Catholic Church leaders will not accept donations from politicians even if they are their “Alay Kapwa” Lenten program.

“I will not accept any donations for “Alay Kapwa” especially from politicians. It’s not right for the Church to accept donations from politicians given the upcoming elections,” Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad said over Church-run Radio Veritas 846.

He said if politicians really want to donate, they should just go and donate their money directly to those in need. “If they are really sincere and they really want to be one with the Church’s Alay Kapwa they should go to the victims of calamities, go to a hospital and provide medicines to those who can’t afford them or go to the orphanages and feed the people there. That is real Alay Kapwa,” said Jumoad.

Aside from Jumoad, Bishops Dinualdo Gutierrez of Marbel, South Cotabato and Carlito Cenzon of Baguio also refused to accept donations from politicians especially if the money is from evil.

“It’s a big no. We won’t accept donations that we know came from questionable sources,” Gutierrez claimed. “If we know that the source of the money is questionable, such as gambling, drugs or from graft and corruption, then we should not accept it,” said Cenzon.

Alay Kapwa, a Lenten evangelization program of the Catholic Church in the Philippines that was established in 1975, has for its objective the evangelization of the Catholic communities towards Christian awareness of their social responsibility with preferential option for the poor. Implemented in all dioceses, the Alay Kapwa Sunday or Caritas Sunday, on March 28, requires the Catholic faithful to share their time and talent with their neighbors.