Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra, who conferred awards yesterday on the five lawyers who helped the Diocese of Bacolod win its Team Patay/Team Buhay case before the Supreme Court, said the now famous tarpaulin will be taken down today since it has accomplished its purpose.

The message of the Team Patay/Team Buhay tarpaulin that stressed the Church’s stand against the Reproductive Health Law has been sent to the people, now the challenge is on them to accept what God wants from them to defend the right of the unborn, the bishop said.

“It’s up to their individual conscience to embrace what the message is or reject it. I only invoke the mercy of God, his compassion and his goodness for people to be touched,” Navarra said.

At the 10 a.m. mass at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod yesterday, the bishop conferred the St. Thomas More Diocesan Awards on lawyers Ralph Sarmiento and Raymundo Pandan, who represented him before the SC, and Romulo Macalintal and Lyndon Caña, who served as legal consultants.

Pandan and Caña were not present at the rites because of prior commitments. Ann Caña received the award in behalf of her husband.

Lawyer Mitch Abella, a previous St. Thomas More Awardee (2012), was also given a Certificate of Recognition as part of the Legal Team.

The Supreme Court, by a vote of 9-5 on January 21, ruled that the Commission on Elections order for the Diocese of Bacolod to remove its Team Patay/Team Buhay tarpaulin in front of the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City during the 2013 elections was unconstitutional.

The names of senatorial candidates who favored the reproductive health law were listed under "Team Patay (Team Death)," while the names of those who opposed the law were listed under "Team Buhay (Team Life)" on the tarpaulin, which the Comelec considered an oversized campaign material.

In its en banc session, however, the SC ruled that the Comelec does not have the power to regulate the right to freedom of expression of the bishop, who is neither a candidate nor a member of any political party, Sarmiento said.

Sarmiento thanked the bishop for the award in behalf of his fellow awardees, and commended the prelate for standing up for what he believes in.

Macalintal said at first the Team Patay/Team Buhay tarpaulin was just an ordinary tapaulin “but now it is a legend, it has attained a celebrity status of its own.”

“It is a manifestation and solid evidence of the audacity and fortitude of the Diocese of Bacolod in standing up for the truth and fighting for its parishioners in the exercise of their constitutional right to suffrage,” Macalintal said.

The tarpaulin paved the way for the SC to come up with a very important jurisprudence and legal doctrine that will guide not only lawyers and the courts, but all private citizens in the quest for freedom in expressing their beliefs and sentiments for a particular candidate or issue during a political exercise, he said.

The SC ruled that the Comelec order for the Diocese of Bacolod to remove the tarpaulin from church property was unconstitutional because it restricted the “fundamental right to expression of the electorate during a political contests…it is a clear threat to the paramount right of freedom of speech and expression,” Macalintal pointed out.

It added that “the right to suffrage not only includes the right to vote for one’s chosen candidate, but also the right to vocalize that choice to the public in general, in the hope of influencing their votes,” he said.

Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., who was at the awarding rites with his wife, Marilyn, said he is “pro-life.”

Navarra, in a text message to Fr. Felix Pasquin, rector of the San Sebastian Cathedral, said “I commend you for this initiative which has now a national repercussion in the field of Philippine jurisprudence.”

The bishop wants the tarpaulin to be taken down today preserved for historical purposes.*CPG

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