TAINTED MONEY

Ricardo Cardinal Vidal's caution to priests not to accept donations from
drug traffickers promptly drew response from the clergy. It's difficult to
know which is drug money and which is not, they said.

The archbishop of Cebu gave the advice with his Sunday pastoral statement
on narco-politics, a warning that barangay leaders might be elected from
the ranks of drug traders in the coming barangay and youth elections.

Most gifts to churches come through mass collections or drop-in boxes.

Impossible to tag the paper bills and coins, which are the bulk of that
kind of donations, and identify their givers.

It's the fat check or big cash given directly to the priest that generally
can be identified. That kind of donations, we are told, usually carries the
name of the donor, apparently for the donor to ingratiate himself with the
priest who can then include the donor in his prayers.

Still, in such cases, how can the priest segregate the drug lord from the
honest business executive? If there is talk (and most priests, like
everyone else, listen to gossip), must the priest reject the donation on
that shaky basis as tsismis? Even if the donor is already charged in court,
how about the presumption of innocence that not only mortal lawgivers
revere but also the law of God affirms ("let he who is without sin cast the
first stone...")?

Okay, the donor is either a convicted drug trafficker or has acquired the
notoriety of being a drug lord. But what about the statement of one church
leader that the Church cannot care about the source of the money as long it
helps promote public good?

Apparently, with Cardinal Vidal's caution to his priests, the clergy in the
Archdiocese of Cebu must now take the effort of segregating donations,
which are tainted and which are not.

On a relevant note, tainted money does not only come from drugs. It also
comes from bribery and other forms of corruption in Government, as well as
robbery, theft, swindling - in sum, all sources and ways that make the
money "ill-gotten."

Drug money can help elect stooges of drug lords to public office. So can
other tainted money elect stooges of the corrupt or the criminal. Maybe not
worse, but also not much better.

After the clergy's misgivings about distinguishing donations, there has
been no further clarification on how the Church can shun drug money.

Eventually, the community hopes, some clearer guideline can be laid down
for the Church to adopt and practice on the kind of money it accepts for
priests to do the work of the Lord.

Bravo. . .

...to Jessie Malonjao, 10, who rushed back to the raging fire that struck
the family house in Consolacion, Cebu last Sunday for his two brothers,
Raymund, 8, and Albert, 1. It was foolhardy, but his love for his siblings
must have overwhelmed thought of his own safety. He returned to the inferno
to get them out. He died with them. His charred body was found on top of
those of his brothers, indicating he tried to protect them against the fire
up to the end...

... to Ariel Mioza, 17, a neighbor, who injured his back from a fall after
he tried to remove the bamboo slats that barred the three Malonjao
brothers' escape from the fire.

The acts of the two young men were simple courage and heroism, yet clearly
authentic and came from the heart.