Two leaders of the Roman Catholic Church on Monday clashed on how the bishops should view gambling—whether legal or illegal—with one saying it is alright to deal with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) and the other saying there can be no exception.
Archbishop Fernando Capalla of Davao, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said he sees nothing wrong in referring poor people to PAGCOR for financial help.
“We are not asking money from PAGCOR—we only refer,” he told reporters. Capalla earlier admitted that some bishops have become a “conduit” to the state gaming agency by telling people who need their help to go to PAGCOR instead.
He admitted that it may look like the Church is compromising its stand against gambling, but added that PAGCOR can serve as a last resort for poor Filipinos.
This, according to him, does not mean that the Church is condoning gambling.
Former CBCP president and Archbishop Oscar Cruz of Dagupan disagreed.
Cruz, who has been calling for PAGCOR’s abolition, denied that the CBCP has no common stand on all forms of gambling.
He cited three statements from the bishops’ organization released in 1972, 1996 and 2003—all saying that the CBCP is against all forms of legal and illegal gambling.
One of the letters, written when Cruz was CBCP president in 1996, read: “Many attempts are being made to legalize all forms of gambling even as casinos and lotto are now legal. But again, for us pastors, given the fatal lure of gambling to the Filipino psyche, the legalization of organized gambling in order to raise funds, even for development, is a form of demoralization.”
Cruz said that while the three CBCP statements did not particularly mention PAGCOR, there is “no need” to enumerate what kind of gambling the Church opposes since it was clear that the bishops are against all types of the activity.
For his part, Capalla said it is alright for the poor to benefit from PAGCOR since it is only the rich who can afford to play in its casinos.
“When the rich gamble, this does not make gambling right. When the poor gamble, this neither makes gambling wrong. It is gambling that is wrong. To gamble one’s money is wrong. To covet money through gambling is wrong. To launder gambling revenues by applying them to social projects is still wrong,” Cruz lamented.
Cruz said making PAGCOR as a Robin Hood, referring to its assistance to the poor out of the gambling activities of the rich. is also not right.
“Gambling is wrong and can never be right through whatever justification. Robin Hood makes a good story but gives a bad moral lesson,” he noted.