Manila, Philippines - An official (Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto) of the Catholic Church is giving President Benigno Aquino III at least three years to fulfill his promises to the people. Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP-ECFL), said he cannot rate yet the performance of President Aquino in his first 100 days in office as he is still new in his post. "I'll give him a chance to show more his style of governance, his priorities because he is still new," he told reporters in an interview at the Quiapo Church in Manila, where the prayer rally for life was held yesterday.
Aniceto said he is convinced that the Chief Executive is trying his best that's why people should still give him a chance to prove himself and fulfill whatever he has promised to the Filipino people. "Let's give him a chance to really fulfill his promises," he said. "Let's give him three years," added Aniceto. As pastors, he said, they remain hopeful that Aquino would follow the example of her late mother former president Corazon Aquino by eventually changing his decision to promote artificial contraceptives to married couples. "We are pastors, we are shepherds. We give everybody a chance to fulfill what they promised to our people.
That is why we are not closing our doors on him," Aniceto said. "There is that hope that our President will listen...as what we've said before, his mother was very saintly, she listens to the Church so I think he will give importance and value to that because he is the son of a good mother and father," added the prelate. The Pampanga prelate also revealed that the bishops are already talking to the senators and congressmen individually regarding the Reproductive Health Bill which the Church has been opposing convinced that is anti-life and anti-family. Aniceto said he himself was already able to talk to the representatives of their province including former president and now Pampanga 2nd district Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. "I have four congresswomen and I dialogued with them one by one. As far as I know, they are not in favor of the RH Bill," he said.
