leaders stand up for the abused poor and the misled youth.
 
Before the Lord ascended into heaven, he mandated us to Go and make disciples of all nations. Tomorrow vote as a Filipino. Vote as a Catholic. Vote to restore all things in Christ.
 
From the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, Dagupan City, May 13, 2018, Ascension Sunday
 
 
 
 
+SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS
  Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan