Kidapawan Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo has asked voters to vote responsibly in the May 2022 polls.
The national director of Caritas Philippines said this as he reminded voters: “Our choice reflects our values."
“It is an expression and affirmation of our human dignity, a foundational principle of Catholic social teaching," he said in a CBCP News post.
Bagaforo said voting is God’s gift to people “and how we use this is our gift to our country." During the virtual launching of Halalang Marangal 2022 Coalition on Tuesday, the prelate said with the many issues and challenges besetting the country, Filipinos deserve “leaders with servant hearts." To be a true and working servant leader, Bagaforo said, requires “competence, experience, compassion, kindness, passion and perseverance”.
“A functioning leader provides direction and inspires God's family to work tirelessly to improve the condition of all Filipinos with preferential attention to the marginalized and excluded,” he said.
Halalang Marangal 2022 is a coalition of more than 20 Catholic and other faith-based organizations to ensure a “clean, accurate, responsible and transparent” polls.
Among its main activities include a campaign for voters’ registration, voters’ education and poll monitoring.
Aside from Caritas, the coalition is composed of the bishops’ Commissions on Indigenous Peoples and Commission on Youth, the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP), Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas, and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP).
Other coalition members are the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP), De La Salle Brothers Philippines, Network for Justice and Compassion (NetJC), People Empowerment via Transformative Electoral Reforms (PETER), Philippine Misereor Partnership (PMPI); Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan (SLB), Bawat Isa Mahalaga (B1M), The Faith Initiative, and Radio Veritas846.