Pope’s deafening silence on case of Iloilo married priests

“The vow of celibacy is a matter of keeping one's word to Christ and the Church. a duty and a proof of the priest's inner maturity; it is the expression of his personal dignity.”  Pope John Paul II

By Alex P. Vidal

EITHER Pope Francis deliberately ignored it, or he was not reminded about the case of the two controversial Iloilo married priests, who recently made headlines when they baptized their children.

For sure, the pope knew about the cases of Fr. Hector Canto and Fr. Jose Elmer Cajilig.

Despite the publicity generated by the decision of Canto and Cajilig to baptize their children four days before the pope’s January 15 arrival in Manila, the supreme pontiff never tackled the matter during his five-day visit.

To highlight the baptismal rites, the two "rebel" priests renewed their appeal for the abolition of the mandatory celibacy among the clergy.

They cited the cases of “many children suffering and growing up without fathers.”

Canto and Cajilig, at least, are not hypocrites.

They acknowledge the fact that many priests have sired illegitimate children.

For them, the only way to prevent a mass production of illegitimate offspring by priest parents is to allow them to enjoy the sanctity of marriage.

Cases of testosterone-loaded priests impregnating women are not the latest “sexcapades” that rock the church.

They have been prevalent since during the Dark Ages.

Dr. Jose Rizal and Graciano Lopez-Jaena have exposed this scandal in their satires and polemics.

HUMANS

Members of the clergy are also humans.

Vatican, however, is not yet inclined to abolish mandatory celibacy, thus many priests who wanted to raise a family have resigned from priesthood.

But not Canto and Cajilig, who still wore their liturgical vestments and assisted officiating priest, Fr. Jesus Siva in celebrating the Mass.

Fifty four-year-old Siva, for his part, asked the pope: “We appeal for compassion and mercy from Pope Francis for the priests and their children. Baptizing these children is giving them dignity.”

Siva, who in 1998 officiated Canto’s wedding to Cynthia Diamante, himself has two sons aged 15 and 13.

The baptismal rites held at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel in Lambunao, Iloilo, were witnessed by 80 friends, relatives and parishioners of the three priests.

Canto’s daughter was baptized as Gabriel Opcel for “optional celibacy.” He has three other children aged 7 to 14 also with Opcel as part of their first names.

Canto’s son, Mikhael, served as an altar boy during the baptismal rites.

To get the papal attention, Canto saif they moved the baptism from the original scheduled in December 2014 to Jan. 11.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Canto as saying, “We are hoping that changes will happen in the Church. I don’t want to leave the priesthood.”

Canto told the PDI they saw the Pope as open-minded although he had no illusions that changes on the celibacy rule would happen soon.

“Sooner or later, change will happen. But it may not be during my lifetime,” he said.

Siva, Canto and Cajilig have been calling on the Catholic Church to allow priests to marry, believing that “celibacy is a gift” and should not be mandatory to all priests, said the PDI report.

OBJECTION

The report further said: “Despite objection from Church officials, Siva officiated the highly celebrated marriage of Canto and Diamante on May 31, 1998 at the Mt. Zion chapel in Barangay (village) Balagiao in Lambunao.

“In June 1999, Church officials revoked the two priests’ license to solemnize marriages. Since then, they have not received assignments but they have been holding Masses every Sunday in Balagiao and in the town proper among the parishes they organized.

The National Statistics Office granted licenses to Canto and Siva to officiate civil weddings last year.

And they intend to continue with their duties and obligations as clergymen.

The pope may have been embarrassed by what they did, but, at least, to avoid controversy, he elected not to touch on this sensitive matter while on a five-day sojourn in the country.

The pope probably wanted the Philippine Catholic Church hierarchy headed by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle to handle the matter. 

Pope Francis' Homily in the Philippines

Below is the full text of Pope Francis' homily during his mass before millions of Filipinos at the Quirino Grandstand on January 18, 2015:

“A child is born to us, a son is given us ” (Is 9:5). It is a special joy for me to celebrate Santo Niño Sunday with you. The image of the Holy Child Jesus accompanied the spread of the Gospel in this country from the beginning. Dressed in the robes of a king, crowned and holding the scepter, the globe and the cross he continues to remind us of the link between God’s Kingdom and the mystery of spiritual childhood. He tells us this in today’s Gospel: “ Whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it” (Mk 10 :15). The Santo Niño continues to proclaim to us that the light o f God’s grace has shone upon a world dwelling in darkness, bringing the Good News of our freedom from slavery, and guiding us in the paths o f peace, right and justice. The Santo Niño also reminds us of our call to spread the reign of Christ throughout the world.

