MORE than 10,000 people, including bishops, priests, sisters and lay people, gathered at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila to protest the continued killings of suspected criminals and oppose the Duterte administration’s plan to reimpose the capital punishment.
Mostly clad in white shirts, the people walked around the Luneta Park and later gathered at the grandstand where Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo led a prayer rally.
Dubbed the Walk for Life, the prayer rally was organized by the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas.
“We have to stand up. Somehow this is already a show of force by the faithful that they don’t like these extrajudicial killings,” Pabillo told AFP before addressing the crowd.
“I am alarmed and angry at what’s happening because this is something that is regressive. It does not show our humanity.”
Duterte, 71, has attacked the Church as being “full of shit” and “the most hypocritical institution” for speaking out against a campaign that he says would save generations of Filipinos from the drug menace.
The Church, which helped lead the revolution that toppled former President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and former President Joseph Estrada in 2001, had initially declined to publicly voice opposition to Duterte’s drug war but, as the death toll of mostly poor people mounted, it began late last year to call for the killings to end.
“I am very surprised and pleased with the outcome,” Pabillo said. “I hope that the voices of the people against the killings will reach the government.”
CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas hopes President Rodrigo Duterte will listen to the voice of the participants who came from 13 dioceses and archdioceses, including Manila, Cubao, Imus, Malolos, San Jose in Nueva Ecija, Balanga, Urdaneta, Legaspi, and Bontoc-Lagawe.
“We are confident that God will heed our prayers today in our Walk for Life,” Villegas said during the rally.
Caloocan Bishop Pablo David said the Walk for Life is also in support of the peace initiatives between the government and the communist rebels.
“It is obvious that there is a spreading culture of violence. It is saddening to see, sometimes it drives me to tears how violent words seem so natural and ordinary,” said Manila Archbishop Luis Cardinal Tagle.
“In your surroundings, in your neighborhood, there are so many lives that must be saved. They will not be saved by mere discussion.”
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines had called on the faithful to gather at the Quirino Grandstand, where Duterte held a huge pre-election rally, from 4:30 a.m.
“Why dawn? It’s because it is during these hours that we find bodies on the streets or near trash cans. Dawn, which is supposed to be the hour of a new start, is becoming an hour of tears and fears,” Villegas told the crowd.
Villegas this month issued the Church’s strongest statement against the drug war, warning against a “reign of terror” in poor communities. With AFP