A priest (“Fr. Anton”) at the seminary has been interviewed on the radio. He says the position of Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales is for the protection of human rights; is obligated to protect lives; is non-partisan; is against anarchy as being against God’s order. The Archbishop of Manila has given orders for no one to be allowed into the seminary. Two bishops are reportedly at the seminary; the priest, asked to respond to Secretary of Justice Gonzalez’s reported threat to arrest everyone in the seminary for aiding, abetting, and committing sedition, says he’s happy to be arrested with the bishops.
What’s ridiculous here is that the writ of the authorities is proving not to stretch beyond the confines of the Palace. The Secretary of Justice has been snarling at media, and with very few exceptions, it hasn’t muted the coverage. The NBI has come up against a blank wall: they can’t afford to storm into a seminary (the last time San Carlos was forcibly entered, it was during martial law and helped turn the bishops against Marcos) or force their way past a string of irate seminarians and bishops.
On channel 7 a priest says the bishops there are bishops Bacani and Cortez. Bishop Iniguez is appealing for people to go home and go to sleep.
