Pubdate: Fri, 05 Aug 2016
Source: Sun.Star Cebu (Philippines)
Copyright: 2016 Sun.Star
Contact:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1690
Author: Democrito C. Barcenas

KILLING AND CHRISTIANITY

A national daily made a screaming headline, "Church: Thou shall not 
kill" below a heart wrenching and stirring picture of a weeping young 
woman hugging the bloodied body of her partner, a pedicab driver and 
alleged drug pusher, who was shot and killed by a motor-riding gunman 
near Pasay Rotunda on Edsa.

The Sixth Commandment (Thou shall not kill) was the message for 
President Rodrigo Duterte in a mass which the Archdiocese of Manila 
held last Monday, July 25 as he delivered his State of the Nation 
Address (Sona) to Congress.

I am glad the Archdiocese of Manila has taken the lead in expressing 
opposition to the systematic and well-orchestrated orgy of 
extra-judicial killings in the country that hit mostly the poor and 
the powerless in society.

Killing suspected users or pushers of drugs is clearly illegal and 
unchristian. Summary executions, even if moved by the noblest 
intention of eliminating crime and drugs "within three to six 
months," can never be justified unless we have amended the Ten 
Commandments and our Constitution.

To my mind, however, what is most alarming these days is not only the 
spate of extra-judicial killings and the absence of significant 
outcry against them. What is highly sickening is that these summary 
executions of suspected drug users and drug pushers are approved by 
an overwhelming majority of Filipinos, 80.5 percent of whom claim or 
pretend to be Roman Catholics.

This is a country of paradox and hypocrisy. This is a country where 
Catholics receive Holy Communion and take the Body of Christ, which 
is the embodiment of love, redemption, and the sanctity of human 
life--yet these are the same people who applaud everytime the police 
or vigilantes summarily gun down a suspected drug user and pusher, in 
clear violation of the Sixth Commandment.

But all is not lost. Many religious leaders, civil society, and 
netizens have already made a stand to denounce this bloody approach 
to the drug problem.

In a recent meeting, the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) Region 7 
adopted a resolution that while the group supports President 
Duterte's drive for the eradication of the drug menace, it is against 
summary executions of suspects.

The IBP Cebu City Chapter has passed a resolution urging the police 
to uphold the rule of law. Recently, the IBP National Board under its 
president Rosario Setias-Reyes, issued a statement condemning summary 
executions as a violation of the rule of law and due process.

- -- By Democrito C. Barcenas
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom