BEFORE the headline topic, prayers and sympathies over recent tragedies of young people: the Tacloban City school shooting, in which two teenagers killed three students and injured 20 others; the drowning of two Ateneo de Manila University basketball players during a seaside team-building activity in Aurora province; and soaring suicides in the country, with youths between 15 and 29 years old facing the highest self-harm risk.
Last year, the Philippine National Police’s then-chief Nicolas Torre III urged more attention to mental health after reporting nearly 2,000 suicides in the country from January to June 2025. And the self-harm has trebled: in the first three months of this year, 111 took their own lives in Metro Manila, more than triple the 33 in the same period in 2025.
At a national conference of three movements seeking to enhance spirituality in national life on June 24, Torre, now general manager of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, said the killings and suicides partly resulted from the decline in religiosity. Former chief justice Reynato Puno, who led the forum of delegates from all 17 regions of the country, agreed with Torre. With fervent faith in God, Puno stressed, people would not resort to violence.
When Church upends State
This brings us to the headline topic: how activist should the Catholic Church be?
What may come to mind for many Filipinos is the role religion played in two “People Power” uprisings that ousted leaders and enlivened hopes for democracy and good governance.
Both events have major anniversaries this year: the 40th for the 1986 protests that ousted then-president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the incumbent’s father and namesake; and the 25th for the 2001 uprising at the same corner of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) and Ortigas Avenue that removed Joseph Estrada.
In both upheavals, religion was crucial. In 1986, Manila’s then-archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, prelate of all Metro Manila at the time, called on the Filipino faithful over the Catholic station Radyo Veritas to mass around military and police camps on EDSA to shield mutineer troops from the elder Marcos’ assault. That turned into the EDSA People Power Revolution, which installed Corazon Aquino and restored democracy.
One-and-a-half decades later, Cardinal Sin backed civil society led by Aquino in calling for Estrada’s resignation after senators backing him voted to conceal evidence in his impeachment trial over corruption charges. His supporters tried their own EDSA protests four months after his ouster and arrest, but failed partly because they lacked Church support.
Since then, however, the Church’s political clout has diminished after most of the sprawling Archdiocese of Manila was hived off into the Dioceses of Cubao, Kalookan, Novaliches, Parañaque and Pasig, reducing the archbishop’s influence. Also, some Church leaders subtly endorsing or opposing presidential candidates failed to gain traction among Catholics, making up four-fifths of voters.
More prayers, less protests?
Will the Church again flex muscles in political action? Yes and no.
Catholic bishops and groups support anticorruption protests like the Trillion Peso March and similar rallies at the EDSA People Power Monument. The latest one is the White Ribbon March on June 28, on which the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) declared in a June 22 “Pastoral Message To All Bishops, Priests, Consecrated Persons and the Lay Faithful,” signed by CBCP President and Lipa Archbishop Gilbert Garcera:
“As the nation continues to confront the challenges of corruption, injustice and the erosion of public trust, let us not lose hope. On June 28, various religious groups will hold the White Ribbon March... as a faith-based and nonpartisan call for truth, accountability, justice and righteousness in public life. Those who, guided by their conscience and local circumstances, wish to participate in this peaceful gathering may do so prayerfully and respectfully.”
Archbishop Garcera also mentioned the CBCP’s instruction for all Eucharistic celebrations nationwide, starting with Pentecost Sunday, anticipated Masses on May 23, to say “A Nation’s Prayer for Enlightenment, Conversion and Renewal.” The prelates’ message said: “Impelled by faith and animated by love for country, let us remain steadfast and united in prayer and action that truth, integrity, and justice may prevail over dishonesty, corruption, and self-interest.”
Certainly, the Church remains firm in seeking good governance and lamenting “truth being cast aside, justice delayed, and division, weakening the fiber of our society.” For government leaders, the prayer asks our Lord: “Grant them wisdom to act with discernment, strength to persevere with integrity, and humility to seek not revenge, but righteousness; not personal ambition, but the common good.”
The citizenry, too, must change: “Forgive us for closing our eyes to what is right, for accepting excuses in place of accountability, and for allowing despair and division to weaken our hope for our people. We confess the many times we remained silent in the face of wrongdoing, when we chose convenience over conscience, fear over courage, and apathy over responsibility” (https://rcam.org/a-nations-prayer-for-enlightenment-conversion-and-renewal/).
These are laudable initiatives in enhancing and harnessing prayer and spirituality to address national ills. At the same time, certain activist sectors, especially those wanting EDSA-like outcomes, may want more forthright demands and initiatives from the Church, as the CBCP urged last September:
“1. Be vigilant and vocal. 2. Reject patronage politics. 3. Model honesty in daily life. 4. Build communities of truth. 5. Join civic and parish initiatives. 6. Support an independent [flood scam] probe. 7. Demand justice, not impunity. 8. Lead by example in the Church. 9. Live modestly, resist excess” (https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/cbcp-pastoral-letter-on-flood-control-corruption/).
On the other hand, other perspectives argue that direct political action should primarily be the purview of the laity, not the hierarchy. As one reformist businessman remarked at the 1980s Bishops-Businessmen Conference pushing for reform and accountability under Marcos Sr., civil society “should hang our heads in shame” if it lets bishops undertake political actions the citizenry must do instead.
Which view is right, and what’s the way forward for the Catholic Church? Let’s see on July 2, in time for the CBCP retreat and plenary in Ozamiz City, starting on Friday.
