DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Friday said it did not initiate the call for the Commission on Election (Comelec) to suspend the proclamation of winning candidates at the national level.
News circulated a day after the Comelec started its canvassing of the results of the midterm elections, stating that the CBCP wanted to suspend to proclamation of the winning senatorial candidates.
“The CBCP has not made a call or appeal or suggestion to suspend the proclamation of the winning senatorial candidates in our recent elections,” Archbishop Romulo Valles, DD president of CBCP clarified in a statement.
The archbishop even called the circulating news fake.
“If that kind of news is circulating – that the CBCP has made such a call – that is again pure fake news,” Valles emphasized.
“That is not true that the CBCP issued such a call or appeal,” he added.
Earlier this week, the CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action Justice & Peace Executive Secretary Father Edwin Gariguez, in an interview in a national Catholic radio station, aired his call to the Comelec for the suspension of the proclamation of winning senators over allegations of fraud and other irregularities in the recently concluded midterm elections.
Meanwhile, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez answered to the call of Fr. Gariguez that a “formal petition must be filed” to delay the proclamation of winners. (davaotoday.com)
