Families of drug war victims usher in Lent with plea to stop killings

Moments before entering Baclaran Church on Thursday, the second day of Lent, the families of drug war victims seemed to have found sympathy from the heavens: The skies wept with them.

The families were there to attend the second Holy Eucharist-Mass Action (HEMA), a Mass celebrated for them and their departed kin at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, as the church in Parañaque is formally known.

The first HEMA was held Feb. 2 at the Our Lady of Victory Chapel in Potrero, Malabon, with Deogracias S. Iñiguez, bishop emeritus of Caloocan presiding over the Mass.

No escape

In her testimony during the homily, Maria Isabelita “Gretchen” Espinosa, a vegetable vendor, recalled the pain of having to welcome the new year with the death of her son Sonny, one of seven people shot by unidentified masked men in Bagong Silang, Caloocan last Dec. 28.

A weeping Espinosa recalled that Sonny would often skip classes to help her pick and sell vegetables, just so his brother would have “baon” (a daily allowance) in school.

“Ang pinakamasakit: Hindi nila binigyan ng pagkakataon ang mga batang magkaroong ng sariling buhay na maayos,” Espinosa said. “At ang pinakamasakit nito: Bakit ang mga walang kasalanan, sila pa ang nadadamay? Dahil ba sa wala silang alam kaya hindi sila makatakbo para makatakas?”

(“What’s really painful is that they didn’t give the children a chance to have a proper life of their own. And what’s even more painful: Why are the innocent the ones who get caught up in the incidents? Is it because they know nothing so that they can’t run away and escape?”)

“Napakahirap isipin na, sa isang iglap lang, mawawala ang isa sa mga anak mo,” she went on. “Bagong taon ang kayakap ko ay isang kabaong na ang laman ay anak ko, dahil lang sa nadadamay. Masama po sa loob ko, pero wala akong magawa. Kaya nga po ngayon, ang hinihiling ko na lang kay Ama, kung sino man po ang may mga kagagawan nito ay siya na po ang bahalang magparusa.”

(“It’s so hard to accept that, in just an instant, your child would be gone. On New Year’s Day what I was embracing was a coffin with my son in it, just because he was caught up in the line of fire. I feel bad about it, but I could do nothing. That’s why all I’m asking for now from the Father is that he be the judge of whoever was responsible for this.”)

Self defense or coverup?

She found some comfort from the Church and people who had been helping her. But she said the pain of her loss still weighed heavily.

“Masaya dahil may tumutulong at mabigyan ng kalinawan. Malungkot dahil hindi ko na makakasama ang anak ko. Ang tanging maiiwan na lamang ay alaala at itong picture niya. Malungkot dahil kailan ay hindi ko na siya mayakap,” she said.

(“I’m happy because there are those who are helping and trying to clear up things. I’m said because I can no longer be with my son. All I have left is his memory and his picture. I’m sad because I can never ever embrace him again.”)

“Sino ngayon ang kasama ko? Maisasama ko pa ba to? Hindi na, nang dahil lang sa mga walang puso at iniisip lang ang mga sarili nila. Hindi nila inisip na may buhay at pangarap ang mga pinaslang nila, kundi mga pansarili lang nila,” she said. “Hindi ko alam kung pangkaligtasan ba nila ang mga ginawa nila o para matakpan ang mga kasalanan nila.”

(“Who’s going to be with me now? Can I still be with him? No more, just because of these heartless people who were only thinking of themselves. They didn’t think that the people they killed had lives and dreams of their own. They only thought about themselves. I don’t know if what they did was to ensure their own safety or to cover up for their wrongdoings.”)

Relatives of drug war victims gather for the second Holy Eucharistic Mass Action on Thursday, March 2, 2017. (Photo by YUJI VINCENT GONZALES/INQUIRER.NET)

Time for reexamination

Fr. Joselito Bong Sarabia, HEMA founder, called on the government, church leaders, and ordinary citizens to pause, reexamine their conscience, and empathize with the sufferings of the victims of extrajudicial killigns.

Illegal drugs, he said, were being used to justify the spate of summary killings in the country.

“I hope this Lenten season we will be able to pause really and examine why are these things happening,” Sarabia told the Inquirer. “Why do they do this to the poor? And why do we permit this as sambayanang Pilipino (a Filipino nation) – not only as a church but a fellow human being?”

Aside from spiritual help, Sarabia said HEMA, with the help of its partner organizations, have been sheltering EJK victims and witnesses who fear for their lives in their own neighborhoods.

“We have certain witnesses already that we are sheltering in other areas with certain partners and religious orders,” he said. “Pope Francis himself said: Open the doors of the church for refugees. The same also for our beleaguered faithful now. Blood and flesh sanitized. The only option really is to transfer to another place.”

“We need support,” he added. “That’s why some parishes have engaged in livelihood and income-generating programs to sustain their needs.”

There had been no second collection for the victims, he said. But he was thanful that some churches, like Baclaran Church, spend for the burial of the victims.

‘Stop the killings’

More than 7,000 Filipinos have been killed in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, which has been denounced by international rights groups as plagued with abuses.

Duterte himself suspended the antinarcotics campaign in January at the height of controversy surrounding the murder of a South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo inside Camp Crame, the headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP). But barely a month after its suspension, the government is mulling a return of the drug war – supposedly because “the situation is getting worse.”

In its latest report, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said Duterte could be held criminally liable for the spate of “systematic” killings in the country. HRW claimed the police were involved in the killings and awere re planting evidence at crime scenes.

Espinosa, speaking for his son and other families who had lost their loved ones, called on Duterte to rethink his war on drugs, which she said was only targeting poor families and communities.

She had this message for Duterte: “Nawa po naman na ang isipin muna niya na ang mga nadadamay ngayon sa mga pinalulunsad ay mga walang kamalay-malay, mga walang kinalaman, at mga mahihirap lamang na katulad ko na nagsusunog ng talbos at kangkong para mabuhay lang ang pamilya. Sana naman po ay maisip na kaming mga mahihirap ay wala kaming kalaban-laban.”

{“I hope he considers first that those who get caught up in these incidents are unaware, had nothing to do with drugs, and are just poor people like me that would eat vegetable sprouts and river spinach to keep the family alive. I hope he will consider that we, the poor people, are completely defenseless“).

Edwin, a father of a victim from Caloocan, also had this plea to the President: “Sana itigil na, wakasan na, tapusin na ang ganitong klaseng pamamaslang sapagkat marami ang nadadamay na inosente.”

(“I hope he will put an end to this kind of killings because so many innocent people have been affected.“) /atm