Following the arrest of Sen. Leila de Lima over drug-related charges, Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop Socrates Villegas urged the faithful to “pray for the healing of our land and for the reign of harmony.”
In a statement, the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines appealed to have “all who have been charged be accorded their fair day in the court of laws.”
“It is un-Christian to find secret pleasure in the sufferings of others. May we recognize in ourselves the awful power of sin and our need for God’s help! We need the Lord even more now!” said the prelate issued on Friday morning, shortly after the senator’s arrest.
A team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group served the arrest warrant on De Lima at around 8 a.m. at the Senate, where the senator spent the night.
Judge Juanita Guerrero of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204 ordered her arrest for one of the three drug trafficking cases lodged by the Department of Justice regarding her alleged participation in the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison.
Also ordered arrested were former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos and De Lima’s former driver, Ronnie Dayan, who was nabbed in Urbiztondo, Pangasinan the night before.
“Following the arrest of Senator Leila de Lima, we turn to God in fervent prayer to heal our land,” Villegas said.
“We beg the Lord to pour forth upon us the passion not for vengeance but for justice,” he said.
The prelate also urged the faithful to pray that the truth may set all free, and that the reign of charity may prevail.
“As we deplore what is wrong, let us always allow the reign of charity to prevail in imitation of Christ in whose heart was a special love for those whom all else rejected. Mercy without justice is weakness. Justice without love is tyranny,” he stressed. CDG