Bishops as rice retailers

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

04/09/2008

Instead of teaching the flock about their faith, Catholic bishops are now into selling rice, after having forged an agreement with the Gloria government for the clergy to have rice, in the thousands of sacks, for sale and distribution to their parishioners.

A report Tuesday said the Department of Agriculture (DA) has agreed to supply the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) every week some 50,000 to 60,000 sacks of NFA rice for distribution in various parishes in Metro Manila.

And if all goes well, this rice sale and distribution will be done nationwide.

Wow, what Gloria will do to get into the continued good graces of the Catholic bishops and how so unspiritual these bishops have become in getting involved in a political commodity as rice.

One Fr. Mar Castillo, a representative of the CBCP who was present during the discussions on the church engaging itself in selling rice to its parishioners, was quoted as saying the dioceses in the country will directly manage the distribution and selling of the NFA rice to the parishes.

Gloria and her aides never really get into anything without a motive--perhaps even long-term to work around her political survival.

Just what this Gloria-bishops partnership really means is that when the rice supply dries up, and it may, since there is said to be a global rice shortage, no matter the denials of Malacañang and the Agri chief, when the people start bitching and protests mount that could lead to rioting, why, the bishops would have to protect Gloria again against the hungry Filipinos. That’s long term for Gloria.

But what about the short term problems, such as the question of whether the Catholic bishops will be made accountable to the public, since public funds are involved in the sale of rice?

It’s this way. Once the sacks of rice are delivered by the NFA to the priests and bishops — and evidently this will have to be done on consignment basis, as it is almost certain that the frigging bishops won’t be putting up any money, in cash or in check, for the sacks of rice delivered to the priests in their parishes — or even to the CBCP, what is expected? Priests start selling the rice by the kilo to the poor. Fine. But there are problems attached to this.

There is the problem of storage of these thousands of sacks. Do the parish priests, or even the bishops, have enough space in their dioceses to house these sacks of rice or will the DA will finance the bishops in a new warehouse business of bishops? And is this legal, since the DA has its own warehouse?

There is too, the problem of pilferage, since it is now the bishops who will have received the thousands of sacks of NFA rice who will be responsible for the loss and perhaps even short sale of these sacks of rice which will be sold retail to the parishioners.

Do these churchmen have the right security for this? And if so, will the parish priest have to pay a sum for the added security?

Pilferage should never be discounted, as every parish priest certainly knows that even their daily collections from parishioners during Masses, are being pilfered, even by those entrusted by them to collect what passes as tithes.

It is almost impossible for the priests or the bishops themselves to set up the rice stand and spend their time selling rice at retail prices to the people in their parishes. This will be delegated, but the responsibility lies with the bishops and priests. So if the sale is short, who pays for this, as the rice comes from public funds? The Filipino taxpayers again? Because, as sure as hell, Gloria isn’t going to be on the bad side of the bishops by asking them to account for the shortage, along with her not bothering them to liquidate whatever they got by way of sacks of rice from the DA, or even the sale of rice.

Does she ask the bishops to liquidate the “donations” and monetary perks she gives them?

Then too, think about another mundane problem in the selling of rice.

With that commodity in demand, sales will be brisk and a lot of money will be in the hands of priests and bishops who, it should be pointed out, will have to keep books on the sale and delivery, which is no joke. So the priests will now have less time for spiritual matters, as they are now engaged in the mundane business of selling.

And oops, here comes Satan, tempting these churchmen to filch the money made in the sale of rice.

Impossible? Of course not. How many priests, bishops, and even cardinals, have been complained against by their faithful for having such an expensive lifestyle?

After all, some priests and bishops who have a woman to keep and maintain, will have to keep the woman happy — and financially sound.

Back to top

For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph
The Daily Tribune © 2006