Team Patay posters in Zamboanga del Norte soon?

DIPOLOG CITY – About 60 priests from the Diocese of Dipolog will gather at the cathedral here on March 26 to decide whether they will display “Team Patay” and “Team Buhay” streamers in their chapels throughout the province of Zamboanga del Norte.

“Magtagbo mi sa Cathedral kauban si Bishop [Jose] Manguiran aron among madesisyonan ang proposal (We will meet at the Cathedral with Bishop Jose Manguiran so we can decide on the proposal),” said Father Cesar Tinga, priest of Sta. Filomena Parish here.

Tinga said that if they decide to put up the tarpaulins, they will follow the rules on sizes of campaign propaganda materials imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“Team Patay” refers to the senatorial candidates who, in their capacity as congressmen and senators, voted last December in favor of passing the reproductive health law, which the Catholic Church had vigorously opposed. “Team Buhay” are composed of senatorial aspirants who voted against the RH measure. 

Displaying the names of these pro- and anti-RH law candidates was first done by the Diocese of Bacolod in Negros Occidental. The Comelec had ordered the Bacolod tarpaulins taken down because they were oversized. Five more dioceses have decided to follow the Bacolod campaign–those in Lipa, Batangas; San Pablo, Laguna; Malolos, Bulacan; San Jose, Occidental Mindoro; and Boac, Marinduque.

Father Tinga the Dipolog diocese’s RH-related campaign will only be for and against candidates for national candidates positions. No endorsements or negative campaigning will be done in the local races so as not to contribute to the already extremely polarized political situation in Zamboanga del Norte.

“Anyway, the people here are already aware of the stand their leaders took on the RH bill,” Tinga stressed.

Both congressmen Seth Frederick Jalosjos (NP, 1st District, Zamboanga del Norte) and Cesar Jalosjos (NP, 3rd District) voted in favor of the RH bill. Rep. Rosendo Labadlabad (LP, 2nd District) opted not to vote to avoid antagonizing the Catholic Church here. – Rappler.com