THE Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald Dela Rosa denied Monday the claim of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) that there is a "reign of terror" among the poor Filipinos following the administration's crackdown on illegal drugs.
“Reign of terror? Ano gusto nila pabayaan na lang namin ang problema sa drugs? Ganun ang gusto nila? You know, please tell them I can communicate with God without passing through them, ‘yung mga pari, bishops na ‘yan. I believe in God, Katoliko ako,” Dela Rosa said.
In a pastoral letter dated January 30, 2017 that was read in all the Catholic masses last Sunday, February 5, the CBCP said it is alarmed of the increasing number of deaths and killings in line with the government's campaign against illegal drugs.
It said it is also deeply concerned with the families of the victims and how no one is being prosecuted for committing the killings.
“This traffic in illegal drugs needs to be stopped and overcome. But the solution does not lie in the killing of suspected drug users and pushers,” the CBCP said.
“Their lives have only become worse. An additional cause of concern is the reign of terror in many places of the poor. Many are killed not because of drugs. Those who kill them are not brought to account,” it added.
Dela Rosa then appealed to the CBCP to not generalize the police organization due to the involvement of some of their members in illegal activities because just like them and any other government agencies, they are not perfect.
“Kapag sinasabi natin na ang PNP hindi perfect, merong sindikatong pulis. Bakit, masabi mo ba 'yung Church, pari mismo, are they perfect? Wala silang ginagawang kalokohan?” he said.
“Hindi ko sila inakusahan but my relationship to God is direkta pa. Still I go to Church because I respect the Church. Hindi naman lahat ng pari eh masama so ganun din dapat ang pagtingin nila sa amin,” Dela Rosa added.
Meanwhile, some senators admitted that it is the right of CBCP to express its strong stance amid the controversial extrajudicial killings in the government's war on drugs.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel said that members of the CBCP are also citizens of the Republic and have every right to comment on the state of the nation. However, he also reminded them that Church and State are separate entities.
“Let’s try to keep church and state separate, but not totally airtight separate from each other,” he said, as he asked the CBCP to give officials some slack or leeway in running the government.
Senator Francis Pangilinan also expressed his solidarity with the CBCP's stand against the killing of drug suspects and the strong government push to reimpose the death penalty.
“The campaign against illegal drugs and heinous crimes must not cost us the lives of our people, especially the innocent. Our poor, already living under the weight of historical and structural injustices, have carried the burden of this anti-crime drive,” he said.
“Killing, whether by criminals or the State, is never the solution to the country’s continuing problems of poverty, high prices of basic goods, and insufficient decent jobs. Killing will destroy our essence as a happy, hopeful, and striving nation,” Pangilinan added.
For her part, Senator Leila de Lima said the CBCP pastoral letter is a reminder of the universal moral values that the nation seemed to have lost and forgotten 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. 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,” de Lima said.
De Lima warned that the country faces danger when universal moral values are dismissed, where killing and death are seen as the solution to every problem of the nation.
De Lima said the CBCP letter is a wake-up call to a nation "that is in a nightmare." (VoxPop Philippines)