22/01/2019
Reposting so that others may know:
Tinambang Ka Ngunit Kulang:
A REBUTTAL to Bishop MORILES’S’
Letter to Dr. Baconga
- By Micah Ignacio
The 9-page letter of East Visayas Jurisdictional Area Bishop of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), “The Most Reverend” Jaime MORILES, is a long and exhaustive, even circuitous, defense of the actions of the national leadership of the UCCP in order to systematically silence any dissent or opposition to the ongoing divestment of church properties to newly-created and about-to-be-created independent corporations. And, honestly, it is a way to discredit the good reputation of Dr. Viernes, erstwhile Medical Director of the old Bethany Hospital, by labeling him “bitter.” But like its self-noosing arguments, the further you read, the more laughable his arguments are.
The letter that is now circulating over social media coming from him as a “prince of the church,” Bishop MORILES has now opened himself to criticism and critique as his 9-page letter is indeed a reflection of him as a person or unless he hired somebody else to write in his behalf, his callousness to praise his bosses in the national office without regard to basic truths and his lack of care to the people of Eastern Visayas, Uccp Phils members or not.
Let me just point out nine items (one point against every page, more points could be added later) that would rebut Bishop MORILES’ “holier than Thou” attitude:
Point #1.
About the topic “Ongoing Medical Services,” this is an admission of the fact that the health-related services of Bethany Hospital were needed in Eastern Visayas before its closure and after its closure. So, the closure’s purpose is not because the services traditionally provided by the old Bethany Hospital are not needed by the people of Eastern Visayas but essentially to get rid of the employees of Bethany especially the union members (somewhat like union busting), wrest control of the management of the hospital properties from the local board (somewhat like a property and power grab), create a “new” corporation that got the juicy properties of Bethany under the control of selected few comrades who will always say “yes” to the commands of the powers-that-be (somewhat like a corporate takeover), and eventually severe the general supervision of the General Assembly over the management and properties of the old Bethany Hospital (somewhat like an illegal divestment of church control and properties).
Point #2.
About the topic “Immediate Reopening of Bethany Hospital,” this is where common logic was twisted so much that it makes one to cringe just how the bishop tried so hard to convince that closure is the best possible option for Bethany Hospital without providing the answer why the mandate of the General Assembly was not followed. The mandate from the 2014 General Assembly was simple: “Rehabilitate and Re-open!” Anybody could understand that. Without explaining why the National Council led by the General Secretary and the National Treasurer violated this mandate, he jumped into rationales that are justifications for closure and dumped garbage upon garbage on the employees and management of Bethany Hospital. But for the sake of arguments, let me answer him about his bogus rationales of the closure. He said that there were great losses, why on earth could you re-open a new corporation, United Shalom Medical Center, with the very same assets owned by Bethany Hospital? Is this not a pure TRICKERY on your part saying that the old Bethany Hospital needs to be closed because it suffered losses and could not be re-opened? Well, the fact that you used its very assets to open a new corporation is an indication that you are merely trying to avoid personnel costs to employees who toiled and labored at Bethany Hospital making it one of the top hospitals in the region. The world knows how the employees of Bethany Hospital were devastated by Typhoon Yolanda! Let the world know that you have not only terminated 300 plus employees but you have damaged the lives of 300 plus families with this legal maneuver. While the world poured its resources to Tacloban to help, you have used this as an opportunity to execute your ill-conceived schemes. Where is your heart? You demand corporations to pay workers their just share yet you yourselves do not value the workers who serve you. Your concern is still profit over the lives of those people who work for Bethany Hospital and their families.
Point #3.
About “Task Force ‘Tukdaw’,” you have continued your insistence on the “bitterness” of Dr. Viernes yet you have not recognized your own contribution to that “bitterness.” What a shame for a bishop who is not only insensitive but also arrogant that Dr. Viernes should just suck up and move on. Truth to tell, Bethany Hospital would not have reached its peak if not for the great work done by Dr. Viernes and his staff. The hospital was not known because of its bishops, the hospital was known all throughout Eastern Visayas because of its outstanding doctors, nurses, and other staff. I repeat, it was not known because it has an outstanding bishop in the person of Bishop Moriles. How you treated Dr. Viernes and the other workers is a reflection of who you are Bishop Moriles, it’s not a reflection of who Dr. Viernes is. He is a respected medical practitioner in Tacloban City, I haven’t heard anybody yet in your jurisdictional area say how good you are as a bishop. The rights to redress a wrong is inherent in a democracy, and I always see you walk the street for photo opportunity demanding high officials of the government to repent and resign, why not address that to yourself?
