Over the last two Sundays, a new priest has taken to the podium at a Roman Catholic church in Barangay Bata. Have regularly attended Sunday mass at that particular church for a while now, but it was not until this new priest arrived that the context of mass started showing signs of a shift – the kind of shift the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has been declaring for years, changing the church from a place of worship into a mouthpiece for politicians.

After a rather jovial homily, with the priest delivering jokes and drawing laughs from those gathered, the responsorial psalm, which typically requests prayers for local members of the community, in particular the ill, asked people to pray for the victims of extrajudicial killings – basically, suspected drug personalities.
In response, the church will say they are speaking from a humanitarian stance, but, given their past statements, it is very clear they are blaming it squarely on the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, considering extrajudicial killings as the primary means of combating illegal drugs – and, subsequently, spreading the same mistruths to the faithful with their political barbs disguised as prayers.
Based on a letter penned by CBCP President, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, last month, despite the president and the Philippine National Police (PNP) making it clear their orders are only to shoot if a suspect resists arrest, his view was unmoved.
“The solution [to the problem of illegal drugs] does not lie in the killing of suspected drug users and pushers,” he wrote; clearly, trying to convey the lie that police are merely going out and killing suspects. It would not be surprising if some in law enforcement were offended by the remarks by the church, painting them as bloodthirsty killers.
“Any action that harms another (seriously) is a grave sin,” he continued. “We cannot correct a wrong by doing another wrong.”
Taking a look at how the CBCP president frames the current war against illegal drugs, it paints the picture of police and other law enforcement shooting at anybody and everybody linked with illegal drugs – which is nowhere near reality. Oddly enough, a lot of it echoes the sentiment Vice President Maria Leonor ‘Leni’ Robredo made in her video message to the UN meeting in Austria.
“We are now looking at some very grim statistics: since July last year, more than 7,000 people have been killed in summary executions,” she stated, drawing conclusions that the administration, in which she serves as deputy, is flagrantly sanctioning the said carnage.
She also made the world believe Philippine law enforcement is completely lawless.
“Some of those who have told us that when there’s crime, they normally go to the police,” she stated. “Now, they don’t know where to turn.”
Ironically, in a report released over the weekend, a Pulse Asia survey found 82 percent of Metro Manila residents felt safer because of the intensified war on illegal drugs. While the police took the statistic as an accomplishment – adhering one of their goals, keeping the public safe – the vice president, based on her degradation of the police, questioning their integrity (before an international forum no less), clearly, does not see it the same way.
Towards the beginning of her statement, Robredo said, “Drug abuse should not be treated as one that can be solved with bullets alone.”
Taking a look at reports from across the country touting the number of drug arrests, surrenders, and advancements made towards drug rehabilitation and initiatives to expand access, it is a surprise the vice president, herself, would make an accusation that there are no other options for drug personalities. Looking through the transcript of her comments before the UN commission, she failed to discuss the fact that the number of surrendered drug personalities is exponentially higher than those she infers were killed through government-sanctioned orders.
Trying to see it from the outside, Villegas is telling us killings are rampant in the country since, as he declared in his letter, “Many are killed not because of drugs.” With the vice president adding to it, saying police cannot be trusted and “bullets alone” are the method of problem solving of the Duterte administration, it’s no surprise Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Wanda Teo is concerned about how the country is being portrayed by its elected and religious leaders.
Based on their observations, the Philippines sounds like a war zone./WDJ