MANILA\u2014 A Catholic bishop has called on government authorities to sit down with various stakeholders and start a new cycle of dialogue to better address the country\u2019s drug problem.<\/p>\n
Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan said the killings must stop and instead find other solutions without disregarding the rule of law.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough with the killings! Stop the killings, for heaven\u2019s sake!\u201d David said in his homily during the funeral Mass for slain Kian Loyd Delos Santos at the Santa Quiteria Parish Church in Caloocan City on Saturday<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us please sit down and discuss reasonably as citizens of one country. Let us help out in addressing this problem of illegal drugs properly, but not in a manner that has no respect for the law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The bishop stressed the need for a change in the drug war\u2019s paradigm from a manner that treats drug addicts \u201cas vermin, as non-humans\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAddiction is a disease; let us please address it as a health issue!\u201d said the incoming Vice President of the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines.<\/p>\n
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila has earlier offered to broker talks on the government\u2019s controversial drive against narcotics trade amid the recent killing of Delos Santos, a Grade 11 Catholic school student.<\/p>\n
One of the reasons for the division, he said, is because of one institution that wrongly believes it has the best solution against the menace.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll Filipinos agree that the menace of illegal drugs is real and destructive. We must face and act upon (it) together, as one people. Unfortunately, it has divided us,\u201d Tagle said.<\/p>\n
For David, the death of Delos Santos should be treated by the government as a \u201cwake-up\u201d call against its \u201ccruel and simplistic solution\u201d of \u201cexterminating\u201d drug suspects.<\/p>\n
According to him, illegal drugs will continue to flood the country \u201cif there is no systematic effort\u201d to trace the source.<\/p>\n
A huge crowd composed of family, friends and supporters attended the funeral of Delos Santos who was shot dead after allegedly engaging cops in an anti-drug operation in Caloocan on August 16.<\/p>\n
A CCTV footage, however, showed cops supposedly dragging the victim before he was found dead.<\/p>\n
The prelate said the Church and the government can work together for the healing of addicts through community-based rehabilitation programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut more importantly, let us heal the divisions, the conflicts, and the exchanges of cruel words. Let us rid ourselves of anything that diminishes our humanity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Delos Santos was buried at the La Loma Cemetery, also in Caloocan, after a funeral procession that took more than five hours.<\/p>\n
The prelate also assured the Delos Santos\u2019 parents that their son\u2019s life has not been wasted, even if it was cut short by \u201csenseless violence and cruelty\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not wasted because it has served as a thorn that has pricked the consciences of our people and has awakened them from moral slumber,\u201d he said. Roy Lagarde \/\u00a0<\/strong>CBCPNews<\/strong><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav admin_label=”Post Navigation” in_same_term=”off” hide_prev=”off” hide_next=”off” prev_text=”PREVIOUS ARTICLE” next_text=”NEXT ARTICLE” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cLet us please sit down and discuss reasonably as citizens of one country.” – Bishop David<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cbcp-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ootw-811","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aranzazushrine.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cbcp_dialogue.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30815"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30818,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30815\/revisions\/30818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}