In these days, throughout my visit, I have listened to you sing the song: “We are all God’s children”. That is what the Santo Niño tells us. He reminds us of our deepest identity. All of us are God’s children, members of God’s family. Today Saint Paul has told us that in Christ we have become God’s adopted children, brothers and sisters in Christ. This is who we are. This is our identity. We saw a beautiful expression of this when Filipinos rallied around our brothers and sisters affected by the typhoon.

The Apostle tells us that because God chose us, we have been richly blessed! God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens” (Ep h 1:3). These words have a special resonance in the Philippines, for it is the foremost Catholic country in Asia; this is itself a special gift of God , a blessing. But it is also a vocation. Filipinos are called to be outstanding missionaries of the faith in Asia.

God chose and blessed us for a purpose: to be holy and blameless in his sight. He chose us, each of us to be witnesses of his truth and his justice in this world. He created the world as a beautiful garden and asked us to care for it. But through sin, man has disfigured that natural beauty; through sin, man has also destroyed the unity and beauty of our human family, creating social structures which perpetuate poverty, ignorance and corruption.

Sometimes, when we see the troubles, difficulties and wrongs all around us, we are tempted to give up. It seems that the promises of the Gospel do not apply; they are unreal. But the Bible tells us that the great threat to God’s plan for us is, and always has been, the lie.

The devil is the father of lies. Often he hides his snares behind the appearance of sophistication, the allure of being “modern”, “like everyone else”. He distracts us with the promise of ephemeral pleasures, superficial pastimes. And so we squander our God-given gifts by tinkering with gadgets; we squander our money on gambling and drink; we turn in on ourselves. We forget to remain focused on the things that really matter.

We forget to remain, at heart, children of God. That is sin: to forget at heart that we are children of God. For children, as the Lord tells us, have their own wisdom, which is not the wisdom of the world. That is why the message of the Santo Niño is so important. He speaks powerfully to all of us. He reminds us of our deepest identity, of what we are called to be as God’s family.

The Santo Niño also reminds us that this identity must be protected. The Christ Child is the protector of this great country. When he came into the world, his very life was threatened by a corrupt king. Jesus himself needed to be protected. He had an earthly protector: Saint Joseph. He had an earthly family, the Holy Family of Nazareth. So he reminds us of the importance of protecting our families, and those larger families which are the Church, God’s family, and the world, our human family. Sadly, in our day, the family all too often needs to be protected against insidious attacks and programs contrary to all that we hold true and sacred, all that is most beautiful and noble in our culture.  In the Gospel, Jesus welcomes children, he embraces them and blesses them (Mk 10:16). We too need to protect, guide and encourage our young people, helping them to build a society worthy of their great spiritual and cultural heritage. Specifically, we need to see each child as a gift to be welcomed, cherished and protected. And we need to care for our young people, not allowing them to be robbed of hope and condemned to life on the streets.

It was a frail child, in need of protection, who brought God’s goodness, mercy and justice into the world. He resisted the dishonesty and corruption which are the legacy of sin, and he triumphed over them by the power of his cross. Now, at the end of my visit to the Philippines, I commend you to Him, to Jesus who came among us as a child. May he enable all the beloved people of this country to work together, protecting one another, beginning with your families and communities, in building a world of justice, integrity and peace. May the Santo Niño continue to bless the Philippines and to sustain the Christians of this great nation in their vocation to be witnesses and missionaries of the joy of the Gospel, in Asia and in the whole world.

And please, don't forget to pray for me! God bless you all!

Why we are involved with Pope Francis

“With my Roman Catholic upbringing, I have a set of principles that serve me well in good times and bad.”  STEVE GARVEY

By Alex P. Vidal

WE were raised by a Roman Catholic family and educated in a Roman Catholic institution.

Thus, like many Catholics in the country today, we are also, in one way or the other, involved in the presence of our supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis, in the country from January 15-19.

Being a Roman Catholic though is not enough.

In name only but not in deed?

