CABIAO,
Nueva Ecija – Rep. Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo finds the Constitutional provision
on separation of Church and State too clear to be misconstrued.
The
statement was made by Robredo in an interview here amid the recent protest by
members of the influential Iglesia Ni Cristo against Justice Secretary Leila De
Lima in connection with criminal charges filed against members of its
Sanggunian recently.
“Yung
separation of church and state, let us simplify it like this that our
government is not allowed to declare only one religion for all. The government
cannot declare, let us say it, Catholic, as the only religion for all the
people in the Philippines. That is prohibited,” she said.
The
government, she added, is also prohibited from favoring any religious sect.
”It
seems to say that freedom of religion is being recognized paramount,” she said,
noting that the government is also barred from spending public funds to any
religious sect.
”With
regard to the latest controversy,” she said, “there are those who have been
charged for illegal detention. The government should act on the matter because
it is not included in the freedom of religion,” Robredo said.
Without
citing any particular case, Robredo said there were times when some Catholic
officials were accused of criminal acts where the church could not invoke
separation of church and state.
”All
crimes are defined under the Revised Penal Code, there is no one exempted,
thus, it should not be muddled on the issue of the separation of the church and
state,” she said. -- PNA
No comments:
Post a Comment