Cebu judges back chief justice’s moral drive

September 01, 2009 - Cebu's judges voiced their support for Chief Justice Reynato Puno's call for the public to ensure clean, honest and impartial elections by rejecting candidates who bribe, lie and commit graft or tolerate those who do so.

Puno led the nationwide launch of the Moral Force Movement (MFM) that was attended by more than 1,000 participants from “partner organizations,” students and members of the academe at the Far Eastern University auditorium in Manila.

In Cebu, Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Meinrado Paredes said the MFM should receive public support in rooting out corruption in governance.

“We need a moral revolution,” Paredes told Cebu Daily News.

He said he supported Puno’s call for “transformational leaders” who don't seek to perpetuate themselves in power and possess both integrity and honesty.

Paredes said he plans to ask other judges on submitting a resolution supporting Puno's movement.

Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Gabriel Ingles also reiterated his support, saying the country needs leaders like the late senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and his wife the late president Corazon Aquino.

“The problem of our politicians is that they keep on talking but have done nothing,” said Ingles, spokesperson of the Palace of Justice.

When Puno visited Cebu last July, he urged court employees to start a “moral transformation” to improve public perception on them.

During yesterday's launching in Manila, Puno said Filipinos need not raise clenched fists but only to listen to the whispers of one’s conscience “reminding us of timeless moral values in life."

“We're focusing on the holding of good elections and after that, we will tackle other social issues,” Puno told reporters.

Launched on the occasion of National Heroes' Day, the MFM, Puno said, hoped to re-capture ideals embodied by the country's revolutionary heroes.

“(Our heroes') ideals have long been enscripted in stone in our fundamental laws but more than a hundred years after, they remain to be meaningless hieroglyphics to us,” Puno said.

“(Our) hope to develop our national patrimony has been encumbered by the greed of the few; our desire for a rule of law comes from a wishbone and not from a backbone; our search for truth has been frustrated by falsehoods; and our efforts at peace have been shot down by bullets that kill,” he added. (Inquirer)