Retiring Catholic MP defends role of faith in society

National MP Paulo Garcia announced last December that he would not stand in the 2026 election. In his valedictory on September 1, he noted that those who hold public office “have a special obligation to be mindful of our words in order to disarm language instead of weaponising it”.

“Firmness does not mean contempt,” Mr Garcia said. “Disagreement does not affirm hate. Alleging the contrary is simply false and misleading. Respect cannot be demanded when it’s not lived. It is in this respect for others that arises the duty to safeguard the space where their convictions, their conscience and their relationships – some involving a faith in God – lie.

“It is this inner realm that allows for a better understanding of increasingly divisive issues for every democratic society: freedom of thought, conscience and religion – fundamental rights that protect the most intimate sphere of persons. The freedom upon which the contemporary State is built, if it is authentic, recognises the religion, the religious dimension, of the human person, respects it and protects it, and it ensures that having faith is not a reason for which a person has to forfeit his or her contribution to society.”

Mr Garcia lamented that he had experienced “more than a lifetime’s worth of profane gestures and nastiness through my time as a member of Parliament”.

“I’ve always believed in a final judgement, not expecting that judgement happens here. For the first time in my life, I was screamed at over the phone over a sustained period where a friend walking beside me exclaimed, ‘Wow, who was that?’ I’ve almost been run over, threatened, had cans thrown at me and attacked while in my car. My wife and I have had to move house. It isn’t real until it happens to you. This takes an emotional toll for some more than others. It threatens our peace.”

Mr Garcia said he understood he was only the third Filipino adult migrant to have been elected to a legislature outside the Philippines in history.

He also spoke of his joy in visiting Rome in October 2025 “as I was invited to speak as the Filipino New Zealander MP at the Filipino diaspora conference during Pope Leo and Cardinal Tagle’s week of prayer for migrants”.

FULL STORY

01 September 2026 – Hansard (NZ Parliament)

MP Paulo Garcia valedictory: ‘Let hateful words be the undoing of those who wield them.’ (Radio New Zealand)