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Philippine Archdiocese in Cagayan De Oro City Opposes Casino Plans of City

On August 8th, 2007, the Archdiocese of Cagayan De Oro in the Philippines criticized the proposal of Vice Mayor Vicente Emano's casino plan, commenting that it will cause a lot of troubles even if it will be limited only to foreign customers.

The former mayor of Cagayan De Oro has been actively pushing for the construction of the casino establishment, though he remains careful because of the Philippine Catholic Church's criticism to any form of gambling.

But hoping to convince the church on the merits of the project, Emano earlier commented that if ever the casinos are built in Cagayan De Oro, it will be only for foreign tourists.

But Emano's casino proposal was still criticized by Monsignor Rey Monsanto, the local Archdiocese spokesperson who commented that casinos are still considered a place of immorality even if they will exclusively serve foreign tourists.

Monsignor Rey Monsanto said that traditionally, the church's stance is that it is opposed to any form of gambling. Even if you would only restrict access to the casino to foreigners the Catholic church's code is not only for Filipinos but also applies to people of other nationalities as well.

A few years earlier, during Emano's tenure as mayor of Cagayan De Oro city, an organization composed of businessmen tried to host a gambling establishment in one of Cagayan's hotels but failed due to staunch Church criticism.

Emano tried to explain his backing of the casino plan by saying that it will benefit Cagayan economically and will also create new job opportunities. Emano said that he was again approached by several Korean businessmen about the chance of opening a casino at the Hotel Koresco.

Aside from that, Emano also consulted the President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo about the casino plan during the latter's visit to Cagayan De Oro for the Mindanao peace and order meeting.

Emano commented that the President told him that she supports the idea but it must have the approval of the local Catholic archdiocese in the city.

Emano proposed that only those guests who can pay the show money will be the only ones allowed entrance in the casino. Emano said that Mayor Constantino Jaraula is also in favor of the casino.

 

Sunday, September 16 , 2007
Gerald Kernighan