Image: Christine Paguirigan (CBCPNews)
MANILA— The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has expressed concern about a fake news report purporting to reflect its view regretting the death of two terrorist leaders.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, CBCP president, categorically denied issuing such statement regarding the killing of Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon who led the siege in Marawi City.
An article titled “CBCP condemns the ‘brutal killing’ of Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon” and was posted on www.okd2.com went viral Tuesday sparking mixed reactions from the netizens.
In the article, the site also quoted Villegas as supposedly saying that the gory photos of the two terrorists should not have been shown in public.
The article, which was shared by the Facebook page “Rodrigo Duterte Supporters with around a million followers, quoted Villegas as saying that the gory photos of the two terrorists should not have been shown in public.
It also blatantly lied about the CBCP head as supposedly lamenting that deaths of Hapilon and Maute should be treated as another case of extrajudicial killings in the country.
“The CBCP never made such a statement. On the contrary, we laud the gallantry of our soldiers and their heroic efforts to free Marawi,” Villegas said.
While the CBCP has not made any statement yet on the matter, at least two bishops from Mindanao have immediately reacted to the killing by the government troops of Hapilon and Maute.
Among them was Bishop Edwin dela Peña of Marawi who said that the death of the Maute Group leaders signals the “beginning of the end” of the hostilities in the Islamic city.
Archbishop Martin Jumoad of Ozamiz, for his part, said that the incident “serves as a lesson that evil must be conquered so that goodness may reign”.
“May those who plan evil realize that there are so many good people who will oppose them,” he said.
The bishops again cautioned the public against fake news sites and other platforms that peddle lies intended to confuse and cause harm, rather than inform the public. CBCPNews
