Cebu Daily News / Community

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Priests thank guv for opposing bikini shows Cebu Daily News Posted date: July 01, 2009 A bishop who heads the far north parishes of the Archdiocese of Cebu on Monday thanked Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia for promoting women's rights and her campaign against obscene bikini shows. Bishop Emilio Bataclan said priests under his jurisdiction were grateful for the governor's show of concern for women and morality. “Nalipay kaayo ming mga pari dinhi gobernor nga wala gyud to madayon ang bikini open (We (priests) are very happy for her (Gov. Garcia) that the bikini open did not push through,” Bataclan said in his homily in a Mass honoring the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the patron saints of Bantayan parish church in Bantayan Island. Bataclan presided over the fiesta Mass Monday morning with Garcia among the churchgoers. On April 21, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal also wrote Garcia to thank her for stopping the bikini competitions planned in Bantayan Island during the Holy Week. The Cardinal's brief letter included signatures from the parish priests of the municipalities of Bogo, Tabogon, San Remegio, Daanbantayan, Medellin and Bantayan, Sta. Fe and Madridejos in Bantayan Island. Parish priests in the Archdioce's far north parishes first wrote the governor in April asking her to prohibit the staging of bikini competitions. Garcia then issued an executive order prohibiting any shows that are obscene and those that commodify women, a violation of the Cebu Provincial Women's Code. A Cebu-based event organizer was in hot water after he staged a show in a beach resort in Sta. Fe which featured women in scanty beach wear. The governor also initiated the filing of charges against the event organizers and its performers, including actresses Maui Taylor and Jennifer Lee. Bataclan said in his homily that priests called for the governor's intervention because the presence of obscene shows during a religious celebration violates the teachings of the church. “Respetaran nato ang babaye kay mao ra ba sad na ang baruganan sa atong gobernadora (We should respect women like the governor does),” Bataclan said in his homily. He said religious activities should be kept sacred. Bataclan said that aside from bikini competitions, cockfights should also be discouraged. /Reporter Doris C. Bongcac