'Running priest' Robert Reyes opposes Duterte-Valles dialogue

Activist "running priest" Father Robert Reyes on Saturday expressed his opposition to the one-on-one meeting of President Rodrigo Duterte and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines president Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles.

In a report on Super Radyo dzBB, Mao dela Cruz quoted Reyes as saying that there should be another witness in the supposed dialogue as Duterte and Valles are good friends, the latter being the Archbishop of Davao.

Reyes also expressed fears that Duterte might offer Valles "P100 million for his silence" about the issues hounding the present administration.

The idea of a one-on-one meeting did not come from the CBCP and Reyes said he has no idea where it came from.

Neither the Catholic Church nor the government would know what the two would be discussing if the dialogue would be made exclusive.

Reyes proposed that at least Valles would be accompanied by CBCP vice president Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David.

He called the Duterte-Valles dialogue as mere "gimmick" as there can be no real dialogue among friends. A real one, Reyes said, should be between two people who are open but critical of each other.

Valles lacks critical evaluation of the Duterte administration, Dela Cruz quoted Reyes as saying.

Last June 30, Malacañang announced that Duterte has scheduled a dialogue with CBCP president Valles, days after the chief executive had been hounded by criticisms for calling God stupid in an earlier speech in Davao.

Meanwhile, Philippine bishops on Saturday began their three-day bi-annual plenary meeting at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center in Manila.

A source from CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action said that the plenary is not expected to issue a statement on the one-on-one dialogue as the Duterte-Valles meeting was not part of the agenda set earlier for the bishops meeting.

Earlier, Bishop Broderick Pabillo, chairman of the CBCP Commission on Lay Apostolate,  welcomed the one-on-one meeting but did not comment, saying that he would rather wait for the outcome of the dialogue, which was Malacañang's initiative and not the CBCP's. —LBG, GMA News