Point #4.
About “Funding Proposal,” your point that you will re-open with funding help from the German government through the Bread for the World is admirable. Isn’t it funny that you are now applying for a 100-bed capacity hospital when you already had a 300-bed capacity hospital to begin with? Minor point to spell out too is that in this particular section you mentioned that West Germany just had their national elections and that they have a new Chancellor. Let me just be a little bit condescending on you, please read the “putos ug gaw-gaw” in the local parlance. Your mindset is still in the Cold War and thus a little bit frozen. West Germany ceased to exist in 1990 when the Berlin Wall collapsed! Alas, Angela Merkel was and still is the Chancellor of Germany! This basic error of facts is not material but is an indication of how you could twist facts to suit your ends.
Point #5.
About “On the Gaisano Lease,” you tried your best to sow another justification that Bethany Hospital’s properties are not fully utilized. Well, the argument could be thrown back to you like a boomerang. It will hit you back with quadruple force! If there are portions of Bethany Hospital campus that are unproductive, then you can just tinker on those “idle properties.” Here the whole design of your intent comes to light because you are not just interested in the “idle properties” but you are also interested in the “mission-related properties.” You just don’t want a piece of it, you want the entire thing! Sobra naman.
Point #6.
About the “’Begging the Question’,” you lectured us about a logical fallacy. Well, isn’t the expertise of the church’s national leaders is to go to the street and demand for resignation from government officials? Let me throw this back to your face and say that you are engaging in argumentum ad populum and onus probandi?
Point #7.
About “The Need to Assert Ownership And Cohesion To Our Church Institutions,” you lectured us about a corporation owned by another corporation. You not only tarnished the reputation of the Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer who you have talked to because most likely you did not fully understand his question about how a corporation can own another corporation but you also taken your own limited understanding of corporation law in the Philippines to be correct. Under Philippine law, a corporation has a juridical entity almost just like a natural person with rights and privileges, including but not limited, to owning another corporation. So, UCCP, as a corporation, can own other corporations in furtherance of its mandate of preaching, teaching, and healing. When you added the next paragraph, you mentioned about how Dr. Orencia and Dr. Agnir, as you alleged, now control the La Union and Northern Christian College, as examples. Did you even notice that the very act that you are assailing Dr. Orencia and Dr. Cesqar Agnir is the very thing that you did to Bethany, Bradford, and other targets of your corporate schemes? The problem lies not on the corporate structures the church uses, it lies in the scheme of robbing the General Assembly of the church general supervision and control of these corporations.
Point #8.
About “The Holding Company,” you tried to justify having a centralized holding company or parent company to control all subsidiary companies. Your examples are a plenty but your solution is wanting. In fact, what you are doing is like a shotgun solution with no target. You deal with each of those mentioned “problematic institutions” on a case-by-case basis and not through a “one-fits-all” solution. I could assure you that the incorporation papers of these newly-created independent corporations are no longer within the control and supervision of the General Assembly of the UCCP but by a few who would enjoy in perpetuity control and supervision. If you are a member of your clique, then you are okay but the church in general would lose its control over these new corporations that you have created.
Point #9.
About “’The Wilson Survey’,” you elaborated your principal topic that Bethany Hospital properties are owned and under the control of the General Assembly of the UCCP and your pronouncement that the national leaders will not barge into local churches taking locally-owned properties for income generation. I am happy that you have mentioned the UCCP General Assembly so many times sowing fallacious notions that the General Assembly has been doing all these “takeover” actions all along. The General Assembly, as a body, was side-lined and taken for granted because of the “easy money” schemes perpetuated by the National Treasurer bypassing the Constitution and By-Laws (CBL) and church processes. How could you use the name of the General Assembly left and right when you have not even respected one of its mandates? Why the rush to consummate, to use your term, “earthshaking” changes before the next General Assembly meeting in 2018? Why not ask the General Assembly for its collective wisdom on how to proceed instead of railroading church processes without regard to the CBL? Why? This is a question that begs an answer.
Honestly, I weighed your arguments, Bishop Moriles, but I find them wanting. I find them wanting in legal and moral weight. As long as you ride in your SUVs while the local preacher takes the pedicab and say to the whole world that you care for him and you are doing all these things for him, I do not believe you! As long as you will only nominate one candidate for General Secretary in next year’s elections as if it is more of a coronation and not an election, I do not believe you! As long as you spend so much millions on justice and peace initiatives but would not use those instead to improve the lives of the lowly retirees, I do not believe you! As long as you march on the streets demanding workers’ rights yet not care for the Bethany Hospital staff, I do not believe you!
