‘Thou shall not kill’ drive launched vs antidrug war
THE VICTIMS of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs were “sacrificial lambs” used to make people believe the campaign is a success, according to a ranking official of the Catholic Church.
“Who are we to say they were hopeless and that they should die?” said Bishop Broderick Pabillo in his 14-minute homily at a Mass on Monday at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Ermita, Manila, which marked the launch of the Church’s “Huwag Kang Papatay” (Thou Shall Not Kill) campaign.
When the authorities took their lives, they were deprived of their right to repent and change their lives, Pabillo said.
“They were sacrificial lambs just so the [government] could say it’s succeeding. Never forget them (victims),” said Fr. Atilano Fajardo, director of the Archdiocese of Manila’s ministry of public affairs.
The Mass was intended to stir the public into grieving and praying for the families of the slain victims. Supporters of the campaign flocked to the church in black but none of the victims’ relatives showed up.
“They’re scared to come forward,” Jojo Roberto, the lay coordinator of the Church’s ministry on public affairs, told the Inquirer.
Roberto said that among the three family members invited, only one confirmed but backed out before the 5 p.m. Mass.
Fajardo said hundreds of people were killed so the real culprits would go unpunished. But what’s alarming to the Church was not only the spate of killings, but the silence of the public.
“It’s only OK until your family becomes the victim. You may change your mind after that, but then it would be too late,” Pabillo said in a separate interview.
Pabillo said the Catholic Church launched its campaign for fear the act of killing would eventually become acceptable as the culture and norm for the Filipino people.
They also wanted to remind the public that the country’s crime rate would not go down if the solution employed was committing another form of crime—murder.
“We are not even sure if those killed were really criminals because there was no due process. How can we believe that?” said Pabillo.
At the end of the Mass, the churchgoers lit candles and offered flowers for the victims’ souls.
“They have souls, too. We are forgetting that they have souls,” said Fajardo.
Sympathizers flocked to the church to express sympathy for the relatives and express support for the campaign.
Edna Yanga, a teacher at De La Salle in Lipa City, said those who remain silent on the killings must realize they could be next.
“If we keep silent on this issue, it would seem that we are agreeing,” Yanga said.
