Metro Catholic schools join outcry against killings
Students of San Beda College-Manila, President Rodrigo Duterte’s alma mater, hold a candle lighting protest in solidarity with several Catholic schools nationwide that staged simultaneous noise barrage against the extrajudicial killings and the death penalty, March 8, 2017. CBCPNews
MANILA– Catholic schools in Metro Manila have joined the outcry against the growing number of drug-related summary executions and impunity that has engulfed the country.
The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines National Capital Region (CEAP NCR) also opposed the reimposition of the death penalty and irresponsible mining.
The organization of 171 schools, universities and colleges said that “all life is sacred because it is God’s own gift to each one of us, believing that we are not God, and that Earth was created by God that sustain us.”
“Fully convinced that though the crime be heinous, no person is ever beyond redemption, and we therefore have no right to give up on any person,” it stressed.
“We appeal to all Filipinos to stand with courage for social justice and equality, which are founded upon absolute respect for human life and dignity,” said CEAP-NCR.
The CEAP NCR agreed that the illegal drugs trade must be eradicated because it breeds corruption, crime and death especially among the poor, the unemployed and the youth.
They said, however, that the due process of law must always be observed in the anti-crime war.
As to the issue of mining, the organization condemned the operations that threaten people’s health and environmental safety “through the wanton dumping of wastes and tailings in the rivers and seas”.
The Catholic schools called on the government take pro-active actions against poverty in addressing the issues raised.
“We urge the present administration to address the root causes of the drug problem by the implementation of the programs that address poverty, create more jobs, strengthen the family, guide the youth, who are most affected during these difficult times, to wholesome recreation,” they said. CBCPNews
