Senators urge prayers for EJK victims

WAITING FOR JUSTICE Pictures of victims of extrajudicial killings in thewar on drugs are displayed at a church in Tondo, Manila, during a gathering organized by relatives on Tuesday. —AIE BALAGTAS SEE

Senators Leila de Lima and Francis Pangilinan urged Filipinos on All Saints’ Day to remember the thousands of victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in President Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, those who disappeared as they fought for human rights and those who perished in natural calamities.

On the day of the dead, detained De Lima called on the people to keep the victims of the drug war in memory as they prayed for their departed loved ones.

Human rights groups claim that more than 24,000 mostly poor people have been killed since Mr. Duterte launched the crackdown on narcotics after taking office on June 30, 2016.

The Philippine National Police, however, acknowledge only 4,948 deaths, insisting the suspects resisted arrest during police drug raids in the slums.

‘The number is rising’

But thousands more have been killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen who rights groups suspect are security forces.

The PNP calls those cases “deaths under investigation.”

The killings have drawn international condemnation and at least two complaints have been brought against Duterte in the International Criminal Court.

“Unfortunately, instead of the killings being stopped, the number of [extrajudicial killings] has been rising. This reminds the thousands of mothers, fathers, spouses, children and siblings of the victims of the pain of their loss,” De Lima said in a statement.

She asked how many more day of the dead observances would pass before the killings would stop, justice be done, and healing started.

De Lima, detained on what she calls trumped-up drug charges after she investigated the killings, also urged the people to reflect on the value of human life and pray for peace and justice.

The disappeared

Pangilinan called on the people to remember the victims of the drug war, those who disappeared, were tortured or killed.

“Let us remember them with our fervent prayers for justice that their loved ones seek, so that they may attain peace,” Pangilinan said in a statement.

“Let this commemoration be also a commitment that we will carry on the task in making this world a better place for our children,” he said.

The two opposition senators also urged the people to pray for those who died in natural calamities that struck the country recently.

More than 80 people died as Typhoon “Ompong” (international name: Mangkhut) swept through northern Luzon last month.

Typhoon “Rosita” (international name: Yutu) followed on the heels of Ompong earlier this week, leaving at least 15 people dead in northern Luzon.

Remembrance in Tondo

Relatives of drug war victims gathered at United Methodist Church in Manila’s Tondo district on Tuesday to remember their loved ones who died at the hands of police and unknown assailants in the war on drugs.

Nanette Castillo, mother of Aldrin Castillo, who was shot dead by masked men along Herbosa Street in Tondo on Oct. 2, 2017, blamed the killings on the government, which she said cared nothing about the poor.

Castillo lamented that the government continued killing the poor while the drug lords had a grand time.

“I don’t know how long I will wait for justice but I keep hoping it will come. I don’t lose hope that one day he (President Duterte) will step down,” she said.

President Duterte, too, had a message to the people on All Saints’ Day.

“I call on the entire nation to honor those who have gone before us in the grace of God,” Mr. Duterte said.

“Their legacy remains an important part of who we are today and we have much to gain from their virtuous example. May their deeds inspire us to become advocates of peace and solidarity as we do our part in building our nation and in alleviating the suffering of others,” he said.

Mass for the victims

On the eve of All Saints’ Day, more than 200 members of two multisectoral groups and concerned citizens in Quezon province gathered for a Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows in Dolores town to remember the victims of the war on drugs.

“The celebration of the Holy Mass is for the repose of the souls of the victims of the Duterte administration’s gory drug war, particularly the innocents and those who were deemed collateral damage,” the organizers—Kapatiran at Alyansang Alay para sa Kaunlaran ng Bayan-Quezon and Pro-Democracy-Quezon—said in a joint statement.

“The anti-illegal drug campaign is also a war against the sacredness of life. It also threatens the death of truth and justice in our democracy,” they said. —WITH REPORTS FROM AIE BALAGTAS SEE, JULIE M. AURELIO AND DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.