MICHAEL MEDINA
OZAMIZ CITY: The path to moral recovery may be a long and tortuous road but Chief Justice Reynato Puno says he will take any available occasion to spread his Moral Recovery Enhancement Program (MREP) to wherever he goes.
In a meeting with Ozamiz City journalists, March 28, Puno explained that he is disturbed about the never-ending news of corruption all over the country and that government should try to redeem such dishonor.
The chief justice also mentioned to journalists that corruption in the country has been deforming all its institutions, undermining stability and security and preventing socio-economic development.
Personally leading his MREP or the Moral Force Movement (MFM), Puno said his first effort was for bringing back the court’s reputation as an institution of integrity in the wake of several controversials and alleged judicial misconduct by justices.
Puno, who is set to retire on May 17, 2010, notes the “backslide of moral honor” among Filipino citizens, especially public servants.
“We feel the presence of problems like the breakdown of peace and order, the rift between the GRP and MILF panels and the kidnappings elsewhere,” he told mediamen.
“We would like to think that these problems would diminish and the movement will succeed and resuscitate Filipino virtues if we strengthen our old morals,” he added.
“Look at our Constitution, there is always the Preamble, which emphasizes our need and belief of the Almighty God. We should follows and evoke the teaching of the Bible,” the chief justice stressed.
Puno, whose arrival in the city was for the formal launching of the HelpS-MFM, an offshoot of his eight-member core group that would spearhead the interest in ending the so-called moral decadence plaguing the country.
With Puno are highly respected pastors of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International Philippines (FGBMFIP), headed by President Robert Lee, members of the Free and Accepted Masons based in Ozamiz and councilor Ma. Constancia Lim.
Puno described his movement as non-partisan and all are composed of volunteers and technical working groups from various organizations.
Although he dismissed reports that his leading the movement will be his prelude to participation in politics, Puno explained that HelpS-MFM intention is coming together for the coming 2010 elections.
But this will be for defining and electing transformational leaders in the coming elections, which would choose and have elected transformational leaders from the highest post to the lowest post being contested in the forthcoming 2010 elections.
Saying later that it is a personal call, Puno said: “MFM is spreading around and tackling on moral issues that confront corruption, poverty, law and order, lack of justice, multiple issues on priority basis. This movement is a long-term movement with the hope of eliminating the said issues.”
Meanwhile, Muntinlupa City Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon frowned on Puno’s movement and urged the chief justice “to leave the judiciary and join the political arena if he wants to transform the country.”
In a report filed by GMA News TV, Biazon was quoted to have said: “While it is true that Philippine society needs moral recovery, there is also no denying that much of it is political reform, and one must join the political fray to be an agent of change in that field.”
“Being the Chief Justice, he must have a conscious effort not to be dragged into politics. But if he really wants to be an agent of moral recovery in politics, he must first relinquish his post in the judiciary and be a full-time politician,” the congressman said.
Earlier, Senators Panfilo Lacson and Francis Pangilinan also advised Puno “to join politics and lead the movement for moral recovery by running for president in the May 2010 elections.”
Puno, in his reply, again quoted by GMA News TV, brushed aside calls made by Lacson, saying he that he “be spared from politics and allow him to continue to do his constitutional mandate over and above any political interests.”
“All that we have to do is to rally our moral leaders so that they can form a broad coalition. They are to act as the moral watchdog of our country. They are to be our moral stewards. They will always remind us that every moral decision has its cost so that we can now translate all these standards of morality or our principles into definitive actions through this so-called broad coalition,” he said.
After the formal launching held inside the Medina Gymnasium with some 2,000 people in attendance, a dinner fellowship hosted by the FGBMFIP and the Ozamiz City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. was tendered in Puno’s honor later in the evening.
OZAMIZ CITY: The path to moral recovery may be a long and tortuous road but Chief Justice Reynato Puno says he will take any available occasion to spread his Moral Recovery Enhancement Program (MREP) to wherever he goes.
In a meeting with Ozamiz City journalists, March 28, Puno explained that he is disturbed about the never-ending news of corruption all over the country and that government should try to redeem such dishonor.
The chief justice also mentioned to journalists that corruption in the country has been deforming all its institutions, undermining stability and security and preventing socio-economic development.
Personally leading his MREP or the Moral Force Movement (MFM), Puno said his first effort was for bringing back the court’s reputation as an institution of integrity in the wake of several controversials and alleged judicial misconduct by justices.
Puno, who is set to retire on May 17, 2010, notes the “backslide of moral honor” among Filipino citizens, especially public servants.
“We feel the presence of problems like the breakdown of peace and order, the rift between the GRP and MILF panels and the kidnappings elsewhere,” he told mediamen.
“We would like to think that these problems would diminish and the movement will succeed and resuscitate Filipino virtues if we strengthen our old morals,” he added.
“Look at our Constitution, there is always the Preamble, which emphasizes our need and belief of the Almighty God. We should follows and evoke the teaching of the Bible,” the chief justice stressed.
Puno, whose arrival in the city was for the formal launching of the HelpS-MFM, an offshoot of his eight-member core group that would spearhead the interest in ending the so-called moral decadence plaguing the country.
With Puno are highly respected pastors of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International Philippines (FGBMFIP), headed by President Robert Lee, members of the Free and Accepted Masons based in Ozamiz and councilor Ma. Constancia Lim.
Puno described his movement as non-partisan and all are composed of volunteers and technical working groups from various organizations.
Although he dismissed reports that his leading the movement will be his prelude to participation in politics, Puno explained that HelpS-MFM intention is coming together for the coming 2010 elections.
But this will be for defining and electing transformational leaders in the coming elections, which would choose and have elected transformational leaders from the highest post to the lowest post being contested in the forthcoming 2010 elections.
Saying later that it is a personal call, Puno said: “MFM is spreading around and tackling on moral issues that confront corruption, poverty, law and order, lack of justice, multiple issues on priority basis. This movement is a long-term movement with the hope of eliminating the said issues.”
Meanwhile, Muntinlupa City Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon frowned on Puno’s movement and urged the chief justice “to leave the judiciary and join the political arena if he wants to transform the country.”
In a report filed by GMA News TV, Biazon was quoted to have said: “While it is true that Philippine society needs moral recovery, there is also no denying that much of it is political reform, and one must join the political fray to be an agent of change in that field.”
“Being the Chief Justice, he must have a conscious effort not to be dragged into politics. But if he really wants to be an agent of moral recovery in politics, he must first relinquish his post in the judiciary and be a full-time politician,” the congressman said.
Earlier, Senators Panfilo Lacson and Francis Pangilinan also advised Puno “to join politics and lead the movement for moral recovery by running for president in the May 2010 elections.”
Puno, in his reply, again quoted by GMA News TV, brushed aside calls made by Lacson, saying he that he “be spared from politics and allow him to continue to do his constitutional mandate over and above any political interests.”
“All that we have to do is to rally our moral leaders so that they can form a broad coalition. They are to act as the moral watchdog of our country. They are to be our moral stewards. They will always remind us that every moral decision has its cost so that we can now translate all these standards of morality or our principles into definitive actions through this so-called broad coalition,” he said.
After the formal launching held inside the Medina Gymnasium with some 2,000 people in attendance, a dinner fellowship hosted by the FGBMFIP and the Ozamiz City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. was tendered in Puno’s honor later in the evening.