EL SHADDAI BUCKS GAMBLING ON TV
Makati City, Jan. 24, 2000 - Bro. Mike Velarde, leader of the El Shaddai Catholic Charismatic Movement, has launched a campaign to stop the broadcast of gambling on television.
Mel Robles, El Shaddai spokesman, said Velarde is pushing for “concrete action against gambling like taking it away from television.”
Robles admitted that the campaign could stop the broadcast of gambling activities such as lotto, jai-alai and bingo on the government-owned television network, PTV-4.
Robles said that even during the Ramos administration, the El Shaddai had consistently objected to gambling.
The El Shaddai’s own radio station DWXI has prohibited the airing of advertisements involving gambling, tobacco, and alcoholic beverages.
However, the group refused to join the Catholic Church opposition to the entry of the floating restaurant of Stanley Ho docked in Manila Bay.
"I don't think there's a floating casino right now in the restaurant," Robles said.
Opposition of the church to the operation of the floating restaurant mounted when reports linked business tycoon Ho to organized crime groups in Macau.
The 7-million-strong El Shaddai religious group has also taken strong positions against what it perceives as anti-Christian initiatives in Congress on legalized abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage and divorce.
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