An organization of the country’s major superiors called on voters to reject candidates of the coming elections who spread lies and deceive the public.

The Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines (CMSP) said this includes those “who continue to trample history… including those committed under the Marcos dictatorship”.

“Let us reject candidates who continue to exploit us through lies in order to get our votes,” said the CMSP, formerly known as the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines or AMRSP.

These purveyors of lies, they said, are also “those who employ trolls in order to confuse the citizenry” and those who continue to red-tag critics of the government.

Likewise, it urged voters to thumb down politicians “who were proven to have abused their power and authority, and have unjustly enriched themselves in office”.

The appeal was contained in a statement issued Thursday on the eve of the 36th anniversary of the 1986 people power revolution that ended the 20-year rule of Ferdinand Marcos.

On the other hand, the CMSP urged the electorate to vote for those who value the truth in the face of online disinformation, “which serves to poison the mind of our fellow Filipinos”.

“Let us choose the candidates who respect our ability to decide based on truth, and who gives us the power to do so,” the statement added.

As the May 9 election is fast approaching, the major superiors encouraged the public to scrutinize the candidates “through the lens of the Gospel”.

This means, according to them, rejecting candidates who have vested interests, those who support extrajudicial killings and those who desire all-out-war instead of pursuing peace talks with the rebel groups.

“Given all that is happening in our society today, we all have a collective and moral obligation to help one another in improving the conditions in our nation, especially for the poor,” they added.

“Through the Gospel, may we discover that we have a Christian duty in this coming elections, and so, be able to break free from selfish reasons – be it political, familial, party, or regional – and to cast our votes according to what is right,” they also said.