Bishop Socrates Villegas opposes White Vote movement

Following the launch of the “White Vote” movement, a coalition of church groups that will endorse between six and eight senate candidates for the upcoming elections, archbishop Socrates Villegas of the Lingayen-Dagupan archdiocese said on Wednesday that he does not agree with church groups endorsing candidates for the upcoming elections.

“‘Block voting tayo, eto yung iboboto natin.’ Mali yun,” said Archbishop Villegas in a report on GMA News’ “24 Oras.”

“Dadalhin natin sa ating konsensiya, at yun ang standard natin sa pagpili ng kandidato, that’s the Catholic vote. That’s the correct Catholic vote,” he explained.

In an earlier “24 Oras” report, Bro. Mike Velarde, founder-leader of the El Shaddai group which is one of the proponents of the movement, said that the candidates they will endorse have to be pro-family and pro-life.

He also said that they will also consider the candidates’ stand on issues such as the RH Law, divorce, same-sex marriage, and euthanasia.

The “White Vote” movement will announce its first batch of endorsed candidates on Saturday, the report said. — Amanda Lago/DVM, GMA News