We must know first why we are Roman Catholics and how we became Roman Catholics aside from baptism.

If we don't know how to practice the religion that brings us to the teachings of Jesus Christ, we must at least know its history and where it came from; how it evolved and why it became one of the most dominant religions in the world.

Roman Catholicism is the product of 20 centuries of history.

To understand it, we must try to understand this history.

Not only it is the product of history, but it involves a distinctive attitude toward history.

A Roman Catholic looks upon the history of the church as an organic whole; he is proud "that catholicism cannot be identified simply and wholly with primitive Christianity, nor even with the gospel of Christ, in the same way that the great oak cannot be identified with the tiny acorn."

And yet he must insist that the church is the institution of Christ, that Peter was the first pope, and that the seven sacraments all go back to the Lord himself.

ATTITUDE

This attitude toward history makes it essential that we examine the historical evolution of Roman Catholicism.

How did Christianity become Catholic?

How did it happen that from a simple message and unpretentious life of Jesus of Nazareth, as we find this described in the gospels, there came an international organization, fully equipped with priests and bishops and patriarchs, with rites and sacraments and pomp, with the power of discipline for this world and the control over grace for the next?

“Surely the contrast is a striking one, even for a person who believes that it was Jesus’ intention to establish catholic Christianity,” intones the late Jaroslav Pelikan in The Riddle of Roman Catholicism.

Catholic Christianity should mean identity plus universality.

Pelikan explains further: “By ‘identity’ I mean that which distinguishes the church from the world—its message, its uniqueness, its particularity. By ‘universality,’ on the other hand, I mean that which impels the church to embrace nothing less than all mankind in its vision and in its appeal.”

He clarifies that “’identity plus universality’ is not a logical definition, and it is not intended as one.”

“Indeed, catholic Christianity is probably as incapable of logical definition as is the taste of cheddar cheese or the music in the closing scene of Don Giovanni. One famous definition finds the essence of Catholicism in this, ‘that it does not distinguish between the church in the religious sense of the word (the church of Christ) and the church in the legal (or institutional) sense of the word.’”

DESCRIPTION

Russian theologian, Aleksieri Khomiakov has a better description:

“The church is called one, holy, universal (or catholic), and apostolic because she is one and holy; because she belongs to the whole world, and not to one particular locality; because through her all humanity and all the earth are hallowed, not one particular nation or one particular country; because her being consists in the agreement and unity of spirit and life of all her members on the whole earth, who acknowledge her; because, finally, the whole of her faith, her hope, and her love is contained in the writings and the teachings of the apostles.”

Throughout its life, then, catholic Christianity means identity plus universality.

The combination appears in catholic piety, churchmanship, theology, and liturgy; and the narrative of how the combination came into existence is the history of the rise of the catholic Christianity, according to Pelikan.

In the words of a liberal Protestant historian, “Catholicism is…as old as the Church if we include its rudimentary form; there is hardly a single one of its elements which was not present” in the first century.

Where these elements appear together, be it East or West, there is catholic Christianity, concludes Pelikan. 

Ilonggo Catholics can join Pope Francis in Tacloban

“Since many of you do not belong to the Catholic Church and others are non-believers, from the bottom of my heart I give this silent blessing to each and every one of you, respecting the conscience of each one of you but knowing that each one of you is a child of God.” Pope Francis

By Alex P. Vidal

TO erase doubts, Senior Police Officer 1 Nerio “Rick” Salcedo III, son of Sara Mayor Neptali Salcedo, should report to his unit in the Regional Headquarters Support Group of the Police Regional Office 6 in Camp Delgado, Iloilo City and submit himself for investigation.

Senior Superintendent Cornelio Salinas, Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) director, doubted SP01 Salcedo III’s claim that the death of his live-in partner, 23-year-old Aiko Sandoval, last January 10 was accidental.

According to SP01 Salcedo III’s version, Sandoval was taking a bath inside their room when the Glock pistol fell as she reached out for the towel where the gun was placed.

The gun went off hitting Sandoval with a single bullet on the face that pierced through her neck.

She died at the Sara District Hospital.

Salinas did not buy the story.

Citing autopsy report conducted by Dr. Own Lebaquin, Salinas said the entry of bullet should have been below, not above.

Only Salcedo III and Sandoval were present when the “accidental firing” happened. A dead woman tells no tale.

