The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines is set to elect a new president in the wake of a soured relationship between the Church and State following the election of President Rodrigo Duterte last year. (Photo by Mark Saludes)
The Philippine bishops' conference, which has been outspoken against several policies of the one-year old administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, is set to elect new leaders this month.
Will a much vocal leader emerge during the changing of the guard? Who will be tough enough to stand up to the expected diatribes of Duterte who has accused the prelates of corruption and womanizing?
The president, who marked his first year in office on June 30, has slammed the country's Catholic priests and bishops for their supposed hypocrisy and called the Catholic Church "full of s***."
But outgoing conference president, Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, did not buckle amid what could have been the toughest test of his presidency.
The prelate stood his ground, saying that, "the church will continue to speak against evil," adding that its leaders will do this "even if it will bring persecution upon us."
The bishops, who continue to be influential in this predominantly Catholic country that will celebrate 500 years of the arrival of Christianity in 2021, have expressed concern over Duterte's leadership.
In a pastoral letter released in January, the prelates denounced the "reign of terror" in poor communities with the government's war on drugs having killed close to 10,000 suspected drug users and peddlers.
Last year, upon the election of Duterte, Archbishop Villegas exhorted Filipinos to "stand up for moral rights," "resist moral wrongs," and "stand and defend every person’s life and dignity."
The archbishop reminded people about martial law in the 1970s when the country "made a gentle turn to a street called faith that does justice … under the cloud of a military dictatorship and repression."
During those years of the dictatorship of late strongman, Ferdinand Marcos, Philippine Church leaders declared "critical collaboration" with the state.
"Often it was more critical than collaboration," recalled Archbishop Villegas. "It was like walking on a tightrope seeking the will of God and working for the good of the suffering country," he added.
During the passage of the reproductive health law in recent years, during the administration of former president Benigno Aquino III, church-state relations reached another turning point.
Before Duterte, Archbishop Villegas likened the preaching of priests and bishops to "voices in the wilderness proclaiming a teaching that our people could not identify with."
Standing up to Duterte is undoubtedly a tough act to follow for whoever becomes the next president of the bishops' conference.
In past elections of the collegial body, a senior archbishop was elected as president. This year, however, most senior prelates are about to retire.
Tradition also dictates that the sitting vice president is elected the next president.
This year, there are some reservations, maybe even from the frontrunner for the top seat himself.
The incumbent vice president is Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao, known to be a close friend of Duterte who hails from the southern Philippines. The prelate baptized in March the president's grandson, nicknamed "Stonefish."
With Archbishop Valles at the helm of the bishops' conference, will the declared "critical collaboration" of the church leadership with the Duterte administration change? The Davao prelate will certainly face a dilemma.
But will the bishops put tradition aside and elect another leader who will serve a two-year term, or a total of four years to include a possible second term?
Aside from Archbishop Valles, another potential frontrunner is Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu, who served as president for one term before standing down to focus on the International Eucharistic Congress in 2016.
Archbishop Palma, prelate of the oldest church jurisdiction in the country, which is traditionally headed by a cardinal, is known to be a vocal advocate of human rights and environmental protection.
Archbishop Villegas clarified that any bishop can be elected as his replacement. "Everybody is a candidate," he said, adding that only those who have been president for two terms are not qualified for election.
The bishops' conference presently has 131 members, 83 of whom are active, or those who handle archdioceses or dioceses, five are administrators, and 43 are retired.
Joe Torres is national reporter for ucanews.com in the Philippines. His 2016 book "Witness: Mission Stories of Basilan" recounts the ordeal of Catholic missionaries who tried to implement pastoral approaches peculiar to the southern Philippines.