“Prayer power” is a new form of resistance to that will bind Filipinos together in overcoming the challenges faced by the country, said Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, who himself is battling sedition charges filed by the Philippine National Police over his alleged involvement in the creation of a series of viral videos that cast the President in a negative light.
“I call this new form of resistance prayer power. We don’t call it people power, we call it ‘prayer’ that binds people together, in solidarity together,” David, vice president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said in a radio interview on Saturday.
David is among the many religious leaders charged over their supposed hand in the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” viral video that featured an alias Bikoy, who eventually surfaced and identified himself as Peter Joemel Advincula.
“Our solidarity does not require physical manifestation. We can express our solidarity spiritually that is why I call it prayer power,” he said.
“My appeal is for our prayer warriors to grow in number so that we can achieve peace and we can overcome this difficult challenge that we are facing,” David added.
In his counter-affidavit filed before the Department of Justice, the bishop admitted meeting Advincula once, but not to plan any ouster plot against the President.
“Contrary to the accusations leveled against me, I will be the last to resort to any kind of activity designed to undermine the administration or oust the duly elected officials in government,” he said in his counter-affidavit.
“Such assertions is nothing but a blatant lie, an orchestrated move to ruin my name and reputation as a Roman Catholic Bishop through false innuendos, malicious inferences and speculations which are doubly libelous, grossly vilifying and obviously defamatory,” David added.
Earlier this month, the DOJ started its preliminary investigation on the criminal complaint filed against Vice President Leni Robredo, several opposition leaders and Catholic clergy over their alleged involvement in efforts to destabilize the government and unseat Duterte.
The viral video showed Advincula linking Duterte, his family members and several associates in the illegal drug trade in the country.
In his affidavit, Advincula said the release of the video was part of the so-called Project Sodoma hatched by the respondents.
Project Sodoma allegedly sought to publicly discredit the President and destabilize his government by implicating him, his family, and other government officials in drug syndicates.