As usual, Salcedo III is still presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

-o0o-

SOME Ilonggo die-hard Catholics who want to get a closer look at the visiting Pope Francis have opted to go instead to Leyte where the 78-year-old Pontiff is scheduled to hold a Mass at the Tacloban airport on January 17.

Many of them have decided to scrap their plans earlier to join thousands of well wishers and faithful in Manila, where there is slim chance they can get a ringside view of the popular leader of the world’s 1.2 billion baptized Catholics at the Quirino Grandstand.

For Catholics infected by Papa mania coming from Mindanao and Visayas, the most logical and practical move is to go to Leyte instead of Manila.

The crowd would be chaotic as organizers expect some six millions faithful to welcome and attend in Pope Francis’ limited public appearances.

Pope Francis is a security risk, thus faithful should expect stringent measures to be applied by combined elements of the Swiss guards and local police security forces.

The stage where the Pope will hold Mass is designed by architect Dan Lichauco and was approved by the Vatican.

RIGGINGS

It is built with regular riggings and wrapped with sawali backdrop and nipa hut as wall.

A secondary stage was also built for a 250-person choir.

Catholics are the dominant religious faithful in the country.

Church counted 70,407,588 Filipino Catholics out of the country’s estimated population of 88.9 million in the 2011 data.

Records showed that there were around 1.21 million Filipinos that were baptized into the Catholic Church.

The number could rise with the coming of Pope Francis, who is viewed as a unifying figure among religious groups in the country.

The number of Filipino Catholics reached 76.18 million out of the country’s estimated population of 96.8 million in 2013.

The Catholic Directory also recorded 1.37 million baptisms since 2012.

The Archdiocese of Cebu had the most number of baptisms so far this year, with 90,036, data showed. The Archdiocese of Manila came in second, with 62,854 baptisms, followed by the Diocese of Masbate, with 55,770. 

Welcome to the Philippines, Papa!

How Charlie Hebdo became known for its anti-Islamic sentiment

“A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.” Albert Camus

By Alex P. Vidal

IT is sad that the massacre on Charlie Hebdo magazine in

Paris, France on January 8 that left 12 people (mostly magazine employees and two policemen) killed occurred a week before the scheduled visit of Pope Francis in the Philippines, thus the incident was not totally discussed in mainstream Philippine media right away.
Scores were killed in a rampage in Jewish grocery store and along the highway as the gunmen, French nationals of Algerian descent, fled before they were killed by elite police forces.

Six of the Charlie Hebdo journalists and staff members killed in yesterday's attack are pictured together in this photo, taken in 2000. Circled top from left is Philippe Honore, Georges Wolinski, Bernard Maris and Jean Cabut. Below them on the stairs, from left, is editor Stephane Charbonnier and cartoonist Bernard ‘Tignous’ Verlhac

Daily Mail reported that satirical Charlie Hebdo has become a byword for offensive statements in France after taking several highly provocative swipes at Islam.

In its report after the massacre, Daily Mail wrote:

The magazine once named Prophet Mohammed as its guest editor, published cartoons of the holy figure in the nude, and once renamed itself Sharia Hebdo with the cover slogan '100 lashes if you don't die of laughter'.

The controversy began in 2006 when the publication reprinted now-infamous cartoons of Prophet Mohammed by Danish artist Kurt Westergaard.

When the images originally appeared they lead to days of protests across the Middle East and in Western cities. The decision to reprint the images landed the then-editor in court under anti-terror laws, though he was later acquitted.

BURNED

The Hebdo offices were burned to the ground in 2011 when attackers used Molotov cocktails to start a blaze early in the morning of November 2.

Also among those killed was Jean Cabut, aka Cabu. Few other countries in the world have a cartoon culture as rich as France, with its insatiable appetite for comics, or Bandes dessinées, as they are called. It's a culture that expresses an incredible understanding of humor -- be its aim contemptuous or educational, exclusionary or inclusive. It was a constant process, one called the freedom of opinion.

There was nobody in the building at the time, and the target was instead thought to be the magazine's computer system, which was completely destroyed.

Riot police were forced to stand guard outside the building for days following the attack, as the editors took a defiant stance, choosing to reprint the cartoon images multiple times.

In 2012 they again printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed as a deliberately provocative gesture while violent protests were taking place across the Middle East.

