Bishops urged : Put up Bicol aid collection
points in Luneta on Sunday

Senator Ralph Recto today urged Catholic bishops behind Sundays prayer rally against Charter change to put up collection points for aid donations to Bicol typhoon victims in its Luneta venue.

This move, he said, will blunt administration charges that the assembly is a gathering that will serve no purpose as Malacanang and the House had both called off their Charter change charge.

Injecting a subtheme of compassion into the rally will also silence policemen who have been throwing all kinds of threats to organizers of the rally in an bid perhaps to dissuade people from attending it.

But if Sundays rally would also become a prayer meeting for the people of Bicol, and Luneta a receiving area for relief goods, then how can authorities charge a housewife for bringing a kilo of rice which she would only like to give to typhoon victims? he said.

Will she be charged of inciting to compassion? Recto said.

Recto said Sundays rally can both be an opportunity to say a prayer of thanks for stopping a manmade disaster that was Con-ass and for seeking help for victims of a natural calamity.

Let it be an occasion to heave a sigh of relief that Cha-cha was stopped and at the same time call for more relief to typhoon-hit areas, he said.

Recto said he was offering this unsolicited advice to rally organizers so more people will go to Luneta once they see that theres an expanded agenda, a theme that is more attuned to the season. Hindi naman maganda na Pasko na Chacha pa rin.

The kind of cha-cha that befits the season, Recto pointed out, is not Charter change but charity challenge.

That way, even those who pushed for Charter change will be there. Yan naman gusto natin di ba? Yang reconciliation. I dont think a person should be barred from joining the prayer rally on account of his or her stand on Cha-cha. I dont think there is a religion or a God who discriminates against a pro Charter change advocate, he said.