SENATOR Aquilino Pimentel on Monday said the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines had the right to speak against the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs but reminded the group about the separation of Church and State.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday told his supporters to join him in hell if they want to rid the country of the drug problem.
“You Catholics, if you want to believe in priests and bishops, join them. If you want to be in heaven, be with them,” he said. “But those who want the problem on drugs ended, join me in hell.”
In the CBPC’s pastoral letter released on Sunday, the bishops said they were “deeply concerned” by the deaths and killings in the campaign against illegal drugs.
“CBCP, being citizens of the republic, can also comment but let’s try to keep Church and State separate but not totally air-tight separate from each other,” Pimentel told reporters.
He made his statement after the bishops released a pastoral letter on their stand against illegal drugs, summary killings, and the death penalty.
Senator Leila de Lima said the pastoral letter merely reminds the Filipinos of the universal moral values that apparently had been lost and forgotten by the people since the start of the drug war.
“As the statement says, life as a universal value cannot be debated. Due process as a basic civil right cannot be dispensed with,” De Lima said.
“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.” PNA, with Macon Ramos-Araneta and Vito Barcelo
Church leaders said the “deafening silence” of the Filipino faithful to support the Church’s action against the government’s deadly campaign against illegal drugs makes them an accomplice in the rising death toll as a result of it.
They said the lack of strong rejection by many Filipinos of the daily killings was disturbing.
“To consent and to keep silent in front of evil is to be an accomplice to it,” the bishops said in their pastoral letter.
“Let us not allow fear to reign and keep us silent.”
The CBCP acknowledged that the “traffic in illegal drugs needs to be stopped,” but “the solution does not lie in the killing of suspected drug users and pushers.”
It also urged the government to solve the root causes of the drug problem, which was poverty, the destruction of the family and the corruption in society.
Pimentel asked the bishops to “give the government slack or leeway” to run the government.
Senator Panfilo Lacson said the CBCP’s comments were “healthy for democracy.”
“It’s not good if everyone kept quiet. It’s good to hear their side. It’s good to hear the side of different sectors,” Lacson said.
De Lima and Senator Francis Pangilinan reminded the government to uphold its responsibility to protect Filipinos, promote their welfare and keep them safe.
Pangilinan said the government must not “lose faith” in the capacity of the people to change. With Macon Ramos-Araneta and Vito Barcelo