At eight o’clock tonight and at the same hour every evening thereafter, church bells across Negros island will toll as a plea to stop the killings that have hounded the island.
“Let the tolling of bells remind us that the senseless killings are inhuman. Let the tolling of the church bells call us to a collective prayer, for us to beg God to touch the hearts of perpetrators, as we call on responsible government agencies to effectively address the series of deaths,” said Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of the Diocese of San Carlos.
The pastoral appeal was issued Thursday, amid a particularly heinous week of killings. In the span of a week, some 15 individuals— including a lawyer, a rebel returnee, a school principal, a DepEd official, former and current local officials, and a one-year-old child—were killed in separate incidents in different towns.
Some quarters are blaming the higher number of killings to President Duterte’s Memorandum Order 32, issued in November, which provides guidelines to the military and police on suppressing lawless violence. Curiously, the order was issued precisely to stem the “sporadic violence” in select areas in the country and prevent the loss of innocent lives.
In March, 14 farmers were summarily killed in Negros.
According to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, since the issuance of this order, 36 have already been killed, hundreds others detained, thousands harassed—all with impunity. “Most of the victims are toiling farmers who are struggling due to landlessness. Other victims include human rights lawyers, and now education workers.”
The Defend Negros #Stop the Killings network said it has recorded more than 70 extrajudicial killings on Negros Island since January 2017.
Whether or not we can ever get to the bottom of the killings may be difficult to answer today, given the conflicting interests at play. What is incontrovertible is that the loss of lives—even just one— is senseless, and people must express outrage and indignation rather than cower in fear.
The sound of bells tolling will be a grim reminder of how low we have descended as human beings, dismissive of the rights of others as we pursue our own interests. The bishop said the bells will toll until the killings stop. We hope the people of Negros—and the rest of us, elsewhere in the country—will not have to wait that long.