Church on flood control mess: Return stolen wealth

More than just punishing those involved in corruption in flood control projects, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said those responsible should return the wealth they have stolen from the people.

- Evelyn Macairan

In a two-page pastoral letter on flood control corruption released on Saturday, CBCP president Pablo Virgilio Cardinal David of Kalookan said obtaining true justice, for the billions of pesos lost to substandard and ghost flood control projects, does not end with those responsible going to prison.

"True justice, however, demands more than punishment. It also calls for restitution: that stolen wealth be returned to the public coffers from which it was taken," David said.

"Many of those implicated will not be impoverished by such reparation, yet the nation remains poor if the funds are not restored. Retribution in this sense is not personal vengeance, but the rightful act of giving back what was stolen, so that the people may finally benefit from resources meant for their welfare," he added.

The cardinal also asked young Filipinos to use their social platforms as weapons in fighting corruption.