The following year the magazine's office again had to be surrounded by riot officers after they published a cartoon booklet depicting the Prophet naked as a baby and being pushed in a wheelchair.

On the final page of the booklet there was a note from the editor, Stephane Charbonnier, saying the images were 'halal' because Muslims had worked on them, and that they were factually accurate as they had been derived from descriptions in the Koran.

MIXTURE

The satirical publication, widely seen as France's answer to Private Eye, prides itself on a mixture of tongue-in-cheek reporting and investigative journalism.

Hebdo's current office building has no notices on the door to prevent a repeat of the attacks that have occurred in the past.

In an interview with De Volkskrant in January 2013, Mr. Charbonnier revealed he had been placed under constant police protection for four months after one of the cartoon issues was published.

He shrugged off criticism that he was only publishing the images to gain notoriety for Hebdo, and insisted that he was instead defending the right to free speech.

Mr. Charbonnier pointed out that the magazine had poked fun at feminism, nuclear energy and homeland security, but the Islam issues always attracted the most publicity. 
(Please read further: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/charlie-hebdo-attack-targets-democracy-and-the-west-a-1012072.html and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2901681/Hero-police-officer-executed-street-married-42-year-old-Muslim-assigned-patrol-Paris-neighbourhood-Charlie-Hebdo-offices-located.html)

Ilonggos excited for 'Papa'

“Find new ways to spread the word of God to every corner of the world.” Pope Francis

By Alex P. Vidal

ILONGGOS can always understand why Pope Francis will limit his visit only in Manila and Leyte.

Their excitement is also building up that the Argentine Pontiff, the third non-Italian pope in the Roman Catholic hierarchy, is in the country for five days from January 15-19.

We actually have religious representatives in Manila and Leyte during the Papal Visit.

We have Ilonggo leaders in the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP); and probably some church officials who are part of the Philippine entourage have Ilonggo blood running in their veins.

Masses are being offered with hymns venerating the pope in Jaro Cathedral, in the district churches of Molo, Arevalo, San Jose (City Proper), Santa Maria Church (City Proper) Sto. Niño Sur Chapel-SM Delgado, Tanza (City Proper), Bo. Obrero, and La Paz.

Religious institutions like St. Paul University (City Proper), De Paul College (Jaro), Pius Institute (Jaro), San Jose College (Jaro), Colegio del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus (City Proper), Colegio de las Hijas de Jesus (City Proper), Ateneo de Iloilo, Mary Immaculate Academy, among others, have also made preparations related to the Papal Visit.

Thus officially Panay, Negros, Romblon, and all Ilonggo-speaking populace in the country are not left behind in the historic Papal Visit.

Almost every religious and spiritual person, a layman or ordinary faithful, is smitten by "Papa" mania.

Since we are a predominantly Catholic nation, Pope Francis’ visit has a widespread impact in the entire archipelago, including the Muslim territories in Mindanao.

There is no radio program, TV channel, and newspaper page that Pope Francis is not mentioned.

NON-CATHOLICS

Even non-Catholics, the Protestants and Christian fundamentalist sects, welcome the presence of the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion baptized Catholics.

The Papal Visit aims also to unite us as a nation.

But do we really need the pope as a unifying symbol?

Is it necessary to have a pope, in the first place?

Based on the Roman Catholic teachings, Christ made Peter the leader of the apostles and of the church (Matthew 16:18-19).

In giving Peter the “keys of the kingdom,” Christ not only made him leader, but also made him infallible when he acted or spoke as Christ’s representative on earth (speaking from the seat of authority, or “ex cathedra”).(source: gotquestions.org)

“This ability to act on behalf of the church in an infallible way when speaking ‘ex cathedra’ was passed on to Peter’s successors, thus giving the church an infallible guide on earth. The purpose of the papacy is to lead the church unerringly.

“Peter later became the first bishop of Rome. As bishop of Rome, he exercised authority over all other bishops and church leaders. The teaching that the bishop of Rome is above all other bishops in authority is referred to as the ‘primacy’ of the Roman bishop.

“Peter passed on his apostolic authority to the next bishop of Rome, along with the other apostles who passed on their apostolic authority to the bishops that they ordained. These new bishops, in turn, passed on that apostolic authority to those bishops that they later ordained, and so on. This ‘passing on of apostolic authority’ is referred to as ‘apostolic succession.’

