“HOY, KAYONG mga tambay diyan, kapag dumaan ‘yang obispo ninyo holdapan ‘yan, maraming pera ‘yan. Putangina niya. Patayin mo…(To bystanders, if your bishop passes by, rob them, they have lots of money They’re sons of whores. Kill them…)
Yet another violent harangue against churchmen spewed out of President Duterte’s mouth at a birthday celebration in Masbate last week, drawing laughter from the captive audience.
“Again, his mouth has uttered absolutely silly things. And his ‘fans’ consider his murderous words as a mere joke. Is it a joke to advise people to kill?”
So retorted Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes, adding “This is a serious matter … the young generation might make him a role model in speaking improperly as though words have no moral consequences.”
Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos was just as indignant: “It is no longer funny, and does not deserve laughs or applause from the audience, but condemnation. The advice just promotes criminality, encourages lawlessness.”
“What kind of authority calls for killing?” asked Santos. “If he does it with bishops, how much more to ordinary citizens?”
Furthered the Bataan bishop: “His presidency is a disappointment to us, and a disgrace to the country … And we totally speak, stand against it. We reject and condemn what he says.” Invoked there is the collegial stand of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines against Duterte’s demonization of the Filipino prelates.
Bastes went a step further: “There should be a mass movement among decent Filipinos to make him desist from speaking like a devil.”
“Let us do something to make him stop this evil,” he added.
A call to arms, so to speak, the bishops raised there.
Will the faithful heed it?
