A Catholic prelate said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) remains a non-partisan group, despite the declaration of support by some of its members for a presidential candidate in the May 2010 elections.

“We do not stop our members from supporting any candidate. It is a personal decision and choice. However, a bishop’s decision to support a candidate does not necessarily mean it is the position of the group,” said Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz, archbishop emeritus (for life) of Lingayen-Dagupan cities in Pangasinan.

“The CBCP will not endorse any candidate,” he added.

Six bishops have endorsed the candidacy of Ang Kapatiran standard- bearer, Olongapo City Councilor John Carlos de los Reyes, namely Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, Bishop Vicente Navarra, Bishop Antonio Tobias, Bishop Joseph Nacua, Bishop Antonio Palang, and Bishop Teodoro Bacani.

Archbishop Cruz said, the six Catholic prelates did not violate any Church laws with their decision to openly declare support for a presidential candidate. “They have not violated any Church laws. They have violated neither the Philippine Constitution nor the Code of Canon Law,” he said. (Christina I. Hermoso)

RP, US military participate in field exercises
Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippine (AFP) and the United States Armed Forces are focused on the exchange of field training exercise and civil-military operations which started last Tuesday in various areas in the Northern Luzon Command.

“This Balikatan exercise is purely military to military exercises based on the US Visiting Forces Agreement. It's a capability training itself is just ten (10) days and will end on March 19 this year,” said Major Ramon Zagala of the Philippine Army Special Forces.

Zagala added that Filipino soldiers are more experienced in terms of the capacity to fight off insurgencies which US soldiers learn in the said exercise. “When it comes to new tactics and techniques, we learn from them. It's a two-way process and age doesn't matter in this exercise. We want to make sure that they are able to help us.”

Lieutenant Colonel Sean Wilson of the US Armed Forces said that the interoperability between the two forces will enable them to see the similarities during the whole exercise not just in terms of equipment familiarization.

“This is were we really learn the capabilities of each other so that when the time comes were both parties would come together in real-world incidents, we could easily adjust our systems so we can work more efficiently.” (Carlo S. Suerte Felipe)

Rich traders air concern
Some rich businessmen and professionals said Wednesday that they might be victims of kidnap-for-ransom (KPI) gangs if the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) decides to publish their names as top individual taxpayers.

They expressed their concern following the announcement of Revenue Commissioner Joel Tan-Torres that he will come out with the list of these taxpayers after the April 15 deadline in the filing of 2009 income tax returns (ITRs) "to encourage other taxpayers to follow their example and contribute more to nation-building."

A BIR old-timer said the practice was stopped years ago following the appeal of top taxpayers themselves not to publish their names to protect their families from criminals.

"It is okay if the BIR comes out with the list of top corporate taxpayers as it will definitely boost their public relations campaign," he said.

Under the plan, the BIR will come out with the names of both top individual and corporate taxpayers for taxable year 2009 for every district and region of the bureau.

Section 71 of the Tax Code provides that the commissioner may cause the publication in any newspaper the list containing the names and addresses of persons who have filed ITRs. (Jun Ramirez)