PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines (UCAN) -- Financial administrators and treasurers of the Church in the Philippines met recently to discuss how to manage Church resources better.

Monsignor Daniel Santa Maria of Cubao diocese, chairperson of the organizing committee for the 10th Arch/Diocesan Financial Administrators of the Philippines (ADFAP) Convention, told UCA News the Church is facing financial-management problems and is looking for solutions.

The ADFAP annual convention, held June 23-26 at the St. Ezekiel Moreno Spirituality and Development Center in Puerto Princesa City, 580 kilometers southwest of Manila, discussed these problems.

This year's theme was 10 years of ADFAP, 10th year of Serving by Sharing.

Participants discussed the sourcing of funds for various projects, the lack of a good systematic accounting system, and the lack of training for financial administrators, among other issues.

About 140 participants, mostly diocesan financial administrators, attended the convention, together with priests, nuns, lay leaders and five Philippine bishops.

They discussed how other dioceses might replicate the success of the Bahay Pari Credit Cooperative (BPC, priest house cooperative) in Manila. The cooperative has grown to a 200-million-peso (US$5 million) organization after starting in 1994 with a capital of 150,000 pesos. Set up to help diocesan priests and institutions of Manila ecclesiastical province, it lends to and provides investment opportunities for priests and institutional partners.

The cooperative has 300 member priests in Manila archdiocese and five dioceses, and 150 institutional partners in the National Capital Region.

Monsignor Santa Maria told UCA News the delegates seemed pleased at hearing speakers highlight not only a particular church's activity but also collaboration between the business sector and private organizations. Forum participants discussed with professional businessmen the need to "tap into business communities" in implementing various church projects, he said on June 25.

He reported that ADFAP is seeking to fully implement a Standardized Priests Allowance (SPA). Priests want an equitable sharing of resources in all archdioceses, dioceses and vicariates throughout the country, no matter how poor or rich the priest's area of responsibility, he explained.

Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, assistant secretary general of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, later told UCA News: "We have been working on an SPA for the clergy of the Philippines since Philippine Plenary Council II (1991), but so far only a few dioceses have been able to implement it. However, 90 percent of our clergy contribute 200 pesos a month to the National Pension plan for their retirement."

Father Camilo Caabay, a financial administrator and convention coordinator from Palawan province, said a priest there should receive a monthly living allowance of at least 5,000-10,000 pesos, depending upon his area. This would cover his food, transportation and other personal necessities but would not be sufficient to meet parish expenses for ministerial works, he said.

He told UCA News the convention helped him better understand the difficulty of managing Church resources.

"Most of the Palawan parishes are poor," he noted. "The province relies on underdeveloped agriculture, fishing and tourism as main sources of livelihood. Poverty remains the problem that burdens Church financial administrators here and in other Philippine dioceses."

Father Caabay told UCA News after the convention that it was just a sharing of experiences of the dioceses in the country, and no resolutions or concrete action plans were passed.

Many participants were interested in having an adequate pension and health plan for all diocesan clergy, but it was agreed that local dioceses would decide on any action to be initiated on this matter.

Bishops Edgardo Juanich of Taytay vicariate, Pedro Arigo of Puerto Princesa vicariate, Honesto Ongtioco of Cubao diocese and Jesse Mercado of Paranaque diocese, as well as Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Manila, head of the Episcopal Committee on Social Action, Justice and Peace, attended the convention. The two vicariates and two dioceses are in the ecclesiastical province headed by Manila archdiocese.

Bishops Nereo Odchimar of Tandag diocese and Elenito Galido of Iligan diocese, both based in Mindanao, the southern Philippines, were not able to attend.

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