Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David on Sunday repeated his call for Filipinos to demand accountability from public officials, warning that corruption will persist unless those responsible are held to account.
In a strongly worded speech at a prayer rally at EDSA Shrine, he urged citizens to remain vigilant against what he described as a worsening culture of dishonesty in government.
“Nothing will change in the government if those who should be held accountable are not held to account,” David, the outgoing president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said in Filipino.
Filipinos, he said, no longer want officials who behave like “parasitic worms” parasites feeding on the nation’s lifeblood.
“It is time to tell them: wrong is wrong,” David said.
The cardinal also criticized the persistence of the pork barrel system, likening such allocations to “tumors” in the body that must be removed entirely.
He said the public must repeatedly oppose these insertions, which he claimed are pushed by “shameless politicians.”
“Corruption should never be normalized,” David said.
The cardinal stressed that transparency is essential to good governance and that public service is a “public trust” that must not be abused.
He warned officials against betraying the people’s confidence.
“Do not destroy the trust of the nation,” he said. “Let us not allow lies to prevail; only truth should reign.”
David also underscored the role of citizens in sustaining democracy, saying the fight against corruption “belongs to everyone, not just a few.”
He reiterated his call for wide public participation in the “Trillion Peso March” on Nov. 30, with protest actions scheduled to take place simultaneously across the country.
Organizers said that aside from the main rally at the People Power Monument in EDSA, demonstrations will also be held in Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro and other cities.
