Were it not for the courageous few Philippine bishops, priests and human rights defenders, among them some brave senators, there would likely have been more disappearances and crimes against children during the war on drugs of previous Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte. Some estimates put the number of innocent people killed by police at 30,000, including a 17-year-old teenager executed by three police in an alleyway.
The murder caused outrage when public anger boiled over at the alleged executions of innocent suspects by government sanctioned death squads. The murder of the boy, Kian delos Santos, was witnessed by his brothers. When they were brought into the care and protection of opposition senator, Risa Hontiveros, who headed the Senate Committee tasked with investigating the killing of the minor, government agencies demanded custody of the child witnesses.
Hontiveros courageously refused and protected the children from the claws of the government agents who would silence them. That testimony would expose the murderous “shoot to kill” policy of the regime. Their testimony had to be stopped from coming out.
Bravely, Bishop Pablo David of the Diocese of Caloocan, stood by the children and gave them sanctuary and protection despite pressure and threats from the authorities. He, his priests and parishioners stood strong against the regime and the demands of the Secretary of Justice.
Bishop David documented the human rights violations and unlawful killings. He held processions that protected the victims’ families and protested the human rights violations. Eventually, the calls of the braver bishops and priests brought enough pressure to bear that the three police were convicted of murder. But hundreds of killers went unpunished.
Hontiveros courageously refused and protected the children from the claws of the government agents who would silence them. That testimony would expose the murderous “shoot to kill” policy of the regime. Their testimony had to be stopped from coming out
To be a real bishop, to put “faith in action” and live out the spirituality, or have a prophetic voice, one has to stand and risk all and have the unshakable conviction that goodness, truth and love of neighbour will overcome evil and wrongdoing.
Faith is having that conviction because that is the true faith of Jesus of Nazareth, a faith that will move mountains of evil. He stood with the victims, defended the weak and vulnerable and showed that doing good, standing for the truth and opposing evil, is the way to proclaim the truth that will set us free from the corruption and violations of the dignity and rights of the vulnerable and the poor.
There is much reform to be done in the institutional Church to inspire leaders to have real faith and actively defend human rights.
The courageous bishops and priests who stood against the tyranny of the tyrant include Archbishop Socrates Villegas, Bishop Honesto Ongtioco, retired Bishop Teodoro Bacani, Father Robert Reyes, La Salle Brother Armin Luistro, Jesuit Father Albert Alejo and Divine Word Father Flaviano Villanueva, among many others.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
https://www.Facebook.com/CFM-Gifted-to-give-101039001847033
The first act of justice the bishops could do is to put aside the love of golden robes and bring the clerical child sex abusers to justice, believe and act on the words of Jesus and stop coddling the abusers that commit heinous crimes against children. They suffer greatly. Watch the screaming and anger release of victims and you will see the pain they endure when they let it out in therapy.
Gross racism and discrimination is perpetrated against the poor in the Philippines. More bishops and priests must stand and protest against it. Strong action is needed, not just platitude…
To coddle and protect abusers is to be an accessory to crimes against children by arranging payoff to parents to prevent testimony in court. Jesus of Nazareth said in Matthew 18:6, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Accountability is needed in every case with protection, support, therapy and help for the child victims.
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination has declared the Philippines a hotbed of rights violations and human dignity.
Gross racism and discrimination is perpetrated against the poor in the Philippines. More bishops and priests must stand and protest against it. Strong action is needed, not just platitudes, but mobilisation of the communities to act for justice because as St. James wrote in his epistle [2:17], “…faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
The report made it clear that there were many violations. “Reports of enforced disappearances, killings, violence, threats, intimidation, harassment, reprisals and in particular ‘red-tagging’ faced by human rights defenders and leaders of ethno-religious, ethno-linguistic and indigenous communities…”.
There is a challenge from a world body for Church leaders to have the faith and find a prophetic voice to campaign for the enactment of the Human Rights Defenders Bill that is before Congress; that would be a significant evangelical “faith in action” undertaking. Every parish could have all true Christians sign a petition for their congressional representatives to pass that law.
As I have previously written, more than 114 of the total 270 defenders of land and environment, who were murdered between 2012 and 2020, were indigenous leaders trying to protect their way of life and lands.
Some brave bishops have spoken out to condemn the killings and the “systematic abductions” of defenders of the ecology and lands.
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos said in a courageous statement on September 24 that the abductions “point to state forces as the culprits.” He demanded that the “perpetrators, including military and police officers, as well as officials of state institutions… involved in abductions and kidnappings, must be held accountable.”
We need more to be true Christians and be ready to give themselves in defending the rights of all victims and oppressed people.
Father Shay Cullen
www.preda.org
