Bishop, senator protected child witnesses, 1

BY FR. SHAY CULLEN

WERE it not for the courageous few Philippine bishops and priests and human rights defenders, among them some brave senators, there would have been likely more disappearances and crimes against children under the Duterte war on drugs.

Some estimates put the number of innocent people killed by police during the so-called “war on drugs” at 30,000, including a 17-year-old teenager executed by three police in an alleyway. It caused outrage. 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 that was tasked to investigate the killing of the minor, government agencies demanded that the child witnesses be taken by them.

Senator 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 the pressures and threats from government authorities. He and his priests and parishioners stood strong against the regime and the demands of the Secretary of Justice.

Bishop David documented the violations of human rights and unlawful killings. He held processions that protected the victims’ families and protested the human rights violations. Eventually, the call of the few more brave bishops and priests brought enough pressure that the three police were convicted of murder. But hundreds of police killers went unpunished.

Not many of the 85 Filipino bishops have the Real Faith, fewer have the spiritual commitment or strength to have “faith in action” and live out the spirituality or have a prophetic voice. To be a real bishop, one has to stand and risk all and have the unshakable conviction that goodness, truth and love of neighbor 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. (To be contined/PN)