MANILA – As leaders of the Catholic Church denounced the rash of deaths in the war on drugs and backed a multisectoral protest against a teenager’s killing by cops, Vice President Leni Robredo urged the clergy Monday to step up their work in helping the nation through times of crisis, such as that spurred by the campaign that has eliminated thousands of people.
In separate speeches, VP Leni urged priests and members of the law profession to take their respective oaths to heart, in order to help the nation, especially the poor and the marginalized.
On Monday, VP Leni underscored the importance of the Catholic church in helping the country rise amid challenges.
“[T]he country needs you now more than at any other time in our history,” the Vice President said at the third Grand Alumni Homecoming of the St. Francis de Sales Major Seminary in Lipa, Batangas. “Sabi ko, iyong simbahan… tingin ko, napakalaki ng puwedeng itulong [The church, in my view, has such a big role] for the healing of our nation.”
For his part, retired archbishop Oscar Cruz said that while the Church supports the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, they would wish for the spate of killings – often justified by State agents as “necessary” because he suspects almost always “fight back” – to stop.
“Ang pamahalaan ay di pwedeng kumuha ng buhay ninuman kasi di naman siya ang nagbigay. Kaya sino siya [para] pumatay ng tao? Ang estado ay para proteksyunan ang mamamayan hindi para patayin [The government cannot take a life because it is not the one who gave it. The State is there to protect citizens, not kill them],” Cruz said.
While he is not saying yet that all the killings of people tagged as dealers, distributors and users are state-sanctioned, it is clear that the administration enables this and tolerates it, Cruz said.
“Hindi ko saaabihing kagustuhan ng estado. Ang masasabi ko lang,pinapayagan niya hanggang sa kahuli hulihang [kaso] – itong isang binatilyo [na] pinatay,” apparently referring to Kian Lloyd delos Santos, the 17-year-old student in Caloocan seen by witnesses and on CCTV as being dragged away by police towards a dark area where he was killed.
The President, Cruz said, has time and again said there is nothing wrong with the drug raids that have turned very violent.
Addressing the President, Cruz said, “Ginoong pangulo, wala kayong karapatan na sabihin yan. Para ang mga pulis ay patayin ang mamamayan. Kailangan niyo pong paglingkuran ang mamamayan. Isalba sa kriminalidad.”
The Church has noticed that the police have become emboldened to kill suspects at will because of an implicit marching order from above, Cruz said. “Lumalakas ang loob talaga nila, eh. Ang pumatay meron pang pabuya [The cops are encouraged. There’s even an incentive or reward for those who have killed].”
He wondered aloud whether the government cannot find another way to rid the nation of illegal drugs without such wholesale killings.
Archbishop Cruz, meanwhile, is dismayed by the weak voices from the public in general against the extra-judicial killings (EJKs).
From this day on, said Cruz, the church and the clergy will be more active in denouncing the killings.
He made it clear, however, that the denunciations in no way a re meant to encourage people to oust Duterte, but simply to ask the President to heed the voices of the people.
“Exactly I don’t know the next steps,” he said, in reference to the Monday protest at EDSA. “All I know is that the protests have begun. I don’t know how this will end but I hope somewhere along the way, they listen,” Cruz said, speaking in Filipino.
VP Leni: help ‘rebuild’ country
In a separate development, Vice President Leni Robredo has called on members of the Filipino clergy, as well as lawyers, to “take a more active part” in rebuilding the country, amid the difficulties it currently faces.
“So ngayong umaga po, nakikiisa ako. Nakikiisa ako sa paggunita ninyo, nakikiisa ako sa pagtitipon-tipon ninyo, with the hope na sana sa pagtitipon na ito, umusbong iyong pagdesisyon to take a more active part in rebuilding our nation,” she said at the third Grand Alumni Homecoming of the St. Francis de Sales Major Seminary in Lipa.
She urged the seminary’s alumni to channel the lessons from St. Francis de Sales, as they celebrate their homecoming in line with his 450th birth anniversary.
“Sa paggunita po noon… we will be able to transcend the difficulties. Sa paggunita, we will be able to be inspired, that in spite of the difficulties, we have a responsibility to perform, and we have to do it well,” she said. “And that’s what I think you and I need to ponder on—paano tayo mas makakatulong sa lahat.”
‘Fight for the voiceless’
In a separate speech last week, VP Leni reiterated the need to protect human rights and the rule of law, calling on lawyers to stand up for those “who cannot fight for themselves.”
Speaking before members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Bicolandia during a Mandatory Continuing Legal Education seminar in Naga City, VP Leni urged her fellow Bicolano lawyers “to honor our profession by refusing to stay safely hidden in the sidelines while our people fight for their rights.”
She noted that while she still believed the people’s hearts “are in the right place,” there is a need to confront the apparent emergence of “a dangerous mentality that freedoms are dispensable in the name of order and safety.”
“I seriously believe that as lawyers, it is critical that we must take up the fight for those who cannot fight for themselves,” she said.
“As lawyers, we must be unafraid to speak the truth and embrace the courage to fight for causes that others are unwilling to take. When it comes to justice, words are cheap. But when we stop turning a blind eye to common injustices and do something about them with the many skills at our disposal, then finally, we would have done our job as practitioners of the law,” she added.
VP Leni also declared that the law “should be a tool for inclusivity,” drawing on her years of experience as a public interest lawyer.
“If our country and the world must heal from these huge tears in our social fabric, those of us who know the law must make a stand,” she said. “We must do all we can to protect the Constitution and our people’s rights. There is no excuse for us to confuse friend with foes, because the Constitution is clear about what and who we must protect.”
“I still believe that our nation is meant for greatness and that our people’s hearts are in the right place. We will yet be proven right, but this requires everyone—most especially lawyers, who know the law intimately more than any member of society—to stand up and speak out,” she added. “It is in times like these that we are called upon to stand by the oaths we took that bright day we joined the ranks of the legal profession. We must not default.”
Robredo recently denounced the shooting of 17-year-old Delos Santos in Caloocan City last week.
She urged an “independent” investigation on the incident, amid contradicting claims between the police and witnesses, along with footage caught on the barangay’s CCTV.
The Vice President also reiterated her call for the administration to rethink its approach in its fight against illegal drugs.
