Typhoon Affected Communities Appeal for Help

Communities affected by typhoon Karding are appealing for help. An email sent to Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas from Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc. (PMPI), on Wednesday, appealed for relief goods and other forms of assistance for Northville 9 at Barangay Iba O’Este, Calumpit, Bulacan. Northville is a resettlement project of the…

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Pacete: August 21: Remembering Ninoy

SunStar BACOLOD | VER F. PACETE As I See It August 21, 2018 The most eye-catching of Marcos political rivals was Senator Benigno Aquino, scion of the powerful “familia hacenderos” in Tarlac. Our man “Ninoy” had created a “superboy” reputation on a remarkable political career. He is the man who “would-be-president.”…

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The Challenges to Family Today

PREDA Foundation | Fr. Shay Cullen 17 August 2018 Dublin,Ireland. What is family to each one of us and how important is it to belong to a family? We all greatly desire and long for the secure “happy family” whose members love and trust each other, share solidarity, give mutual…

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URGENT Statement on the Recent Flooding

The past month obviously tells us that flooding is now the new normal in the Philippines. This is nothing but climate change in its worst. Science explains to us that climate change gives rise to changes in precipitation, along with temperature, wind patterns, atmospheric pressure and moisture. Many scientists therefore…

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‘Day of Remembrance’ proposed for slain Filipino teen

Death of Kian delos Santos in August 2017 underscores atrocities committed in Duterte’s drug war, senator says

Friends and relatives of Kian delos Santos, a teenager killed in the Philippine government’s war against illegal drugs on Aug. 16, 2017, light candles to mark the first anniversary of his death. (Photo by Kimberly dela Cruz)

Leonel Abasola and Kimberly dela Cruz, Manila, Philippines
August 17, 2018

A Philippine senator has proposed declaring a day in August each year as a “National Day of Remembrance” to mark the death of a teenager last year in the government’s war against drugs.

The death of 17-year-old Kian de los Santos on Aug. 16, 2017, at the hands of police conducting an anti-drug operation sparked national and international outrage.

Senator Risa Hontiveros said the killing of De los Santos “underscored the human rights atrocities committed in the name of the bloody war on drugs.”

The opposition legislator said that by remembering all those who have died in the government’s drug war, “the public states its clear rejection of the culture of killing and impunity.”

“We have a duty to remember,” said Hontiveros. “We must not allow Kian and all the victims to be rendered nameless, invisible and forgotten.”

The legislator said the act of remembering, “is an act of defiance against the killings,” adding that, “to forget is to give consent.”

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan led relatives and friends of De los Santos in unveiling a memorial marker at San Roque Cathedral in Manila’s Caloocan City.

De los Santos’ case stirred up controversy after police claimed that the teenager tried to fight it out with them with a .45 caliber pistol.

Witness testimonies, however, disproved the claims. An independent autopsy also showed the boy was shot in the head.

“If they said that he fought back, and it’s not true, how many other cases are there where police were lying?” said Jose Luis Martin Gascon, chairman of the Commission on Human Rights.

Catholic priest Flavie Villanueva said Delos Santos “became a symbol of systematic killing involving youths.”

Data from the Children’s Legal Rights and Development Center revealed that at least 74 children have been killed in the two-year old war on narcotics.

Opposition congressman France Castro said President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war has claimed more than 12,000 victims, many of whom were poor.

Early this week, Duterte admitted that he might not be able to solve the drug problem during his six-year term as president.

The Philippine National Police has reported that 23,518 murder cases have been investigated since July 2016, when Duterte came to power, to June 2018. Of that number, at least 4,279 involved drug suspects killed during “legitimate police operations.”

Standing up for God and the Church

This is about our Father in Heaven and our Mother Church being maligned Father Elias Ayuban Jr., CMF, Manila

LaCroixInternational| Philippines August 20, 2018

Rodrigo Duterte speaking in Davao City on Sept. 30, 2016. (Photo by Toto Lozano/PPD)

This is about our Philippine president calling our God stupid.I remember when I was a teenager and my father had an altercation with our neighbor.

With a bolo in his hand, the neighbor challenged my father to a fight.I was afraid, but my father was apparently not disturbed. He did not respond to the provocation.

It was an attitude that I did not understand then. As a son, I felt I had to do something not because my father needed it but because I needed it.

I felt that I had to intervene, and if necessary, “defend” my father in a way that I was not even sure how.

By speaking ill of my father, the neighbor also hurt me. I felt violated.

What greater love can we offer to our parents than to be on their side when they are threatened?

What better expression of support can we show to them than to speak on behalf of our mother and father when they are maligned for no apparent reason?

Yes, even if they do not need it, and even if we are afraid.

To my relatives, friends, fellow priests, and religious in the Philippines, I am afraid to speak to you about this because I am not holier than anyone of you.

I hesitate to tell you what I think because you have been so good to me, and many of you are even better than some of those who criticize our president.

Even if I don’t understand your unequivocal support to the policies of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, I respect you in the same way that you respect me when I do not completely agree with you.

But this is no longer about the president.

This is about our Father in Heaven and our Mother Church being maligned.

God does not need us to protect Him, but we need to say something because in our blood we have the same DNA with His Son as “we are created in His own image and likeness.

“The Church “will prevail even if the gates of hell will bar,” but to be on the side of our Mother when she most needs it is the least that we can and should do.

In these challenging times, we need to draw the line.

When he cursed the Holy Father, we were silent.

Now that he calls our God “stupid,” I could not be silenced.

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