CHAIN

“Based upon the claim of an unbroken chain of Roman bishops, Roman Catholics teach that the Roman Catholic Church is the true church, and that all churches that do not accept the primacy of the pope have broken away from them, the original and one true church.”

While there have seemingly been good (humanly speaking) and moral men who have served as pope of the Roman Catholic Church, including Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis I, the Roman Catholic Church teaching about the office of the pope should be rejected because it is not “in continuity” with the teachings of the original church related to us in the New Testament.

This comparison of any church’s teaching is essential, lest we miss the New Testament’s teaching concerning the gospel, and not only miss eternal life in heaven ourselves, but unwittingly lead others down the wrong path (Galatians 1:8-9).

We welcome, Pope Francis.

In heart and spirit, we are one!

Just DOH it!

“Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations... can never effect a reform.”   Susan B. Anthony

By Alex P. Vidal

IN December last year, acting Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Janette Loreto-Garin sobbed that she was hurt by the intense politicking and name-calling in the department.

She never mentioned who called someone “bobo” (idiot) and “gaga” (dumb), but the former Iloilo first district solon gave people who saw her TV interview the bird’s eye view on what was going on in the DOH since she assumed as acting secretary, when resigned Secretary Enrique Ona went on leave in November.

She was apparently at loggerheads with some DOH bigwigs loyal to Ona.

At the time of name-calling and apparent rudeness displayed by the male species and spoiled brats in the department, there was no hint that Ona could not anymore get back his post.

Unknown to most outsiders, Loreto-Garin, the most junior undersecretary in the DOH, was being bullied by rapscallions who felt uneasy working under a woman acting secretary, and who feared sweeping reforms once Ona’s vacation would be extended. 

Alas, Ona’s resignation was accepted by President Benigno Aquino III before Christmas 2014.

The atmosphere in the DOH completely changed when the president announced he would appoint Loreto-Garin as regular secretary after the Papal Visit this month.

IN-COMING

Loreto-Garin’s incoming appointment as regular DOH chief would be a slapped on the faces of those who had earlier predicted she would be relegated back to her old post as undersecretary.

It turned out Loreto-Garin has the trust and confidence of President Aquino and was the president’s apple as Ona’s replacement even before Ona resigned.

In between Loreto-Garin’s anguish from the verbal snipes uncorked by “insecure” DOH underlings and the president’s announcement of her appointment as regular DOH chief was the furor involving hitherto Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag, who had been reportedly “demoted”.

Tayag, known as the dancing doctor, and Ona are among the health officials being investigated for the alleged anomalous DOH purchase of anti-pneumonia vaccines for children.

The probe is being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) as ordered by President Aquino.

Tayag was allegedly the one who ordered the procurement of the PCV-10 instead of the cost-effective PCV-13 for the DOH’s Expanded Vaccination Program.

Although Loreto-Garin did not reveal who were her supposed tormentors, the grapevine said one of them was Tayag.

CONFIRM

This was never confirmed by both Loreto-Garin and Tayag but many insiders claimed that both DOH bigwigs “don’t see each other eyeball to eyeball” whatever that means.

“Tayag’s loyalty is still with Ona and Loreto-Garin’s appointment must have sent shivers down his spine and the spines of Tayag’s cohorts,” sources said.

The lady DOH official, wife of Iloilo first district Rep. Oscar “Richard” Garin, Jr., has promised to initiate reforms once she takes over the helm of the DOH as a regular secretary.

She said there were clamors from several officials to fix the DOH organizational structure.

In changing Tayag’s designation, Loreto-Garin clarified that “it was not a demotion because his actual position is really director IV.”

“Sometimes it creates confusion since there are some assistant secretaries who are assistant secretaries by career,” Loreto-Garin said. “We did this with consultation.”

“Doc Tayag was even one of those (directors) who volunteered to me to remove (the title) ASec because he said he was not really an ASec,” Loreto-Garin explained.

It was part of the DOH streamlining, she further said.

Whatever reforms she has in mind for the DOH, Loreto-Garin must do it without fear and favor.

She has the full support of the president and not even the most loquacious and arrogant male underlings can pose as obstacles in her quest to improve the department long bedeviled by anomalies and structural defects.

Just DOH it, Madame Secretary!