Pueblos asked to resign over ‘birthday request’

IN VIEW of the controversy hounding our bishop, Juan de Dios Pueblos, allow me to express my personal views on the matter:

1. The “birthday request” of the bishop was personal between him and  Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The Diocese of Butuan and the Father Saturnino Urios University were not involved, therefore he alone should solve the problem and not ask for help from the diocese or the university.

2. The request was inappropriate and done in poor taste. Regardless of the circumstances, a person in such position and stature, as Bishop Pueblos is, should be more circumspect.

3. The constitutional provision on the separation of Church and State is clear.

4. There is no prohibition against serving poor communities. As such, the programs of the Catholic Church are not prohibited from receiving assistance from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. But a personal “birthday request” is not a program for the poor.

I believe that many Butuanons share these views. We are not proud of what our bishop did and, to be sure, many parishioners, not to mention church workers and priests, are dismayed and have been greatly demoralized.

I pray that Bishop Pueblos be enlightened and, aside from giving back the vehicle to the PCSO, resign as bishop of Butuan.

—CHIT ASIS, 145 Sampaguita St.,

St. Joseph Subd., Butuan City