More threats vs priests bared

More Catholic priests on Monday revealed they had received multiple explicit and anonymous messages warning they would be killed, an indication that death threats bared by Bishop Pablo Virgilio David in late February were not an isolated case.

In a joint press conference at the St. Vincent Seminary, Quezon City, Fathers Albert Alejo, Robert Reyes and Flavie Villanueva did not hesitate to draw a direct line between President Rodrigo Duterte’s incendiary tirades against the Catholic Church and the death threats they had received.

“The President is the President. Whatever he says, whether it sounds like a joke, becomes policy,” Reyes said. “When he says, ‘Kill the bishops,’ that’s policy.”

BRAVE SOULS Three priests—Albert Alejo, Robert Reyes and Flavie Villanueva—reveal more death threats against priests critical of President Duterte at a press conference on March 11. —JOAN BONDOC

‘Pranksters’

Sought for comment, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the text messages “could be coming from pranksters, or could be from anti-Duterte trolls to put PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) in bad light or from personal enemies of the priests.”

Reyes continued, “What kind of a President is this who does not think before he opens his mouth? Or he has thought about it, and it is a systemic, deliberate and purposeful tactic to divide the Church?”

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the Manila Archbishop, sent a text message to the President on Feb. 24, calling his attention to death threats clergy members had received, allegedly from someone who claimed to work for the family of the President.

Excerpts of texts that were written in capital letters and sent within a four-day period to Alejo, David and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas were presented to reporters.

Actual threat

“Bilang ng araw mo animal ka. ‘Di talaga kayu masabihan nila David anu … Putang ina nyu papatayin ko kayu (Your days are numbered, you animal. You and Bishop David refuse to heed warnings … You son of a bitch I’ll kill you),” read part of one text sent at 9:25 p.m. on Feb. 10 to Alejo.

“Putang ina kayu bubulabugin namin lahat ng seminaryo nyu (You son of a bitch. We will torment all your seminaries),” read another one that was sent to David on Feb. 13.

A follow-up message sent that same day said, “Putang ina kayu gustu nyu pa sigurong may mamatay (You son of a bitch maybe you want someone to die).”

Villanueva also played a security footage taken on Feb. 22 outside Kalinga Center, his shelter for the homeless in Manila, that showed a masked man loitering in front of the office and knocking repeatedly on its door for about 17 minutes.

Rather than be cowed, the priests’ resolve to combat the President’s rhetoric and to continue to “fight against injustice, human rights abuses and all the extrajudicial killings” appeared to strengthen even further.

“Digong, we are not afraid of you,” said Reyes, using the President’s nickname. “The only one that we fear is the Lord our God.”

All three said they would not request security detail from the Philippine National Police, echoing David, who had accused the PNP of answering to the President as their “ultimate superior.” —With a report from Julie M. Aurelio