CEBU CITY, Philippines (UCAN) -- Cardinal Ricardo Vidal of Cebu is working to save a 10-million-peso (US$192,492) archdiocesan investment intended for Cebu priests' health care.

Cebu archdiocese invested in Corporate Investments Philippines Inc. (CIPI), which has faced problems since 1997 when the Asian economic crisis began.

Cardinal Vidal told reporters that Church investments were made with monthly 200-peso contributions of the clergy of Cebu, 565 kilometers southeast of Manila, and property titles the archdiocese used as collateral.

According to records of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cebu archdiocese investments with CIPI since the early 1990s comprise 3.33 percent of the company's paid-up capital. CIPI is into investment management, dealership, securities brokerage, funds management and investment banking.

In a July petition, CIPI asked a regional court to allow it to suspend payment to creditors, citing a 1.2-billion-peso liability. The company based in Pasig, east of Manila, also sought court permission for rehabilitation.

Cardinal Vidal said he met late in November with "people in Manila" who could help him get back the archdiocese's investment. He assured that this "is not lost," saying he had "arranged" for CIPI to stay open.

Vigilance is crucial, the cardinal said, as he anticipates that major CIPI stockholders will want to "get their share equivalent without leaving enough for the archdiocese."

The Cebu Church leader said he had the health of his priests in mind when he invested in CIPI. "How can our efforts move if our priests are sick?" he explained. "Whatever earnings we have we invest so that they will grow and help fill the costs of providing health care for our ailing priests."

He noted that elderly priests are sometimes hospitalized under intensive care for up to three months at a cost of 3,000-10,000 pesos a day.

Perpetual Succour Hospital run by the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres serves most of the clergy's health needs for a fee.

The archdiocesan clergy supported Cardinal Vidal's decision to invest in CIPI, according to Father Carlito Pono, president of Priests-Alumni of the Diocesan Seminaries. The cardinal also consulted a council of priests and bishops, and finance and bank executives.

Established in 1990, CIPI grew steadily for several years. However, two years into the economic crisis, its net income had dropped by 58 percent with total assets declining more than 40 percent.

Additionally, the exchange rate dropped from 26.28 pesos to US$1 before the crisis to as low as 52 pesos to the dollar before the end of 2001. The Philippine Stock Exchange has also plummeted.

According to corporate lawyer Waldemar Labrador, companies that petition for rehabilitation often close down knowing "they cannot resume their operations."

Labrador told UCA News that the chances of recovering investments in such companies are slim because stockholders are always the "last to get paid."

Cebu archdiocese has three bishops and 491 priests. More than half of the clergy are diocesan. The archdiocese serves some 2.6 million Catholics.

END