Angelo Espino

The Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines was asked to act on a complaint against the head of the Diocese of Legazpi for an alleged partiality towards local officials in Bicol. 

In his letter to Archbishop Charles John Brown, Joseph San Juan Armogila, the principal complainant in separate disqualification cases against Albay Governor Noel Rosal and his wife, Legaspi City Mayor Carmen Geraldine Rosal, claimed that Bishop Joel Baylon organized prayer rallies and released text blasts openly supporting the said officials.

He added that the Catholic prelate celebrated mass and spoke about the “alleged injustice against the elected governor.”
 
“The action of the bishop [Baylon] is divisive among Catholic faithful as he shows partiality towards a certain group or individual. His actions directly contradict his basic function as a Bishop of the Church,” said Armogila in his four-page letter dated October 16.

Since the poll body is a Constitutional body tasked to determine the qualification of candidates and resolve election cases, he added that the Catholic Church should not involve itself in political issues.
 
“I do believe, being a good Catholic, that it is not the Church’s task to set forth specific political solutions – and even less to propose a single solution as the acceptable one – to temporal questions that God has left to the free and responsible judgment of each person, specifically if it involves interpretation of a law which does not oppose the teachings of the Church,” Armogila added.

The letter of complaint was also sent to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. 

He filed disqualification cases against the Rosals for illegally disbursing public funds to tricycle drivers and senior citizens during the official campaign period “to advance” their candidacy, which violates the 45-day public spending ban.
 
“Being a candidate at that time, I feel that it is my civic duty to correct certain acts and report the same to the duly recognized agency of the state so that the same may be corrected. Despite my initial report with the local COMELEC, the said candidates continued with what I perceive [to be] a violation of the law; thus, the filing of the said disqualification case,” the complainant said.

The Comelec’s Second Division disqualified Rosal in a ruling dated September 19, 2022. 

Two weeks later, on October 4, the poll body’s first division also disqualified the Legazpi mayor.

The cases are under reconsideration.