Series: Church & Politics

While we call on people to be active in partisan politics, we, too, should do more as Church to educate our people on their political duties. No good people will be elected unless the general population exercises their votes in a moral manner. Yes, in a moral manner, since to vote for a bad or incompetent person is to do harm to the common good, and to sell one’s vote is to sell the country.

When the poor vote in an organized and disciplined way, life will change for the better in the Philippines. If someone seeks justice, therefore, they should work with the poor. Since the Church seeks the just society described in the Social Encyclicals, it should work with the poor. They are its natural ally.

Sr. Mary John Mananzan is the prioress of the Missionary of Benedictine Sisters in the Philippines and the co-chair of the Association of Major Religious Superiors (AMRSP). She has been very vocal and active against corruption, one of the country’s social evils. Some critics accuse her of destabilizing the nation, but she sustains that the struggle for truth and justice is part of their prophetic vocation as religious.