MANILA (RVA News): In response to growing public frustration over governance and corruption, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines [CBCP] expressed support for jailing corrupt officials. Church leaders also announced plans to expand their involvement in monitoring government projects.
Speaking on January 26 at a press conference during the 131st CBCP Plenary Assembly, Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, head of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Social Action, Justice, and Peace, said advocacy on good governance would continue and broaden, going beyond existing partnerships.
Bishop Alminaza recalled that under his predecessor, Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, the commission entered into a memorandum of cooperation with the Department of Public Works and Highways [DPWH], which oversees infrastructure development. It also partnered with several local government units to help monitor the implementation of infrastructure projects.
“In my term, we would like to expand that not just with DPWH but also with other agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Health, and the Department of Education,” the bishop said.
He emphasised that bishops and clergy are not the only ones driving Church engagement. Ordinary Filipinos’ lived experiences also shape and motivate their involvement.
“The grievances are not limited to bishops and priests. Many people share them, and Filipinos deeply feel the country’s present situation,” he said.
In a separate statement, Bishop Bagaforo expressed strong support for calls to hold corrupt officials accountable. Now chairperson of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Inter-Religious Dialogue, he said imprisonment was an appropriate consequence.
“The Church stands with the call of the majority to jail corrupt officials,” Bishop Bagaforo said, adding that political dynasties should also be dismantled.
“And political dynasties should be dismantled,” he stressed.
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Meanwhile, CBCP president, Archbishop Gilbert Garcera, framed corruption as a moral issue rooted in conscience, underscoring the need for personal and societal conversion alongside legal and institutional reforms.
“First of all, the primacy of conscience is essential,” Archbishop Garcera remarked. He emphasised that, without moral awareness, statements and policies remain ineffective.
The archbishop explained that the Church continues to pray for individuals’ “conversion of the heart”—be they political leaders or ordinary citizens—so they may act with moral responsibility and openness to the Holy Spirit.
He added that genuine reform requires not only accountability mechanisms but also inner transformation, which he linked to the Church’s call for synodality, or collective discernment.
The statements came as the CBCP plenary assembly gathered bishops from across the country to discuss pastoral priorities, social concerns, and the Church’s role in public life amid ongoing debates on corruption, governance, and political reform.
