RSSThe leader of the largest Catholic Charismatic renewal movement in Asia says he intends to let his members know the candidates he will vote for in the May 2010 elections.
Without specifying when he plans to do this, Mariano “Brother Mike” Velarde, leader of the El Shaddai DWXI Prayer Partners Foundation International, says he believes Filipino bishops need to do the same or leave their “flock” to political “wolves.”
The lay leader says he would base his list on an assessment of the candidates´ character and practice of Christian values.
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Mariano ‘Brother Mike’ Velarde |
However, he would not necessarily include Father Eddie Panlilio among his choices. Supporters of the Catholic priest, who is on leave while serving as governor of Pampanga province, are raising funds to support his candidacy for a national post, possibly the presidency.
Velarde says he may also indicate to El Shaddai members at the group´s silver jubilee celebration in August whether he himself would run for president, or hold off announcing such a decision until a later time.
Some members have told Velarde not to run in 2010, the El Shaddai leader says.
The 69-year-old former engineer and real estate developer reveals that the healing he experienced from heart problems in the late 1970s helped transform him from “a fisher of dollars and pesos to a fisher of men for the Lord.”
On Aug. 20, 1984, he formally set up El Shaddai DWXI-PPFI and used his real estate business earnings to support Gospel broadcasts from his AM radio station DWXI. He also organizes weekly Mass and faith healing gatherings, now conducted at the El Shaddai San Dionisio Complex in Paranaque, south of Manila. These are broadcast over the Internet.
According to the organization, it had 219,758 ID-bearing or covenanted members who have committed themselves to support the foundation. The El Shaddai website estimates 5 million non-covenanted members regularly attending prayer meetings organized by chapters and cells in 35 countries and areas, including the Philippines.
Following is UCA News´ interview with Velarde:
UCA News: Will El Shaddai vote as a block in the elections?
Mariano Velarde: I will tell the people I have examined the candidates. You still have a choice, but I will tell you who I have chosen. I have done this in past elections. This time I will announce my choice over my broadcast as I am now heard all over the world. In 24 hours before the election, my people will know who I have chosen.
What criteria will you use? Will you choose only Christians?
Before I choose anyone, I will have to check his or her background. That is most important. A public persona is not always the real persona. You must see what a person is really like. The character of a man leads his direction. We cannot change a man overnight. Next is adherence to the Gospel. So yes, the candidate should be a Christian.
Will you endorse Father Panlilio for president?
What he does in Pampanga must be his pilot test. Is he able to deliver what he promised? His campaign lines were anti-jueteng (illegal numbers game) and fixing up the alleged corruption in collections from quarrying.
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Father Eddie Panlilio |
Now I hear he has done well in increasing the revenues from quarrying, but he has not been able to derive full benefits from the revenues because he can´t orchestrate the government agencies.
What we need is a leader who can orchestrate. You cannot lead this country alone. A leader must be able to orchestrate all sectors of our society to work together in one direction. Now we must realize the state is populated by the masa (masses) and the masa are looking for leadership. They seek real leaders that they can follow, leaders with credibility who have performed and a leader who can bring us together because our Church, our society, our business leaders — most professionals — are all divided and there lies the weakness.
Are you seriously considering running for the presidency in 2010?
It was my boyhood dream to be president and it is still my dream. But you see our dreams are not always God´s plan. Only God knows best. People ask me how do we know what is God´s plan? My reply is that in biblical days there was no campaigning for the leader. God appoints who he wants.
When the deadline for candidacy comes, I will file my COC (Certificate of Candidacy) and then in front of the media I will announce: “I am a candidate for president, but I am not running because I have no money. I cannot go to your places and promise anything. If you vote for me and I win then I will go to your place and ask you what you need. It is up to you to vote for me or not. If you believe in me will you not campaign for me?”
I will not tell you I have 10 million votes, but I can say I have 3 million solid followers. That many will show up in August for our silver jubilee in Luneta. We can see perhaps who can become the next president.
Bishops are afraid to be involved in partisan politics. That is the wrong position. If you follow that, you lose by default. You throw your flock to the wolves.
What do you think about the bishops´ preference to be non-partisan in politics?
It is OK for bishops to be partisan. They are too careful. If I were a bishop I will say after examining a candidate, “This is the one you should vote for.” The Iglesia ni Kristo (the largest indigenous Christian religious organization that originated in the Philippines) and Muslim religious leaders tell their people how to vote. Bishops should tell us also. Of course the flock has the freedom to choose, but a bishop can tell them what is best. It is the only way to see if you still have clout over your people. If you fail you have no clout.
Some say playing partisan politics can be threatening and divisive.
That is exactly why most El Shaddai members don´t want me to enter politics and run. We will just be dragged into the dirty tricks of politics. But if we are not interested in politics or we say we won´t get involved because all politicians are the same and hopeless, then that is bad for us. It will be a pity for the country for good men not to get involved.
I always tell bishops that the only authority that can redirect this country is the Church. We are a country whose people are 80 percent Catholics. We are the Church. We are also the nation — the same “flock of the Church.” The bishops should not abandon their flocks to the wolves. Filipinos were brought up to look up to the bishop. That is our culture. The problem is, since they are not leading, we have become so divided the country is going down the drain.
How do you view recent allegations that your real estate firm benefited
from the overpriced sale of land for a government road extension project?
As you know it is political. I am waiting to be called by the Senate so I can clarify the facts. I think it is better for everything to come out rather than have people speculate on this case.
How is El Shaddai´s membership affected?
Of course they are bothered by these claims. I say to them you should not be bothered. It is I who am involved and not you. If your conscience is clear, why should you be afraid?
Do you think President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will try to extend her term by changing the constitution?
Oh no, it is too late for that. People keep the issue alive because they just want to be sure that it does not happen. (Recently) when the presidentiables (possible presidential aspirants) were asked if they were elected, what would they do to Mrs. Arroyo, they said they would prosecute her. If it were me, I would answer that this is not my work. My work is to bring the country forward.
If you have evidence against her then let some other agencies lead in her prosecution. Let the process go forward. But the worst thing in the world if I am president is to get caught up in the past. That is what our problem is now and we are not progressing.
In fairness to Gloria, and I know her personally, she has complained: “Why do people not see the good work I have done for the country. Why do they not appreciate all I have done?”
I tell her, don´t mind them, just go forward and at the end of your term people will see what you have done for them.
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