MALACAÑANG on Thursday extended a “hand of friendship” to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in working together for “the welfare of the Filipino people,” after the controversial Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) donation to some bishops had been put to rest by the Senate.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda made the gesture in a news briefing that when asked to comment on the statement of Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo—a recipient of a PCSO-donated vehicle—that the controversy has “injected” mistrust in the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the PCSO.

“We, in fact, would like to extend a hand of friendship to them that we are both stakeholders…we both are after the welfare of the Filipino people, and we should work together. It’s all a matter of transparency and accountability and there’s no problem with that, I think, with the Church,” Lacierda said.

He added that if the request for assistance by Church leaders is “done in a transparent manner, there’ll be no questions asked.”

“That’s the only thing that we’re asking. And I’m sure the bishops will not disagree with me if we want a process, a request, a transaction to be transparent,” Lacierda said.

When asked, Lacierda said that the new set of CBCP officials would provide a “new venue” for the administration “to renew our cordial relations with the Church.”

“Most of us are Catholics anyway and I can say that I’m a faithful abiding member of the Church so we consider the Catholic Church as an institution, not as an enemy but as a stakeholder—a fellow stakeholder in promoting the welfare of the Filipino people,” he said.

Lacierda said the controversy might even be “good” for the Catholic Church as “everytime there’s a problem with the Mother Church, there’s time for reexamination and reorient itself and that’s good—an examination of its policies towards the government.”

“It’s a fruitful experience...The Church prospers because of controversy. It’s good for the Church. It’s a healthy exercise for the Church to review its policies and that’s the reason why the CBCP had a conference on that and as a result, they were able to examine their policies towards government and that’s a thing that we welcome,” he said.

Lacierda also defended PCSO Chairman Margarita Juico from resignation calls made by pro-life advocates for alleging that some bishops had received Mitsubishi Pajeros from the PCSO under the previous administration, when none of them obtained this type of luxury vehicle.

“That’s a pretty minor reason to ask for her resignation,” he said.

Lacierda stressed that “the more important thing to look there is the intelligence funds” of the PCSO and how it was used under the previous administration as “it involved a large amount of money that should be accounted for.”

“We’ve always emphasized that the greater story is the intelligence funds,” he said.

Lacierda said that Juico’s supposed use of the term “Pajero” is not the issue, but “whether there was anything wrong in the use of  the vehicles.”

“Chairman Juico said there is none and the Senate said that they saw nothing wrong there. That’s what they said, so that’s the end of it,”  he said.