In the pastoral statement issued July 10 after its plenary session, CBCP said it was “not inclined at the present moment to favor the impeachment process as a means of establishing the truth" about the Hello Garcia tapes and the rigging of the 2004 elections.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer said it obtained a copy of the letter signed by Valdes offering cheap rice and low-cost medicines to some of the poorest Also distributed earlier were envelopes containing P15,000 to P30,000 (about $600) to dioceses in the country headed by known anti-Arroyo bishops. Some recipients returned the envelops while others kept them.

The Inquirer said Valdes had arranged the dinner on July 9 upon the conclusion of the bishops plenary at a restaurant near where they had met at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center on United Nations Avenue in Manila.

Various groups, including a Novaliches bishop, have joined the opposition in filing a series of impeachment complaints charging that the President stole the 2004 election, condones corruption and political killings and other charges.

Archbishop Diosdado Talamayan of Tuguegarao and Bishops Ramon Villena of Bayombong, Sergio Utleg of Ilagan, Prudencio Andaya Jr. of Tabuk and Rodolfo Beltran of Bontoc-Lagawe said in a statement they were saddened at “malicious insinuations” meant to impugn the CBCP’s integrity by people unhappy with the CBCP statement.

The Inquirer said that during the weekend plenary, a source said Bishop Jose Manguiran of Dipolog received two envelopes from Malacanang visitors. Upon returning to his room at Pope Pius Center, the prelate was surprised to see that the two envelopes each contained P15,000.

“He immediately wrote a letter and asked a priest to return the envelopes to Malacanang right away," the source told the Inquirer.

The Inquirer said at the Sunday dinner, Valdes ferried the group of about a dozen bishops to a nearby restaurant on board at least three white vehicles, including a white Mitsubishi Pajero.

The bishops from northern Luzon blamed politics for what they said were attempts to smear the Church and government’s pro-poor programs.

Anti-Arroyo Bishop Oscar Cruz said the dinner and gifts “were unmistakable signs the Palace was out to buy the support of Church leaders.” “If those recently reported payolas handed to churchmen were true, if the alleged numerous largesse in cash and in kind given to church leaders were correct, if the said standing offers of favors of many kinds to many church people were factual, all these could be rightfully summed up as one big buying spree of the present administration,” Cruz said.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and presidential chief of staff Mike Defensor denied such a dinner took place but Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo confirmed it. Ermita said he had no personal knowledge of it. He said if there was, it was just one of those “social dinners” and that stories about it were being “doctored.” Defensor said all he could only remember about a meeting with the bishops was at the Traders Hotel three to four months ago over mining concerns.

Saludo said that if money passed, it was not meant to convince the bishops to side with the administration but as assistance to their dioceses.

He said it was not a victory dinner but a “dialogue” which he said was originally scheduled in January but it was only on July 9 that the prelates found time for it. CBCP president Angel Lagdameo has assailed Malaca±ang for offering “assistance” through the bishops instead of channeling it through government institutions. He said there was no consensus among the bishops whether to accept assistance or not, whether to go to the dinner or not.

“Each bishop was completely free,” he said.-In a pastoral letter issued after its meeting, the bishops said it was futile for the bishops to involve itself in the move to impeach the President because the House of Representatives is solidly behind the President. The process, it added, will not be able to elicit the truth about the Hello Garci tapes and other issues that are hurled against Arroyo.

A proposal by the pro-impeachment bishops to resort to People Power as an alternative to the impeachment process was also opposed by the moderate bishops.

The faction led by Bishops Deogracias Iniguez Jr. of Caloocan City and Antonio Tobias of Novaliches support any popular revolt against President Arroyo “when thingscome to worst.” But a group of moderates led by Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal are against such mass action. CBCP officials said the bishops as a body cannot settle the issue until they meet for the next plenary assembly in January next year.

Malacanang said the CBCP pastoral letter was “an instrument for healing the wounds of the land” while it accused the opposition of twisting the collective statement of the bishops to suit their political ends.

Later on, in a speech delivered in Subic, the President said it was up to God to determine if she did something bad.

“To us, the message is crystal clear,” Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said. “It comes as a fresh wind to a nation growing tired and weary of too much politics."