MANILA, Philippines — Everyone should be alarmed by extrajudicial killings, Malacañang said Monday, after a Roman Catholic bishop decried the supposed lack of outrage over the alleged summary executions linked to the government’s war on drugs.
In a homily delivered during the “Lord Heal our Land Sunday” in EDSA Shrine, Archbishop Socrates Villegas questioned why some Filipinos applauded the killings and chose violence over peace. He also lamented the decision of some Filipinos to remain silent instead of speaking out against the taking of human life.
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Villegas, the outgoing president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said the Philippines has deteriorated from being a nation of heroes to a nation of indifferent and desensitized people.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been accused of endorsing summary executions, is also alarmed by the killings.
“I will say that, well, people should be alarmed that there are killings ongoing because we do not know who the next victim will be,” Roque said
“The president was certainly alarmed with the killing of Kian (delos Santos) and as a result of which, he ordered the immediate arrest… (of) the policemen suspected to be behind the killing of Kian,” he added.
Delos Santos was a high school student who was killed in a drug raid in Caloocan last August. Policemen said he was a drug runner who fought with arresting officers but witnesses said he was executed.
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Roque said Filipinos remain supportive of the drug crackdown despite allegations that it has spawned extrajudicial killings
“I guess the good prelate was saying that the people seemed to have accepted the killings because there’s not enough protests to accompany the killing,” Roque said, referring to Villegas.
“Well, I’m not sure I’m in a position to validate that view. But what I do know is that the people are supportive of the drug war because for the first time, their communities are actually safer. The kids can walk home at night without the fear of being accosted by some drug-crazed individual,” he added.
“So that must be the reason why people have not condemned the war against drug and the collateral death arising from war against drugs.”
Roque said the Duterte administration remains open to building a better relationship with the Church, which has been critical of the government’s bloody anti-drug campaign.
“We all want to promote morality and we want to promote the rights of our countrymen because we are all created in the image of God,” the presidential spokesman said.
“I don’t think there should be a conflict and from now on, I think what I have been reading from the President himself is that he’s exerting all efforts ‘no to have complete conciliation with the Church and all religious group,” he added.
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Roque said the government is one with the Church in praying for healing for the country.
He also believes that the war on drugs was not a factor in the poll results stating that fewer Filipinos believe Duterte can fulfill his promises.
“I think no one will say that the campaign—the war on drugs—has not resulted in positive results for the Philippines. We have unprecedented individuals who have surrendered. We have unprecedented volumes of drugs seized,” Roque said.
“Other countries are looking to us for best practices in the anti-drug campaign. So my conclusion is there are maybe other reasons for the respondents who say that the president will not be able to live up to his campaign promises, certainly the campaign against war can’t be one of them,” he added.
A Social Weather Stations third quarter survey indicated that 35 percent of adult Filipino respondents expect Duterte to fulfill most, if not all, of his promises, down from 63 percent last year.
The nationwide survey was conducted from September 23 to 27 and interviewed 1,500 respondents.