VIDAL: ACT NOW

'Narco-Politics Must Not Prevail In July 15 Polls'

Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal yesterday issued an urgent appeal to
all sectors in the community to join the fight against drug syndicates and
narco-politics.

In a pastoral statement, Vidal said voters could help by ensuring that
candidates with dubious background would not prevail in the coming barangay
and Sangguniang Kabataan elections

While saying that his call "is not a call to vigilantism," Vidal asked lay
people to be vigilant and unrelenting to ensure "that the candidates that
they vote for are not tainted with drug money."

"If the proliferation of illegal drugs is in itself a big problem,
narco-politics is an allied danger lurking in the shadows," Vidal said.

He defined narco-politics as "the use of drug money to corrupt and usurp the
political system, making it subservient to the illegal drug trade."

"The goal is to set up a "narcostate" where political patronage is in the
hands of drug lords and election campaigns are financed using profits from
illegal drugs. Resort to terror then becomes the means of maintaining
power," Vidal said.

The term narco-politics, often used to describe the influence of drug lords
in Latin-American governments, became a byword in the Philippines last year
after an expose of Army intelligence chief Victor Corpus.

Corpus then warned that the Philippines was in danger of being ruled by drug
cartels that were backing influential political figures.

Drug money, the army officer warned, would be used to ensure the election of
candidates with links to the drug syndicates.

Corpus alleged that Sen. Panfilo Lacson had opened several foreign banks to
stash away proceeds of the illegal drug trade. Witness Mary "Rosebud" Ong
later testified in a Senate inquiry on Lacson's alleged illegal activities.

DRUG CULTURE

"Corruption has also taken on a new face in our country threatening us with
the totalitarian onslaught of the drug culture," Vidal said. " Drugs do not
just affect individuals and their families. It hold the entire nation
hostage. "

Insatiable greed and lust for power, Vidal said, are what the Plenary
Council of the Philippines (PCP II) listed as root causes of the problem.

The drug problem, Vidal admits, "begins in the human heart but leads to but
is perpetuated by a network of human relationships that promote the drug
culture. We are, thus, dealing with both attitudes and structural evils."

Can we change this society? Cardinal Vidal said we could.

First, by rising from deeply embedded attitudes about profit and power.

"Such transformation must be translated into the political arena where the
lay faithful are challenged to permeate the political processes and
structures with Gospel values and the moral and social teachings of the
Church," he said.

"Good, ethical governance is everybody's concern," Vidal added.

MAKE SURE

In his pastoral letter, "I Came That They May Have Life," the cardinal also
asked the public to make sure:

* That Church and lay leaders make sure that funds and contributions they
receive do not come from illegal drugs;

* That legislation related to drug problem would lead to the dismantling of
well-entrenched drug networks, that drug money may not be laundered, and
that confiscated drugs may not be recycled;

* That more credible witnesses will be encouraged to testify through support
and incentives;

* That justice may be served in the on-going cases on prohibited drugs; and

* That economic programs to be made available as alternatives to the drug
trade.

"The effects of prohibited drugs are well known. Drug ruin lives. Crazed
addicts have killed their own kin and committed unspeakable crimes.
Narcotics thrust our women and children in endless cycles of violence and
exploitation," Vidal said.

Citing statistics from the United Nations Office of Drug Control and the
Crime Prevention's World Drug Report 2000, Vidal said there are now about
1.8 million shabu and 2.64 million marijuana addicts in the country.

"In 1972, there were only about 20,000 marijuana addicts. Only about 5,000
addicts can be accommodated by rehabilitation centers."

Sixty percent of shabu addicts in the Philippines reportedly belong to the
youth sector, "the majority of whom are poor." The illegal drug is
reportedly a P65 billion a year industry.

IN DANGER

The statistics cited further that in year 2002, about 800,000 Filipinos,
from ages 7-21, are in danger of becoming addicts. Six to seven of every ten
heinous crimes in the country are drug-related.

"In Cebu, ninety percent of all criminal cases are drug related. Even
children are not spared," the cardinal said.

"A recent ILO-funded study in Cebu reveals the expanding use of child labor
in the shabu trade with children as young as seven years old. Illegal drugs
constitute the number one problem facing barangays in Cebu," Vidal said.

He also urged everyone to resort to prayer, complemented by "sustained
action at different fronts and various levels."

Vidal called on parishes, renewal movements, and covenanted groups to share
resources to help combat alienation, provide livelihood projects, and even
give a hand in supporting recovering addicts. "Why not prayer groups
composed of recovering addicts?"

He also called on families, youth groups, schools, communities, sectoral
groups, "to become real oasis of warmth and hospitality providing healing
for broken lives and broken relationships, breeding grounds of addiction."