‘Heaven weeps with us’

More families who have lost loved ones in extrajudicial killings (EJKs) being linked to the Duterte administration’s antidrug crackdown are coming out in the open, their cry for justice amplified by the Catholic church.

“Look at what they did to my child. How could they kill him while he was sleeping?” said Teresita Lumawag, showing a photo of her 26-year-old son Ronaldo as he lay bleeding.

The younger Lumawag was one of the thousands who had surrendered to the police to be documented as a drug user under “Oplan Tokhang” campaign. Teresita said he was about to be admitted to a rehabilitation facility when he was killed by unidentified gunmen in their house in Camarin, Caloocan City on Nov. 28 last year.

Sought out and counseled by the clergy, Teresita and about 70 others with similar tales of loss gathered for a 3 p.m. Mass on Thursday at Baclaran Church or the National Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Parañaque City.

“Heaven is weeping with us,” one of them said, carrying a picture of a slain family member.

Celebrated by Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez and several priests from different parishes in Metro Manila, the Mass was the second to be organized by the Holy Eucharist Mass Action (Hema) for the EJK victims.

Gathered and counseled by a group of priests, relatives of victims of extra judicial killings hold a procession outside Baclaran Church in Parañaque City on Thursday. —Photo by JOAN BONDOC

First Mass

Hema, a group mainly composed of Catholic priests, held the first Mass on Feb. 2 at Our Lady of Victory Chapel in Malabon City. The service gathered more than 250 grieving families.

Dennis Febre, an apostolate program coordinator at Baclaran Church, noted that over the last month, “the number of families we are assisting has more than doubled. From the initial 30, we now have 70 families.”

“People are starting to voice out that they have been victims of violence, after we educated them about their rights,” Febre told the Inquirer.

But Hema founder, Fr. Joselito  Sarabia, noted that compared to the first Mass in Malabon, the Baclaran service saw fewer families in attendance.

“We know they are still scared since they were still being threatened by the police and other people. It took a lot of courage for them to come here,” said Sarabia, who is also the director of St. Vincent Seminary in Quezon City.

Like Lumawag, more mothers, siblings and orphaned children shared their stories during the Mass, unable to hold back tears.

Gretchen Espinosa of Bagong Silang, Caloocan, raged against the killers of her 16-year-old son, Sonny, who was shot dead also on Nov. 28 along with six other people who were listed posthumously by the police as drug suspects.

“Imagine my sadness when New Year came and I was embracing the cold casket of my son!” she said, recounting the wake that lasted for more than a month.

In a message to the killers, Espinosa said: “If you have escaped the law of men, I am sure that you will not escape God’s punishment. It’s one of His commandments: You should not kill.”