CBCP call vs killings gets backing of 2 senators

Sen. Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Two senators came to the defense of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Monday, one saying that its pastoral letter against the government’s deadly war on illegal drugs was just a “wake up call to a nation that is in a nightmare.”

Senator Leila De Lima said the pastoral statement, which described the government’s war on drugs as a “reign of terror,” was only a “reminder” of the universal moral values that were apparently lost and forgotten among the people since the Duterte administration started its deadly war against illegal drugs.

READ: CBCP: Illegal drugs, summary killings are wrong

“As the statement says, life as a universal value cannot be debated. Due process as a basic civil right cannot be dispensed with. Care, love, and empathy for our fellow countrymen who were carried away from the mainstream because of poverty is a spiritual and social obligation that is unconditional,” De Lima said in a statement .

“For the Palace to say that reminding our people of these basic Filipino values is being out of touch with reality is like saying that our countrymen no longer value life, liberty, and social justice.”

“It is the President who is out of touch with reality, when he thinks he can dispense of these basic values in his drug war and still manage to keep the country’s spiritual and moral fabric intact,” said De Lima, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The senator was reacting to presidential spokesman Ernesto Fabella, who called the bishops “out of touch with reality” after they issued and read the pastoral statement in all Masses on Sunday.

“The officials of the (CBCP) are apparently out of touch with the sentiments of the faithful who overwhelmingly support the changes in the Philippines,” Abella was quoted in the media as saying.

READ: Palace: CBCP out of touch with sentiments of faithful

De Lima said the country could not survive much longer “with this outlandish dismissal of our universal moral values, where killing and death is seen as the solution to every problem of the nation.”

“The CBCP letter is a wake-up call to a nation that is in a nightmare. Binabangungot na ang ating bansa sa patayan at kawalan ng puso ng pamahalaan sa mga mahihirap na biktima ng Tokhang. Ginigising lang tayo ng simbahan, dahil ang huwad na panaginip ng Pangulong Duterte na maisasalba ang ating bayan sa pamamagitan ng patayan ay siyang malaking kahibangan, hindi ang pagbabalik-loob ng ating mamamayan sa mensahe ng ating Diyos Ama, na ang pinakamahalaga sa lahat ay buhay at pagkalinga sa ating kapwa,” she said.

“Our true Father is still God in Heaven, not the fake idol and false messiah in Malacañang,” De Lima added, apparently referring to Duterte, whom he earlier described as “Poong Duterte.”

It was De Lima, who initiated the Senate probe on alleged extrajudicial killings in the country since Duterte assumed the presidency.

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party, also backed the CBCP not only its stand against the killing of drug suspects but also against the proposed reimposition of the death penalty.

“We are one with the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in making a collective stand against the killing of drug suspects and the strong government push to reimpose the death penalty,” Pagilinan said in a separate statement.

“The campaign against illegal drugs and heinous crimes must not cost us the lives of our people, especially the innocent. Our poor, already living under the weight of historical and structural injustices, have carried the burden of this anti-crime drive,” he said.

Pangilinan said the government must not only uphold its responsibility to protect the people, to promote their welfare, and make them safe but it must also pursue justice to the families, who have lost their loved ones to criminals.

“Let us not lose faith in the capacity of people to change. Killing, whether by criminals or the State, is never the solution to the country’s continuing problems of poverty, high prices of basic goods, and insufficient decent jobs. Killing will destroy our essence as a happy, hopeful, and striving nation,” the senator further said. CBB