PHILIPPINES
Rappler
BY ARIES C. RUFO
POSTED ON 06/04/201
MANILA, Philippines – This is the first in a series of excerpts from the upcoming book Altar of Secrets: Sex, Money, and Politics in the Philippine Catholic Church by veteran journalist Aries C. Rufo that Rappler is running this week. The book will be launched on Friday, June 7, at The Forum, FullyBooked at The Fort, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Metro Manila. Launch price is at P400; regular price at P450.
THE MEETING was called to order and, as in previous ones, Jaime Cardinal Sin, the patriarch of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (RCAM), sat at the head of a long table. It was January 1987 and the board of directors of the archdiocese met for the first time that year.
Sin, as the sole administrator of the properties and businesses of the RCAM, presided over the meeting. They were to discuss some financial matters and, of course, the forthcoming anniversary of the EDSA 1 “people power” revolution where Sin played a pivotal role.
After being apprised of the status of the RCAM businesses and properties, Sin was in high spirits. Clearly, he was satisfied with the financial reports. But he was more excited with the preparations for the EDSA 1 anniversary.
But one board member had something on his mind. He knew that one important item was never raised in the board meeting and the cardinal appeared to have forgotten about it. He waited for another board member to raise it during the meeting, but it never cropped up.
There had been talks within RCAM about huge donations received by the archdiocese for the repair and restoration of Radio Veritas, the Church-run radio station which had been instrumental in the downfall of dictator President Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.