Yahoo – AFP,
Ayee Macaraig, August 20, 2017
 |
| Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has launched an unprecedented crackdown on illegal narcotics since winning the presidency last year (AFP Photo/TED ALJIBE) |
Manila
(AFP) - The head of the Philippines' powerful Catholic Church called Sunday for
an end to the "waste of human lives" following a brutal week in
President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war in which a 17-year-old boy was among
dozens killed.
Police
raids dubbed "One Time Big Time" saw at least 76 people shot dead,
authorities said, as rights groups and lawmakers condemned the operation as an
alarming "killing spree" in Duterte's flagship campaign.
On Sunday,
the highest-ranking Church official in the predominantly Catholic nation
expressed concern about the increase in the number of deaths.
"We
knock on the consciences of those who kill even the helpless, especially those
who cover their faces with bonnets, to stop wasting human lives," Manila
Cardinal Luis Tagle said in a statement read in Sunday Masses in the capital.
"The
illegal drug problem should not be reduced to a political or criminal issue. It
is a humanitarian concern that affects all of us."
Duterte,
72, launched an unprecedented crackdown on illegal narcotics after winning the
presidency last year on a promise to kill tens of thousands of criminals.
The Church,
one of the nation's oldest and most influential institutions, had been among
the few voices denouncing the deaths as polls showed Duterte continued to enjoy
widespread popularity.
During the
14 months Duterte has been in power, police have confirmed killing more than
3,500 people -- insisting they acted in self-defence.
More than
2,000 other people have been killed in drug-related crimes and thousands more
murdered in unexplained circumstances, according to police data.
The numbers
saw a sudden increase this week, with Duterte praising officers who shot dead
32 people in a single province as he urged for more.
Following
Duterte's call, at least 44 people were killed in various cities, including a
17-year-old boy whose death on Thursday sparked a national furore.
Relatives
of Kian Delos Santos released CCTV footage of the boy being dragged away by two
officers as they questioned a police report that he shot at them first.
'Awaken
consciences'
In Sunday's
statement, Tagle called for nine days of prayer for people who have died in the
drug war.
"Those
with sorrowful hearts and awakened consciences may come to your pastors to tell
your stories and we will document them for the wider society," he said.
The
Catholic Church has been a central figure in some of the Philippines' most
tumultuous political events, including the 1986 "People Power"
revolution that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The Church
had initially declined to criticise Duterte's drug war but as the death toll of
mostly poor people mounted, it began last year a campaign to stop the killings.
Church
groups have sheltered witnesses and provided financial and emotional support
for families of those slain.
In
response, Duterte had launched a broadside against priests and bishops whom he
accused of "hypocrisy".
On Sunday,
the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines joined
Tagle in denouncing the deaths, calling on the faithful to ring church bells
daily in solidarity with the victims.
"The
sound of the bells is a wake-up call for a nation that no longer knows how to
condole with the bereaved, that is cowardly to call out evil. The sound of the
bells is a call to stop consenting to the killings!" Archbishop Socrates
Villegas said in a statement.
Duterte's
spokesman said Saturday the government would investigate the deaths but added
the president would "vigorously pursue" his drug war.
The head of the Philippines' powerful Catholic Church urges end to president's unprecedented drug killings https://t.co/CF7qPtSCs1 pic.twitter.com/ssr5O9N9qX— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 20, 2017
