The bloody crackdown on activists in Calabarzon was an “unnecessary” use of force that warrants condemnation in the “strongest terms,” said the social arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

“We denounce the unnecessary use of force and violence in the government’s quest for peace which only victimizes the poor and the vulnerable,” said the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Social Action, Justice, and Peace, in a statement Monday, March 8.

Kidapawan Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, national director of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Social Action, Justice, and Peace, and Father Antonio Labiao, executive secretary, co-signed the statement.

Bagaforo and Labiao also called on President Rodrigo Duterte “to choose rule of law over militarization in solving the country’s insurgency and terrorism problems.”

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines also denounced the Calabarzon killings in a separate statement Tuesday, March 9.

“Righteous indignation, stemming from our faith in God and our belief that humans are created in the image of God, compels us to strongly condemn the killings and illegal arrests resulting from the simultaneous raids conducted by the Philippine National Police in Southern Tagalog Region,” said Bishop Reuel Norman Marigza, general secretary of the NCCP.

“In the midst of glaring economic difficulty, and on top of surging COVID-19 cases in the country, how can the government prioritize a counterinsurgency program that kills and arrests unarmed activists over giving sound socioeconomic aid to the people and an effective vaccine rollout program?” Marigza added.

At least 9 individuals believed to be linked to activist groups were killed, 6 were arrested, while 9 others remain at large after the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines carried out anti-communist raids in the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Rizal.

In a speech two days before the crackdown, Duterte told the police and military to “kill right away” and “finish off” all communist rebels during an armed encounter.

In their statement, the CBCP body also called on the Commission on Human Rights “to investigate the series of killings impacted by red-tagging incidents.” They urged the Supreme Court to “fast-track” its deliberations on the Anti-Terror Law, which is seen as a broad tool that can be used to target the government’s critics.

Bishop Broderick Pabillo, temporary head of the Archdiocese of Manila, also called Sunday’s killings “illegal and criminal.”

“It is never right to kill people whose activities are within the law and the rule of law,” said Pabillo, in remarks reported by the independent Catholic news site Licas.

Members of the Catholic clergy too have been at the receiving end of the administration’s efforts to stifle dissent.

In 2019, the PNP Criminal Investigation Group filed sedition charges against 4 bishops and 3 priests for their supposed involvement in the “Bikoy” video, which alleged that Duterte’s son was involved in the illegal narcotics trade. The government has since dropped the charge against the bishops. – Rappler.com