Cardinal David on e-gambling victims: They need help

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David.REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

MANILA, Philippines — “Kailangan nila ng tulong, hindi ng panghusga.” (They need help, and not to be judged for.)

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David made this remark on Thursday at the height of the proliferation of reported adverse effects of online gambling on individuals and families, especially the youth and the poor.

Aside from this, David also mentioned the time of drug war where a lot of Filipinos believed that suspected drug pushers and users must be considered as ills of society. He then reiterated that it is not the right Christian way to address criminality as it is a mental illness.

READ: CBCP call, proposed curbs put PH e-gambling under scrutiny

“There is a reason why they spend time on drugs, alcohol, and other reasons like online gambling. And other even resort to committing crime,” David said in his homily during the thanksgiving mass for his 19th Episcopal Ordination anniversary.

“Sometimes, the reason is they’re going through something,” he added

David widely criticized the war on drugs under the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte that claimed thousands of lives.

David also underscored that kindness is a human nature but anyone can commit mistakes sometimes.

“Part of our principle as Christians is the principle that the Lord created no evil person in nature, that’s why we don’t have the right to call someone evil in this world, no matter how bad that person has done,” he stated in Filipino.

“That’s why loathe the sin or the mistakes, and not the ones who committed them,” he added

David then asserted that a human society can’t be built on the foundation of revenge and remorse.

READ: E-gamblers confess: ‘I sold my soul’

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), in its pastoral letter last Tuesday, called for immediate action to curb the harmful effects of online gambling to many Filipinos. It described gambling as a “moral and public health crisis” that destroys many individuals and families.

The CBCP then urged the public to become a beacon of hope to the victims, emphasizing the need to stand against online gambling.

Prior to this, David, who also serves as the CBCP president, called out the government for its failure to protect the Filipinos, particularly the youth from being “gambling addicts.”

“Nothing could be more absurd than a government agency wringing its hands over illegal offshore gambling sites— when it has already legalized inland online gambling, fully, completely, brazenly,” he wrote in a Facebook post. /mr