Palace welcomes CBCP's readiness to collaborate with Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang Thursday welcomed the Catholic bishops’ readiness to collaborate with the Duterte administration despite their differences over the government’s brutal war on illegal drugs.

 

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the administration is looking forward to the bishops’ assistance in treating drug dependents and restoring their mental, spiritual and psycho-emotional health.

 

“The statement of Archbishop Socrates Villegas, CBCP (Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines) president, that Catholic bishops are open to exploring avenues of collaboration with the Duterte administration is a welcome change,” Abella said in a statement.

 

“While the bishops are 100 percent against the proliferation of drugs and support 100 percent the campaign against drugs, they emphasized rehabilitation which is part of the second phase of our anti-illegal drug campaign,” he added.

 

The Roman Catholic Church, the religious affiliation of more than 80 percent of Filipinos, has expressed concerns over the spate of killings believed to have been carried out because of the administration’s clampdown on illegal drugs. More than 7,000 suspected drug offenders have been killed since July, alarming members of the clergy and human rights advocates.

 

 

Duterte has chided bishops for speaking against his anti-drug campaign, calling them hypocrites and accusing them of doing nothing to improve the lives of the poor. He also claimed that the Catholic Church has no moral ascendancy to lecture him on the sanctity of life because of the sexual abuses and corruption plaguing the clergy.

 

 

On Wednesday, Villegas said some bishops and members of the Duterte Cabinet have agreed to look into possible areas of collaboration and to tone down their criticisms against one another. He said their difference should not prevent the government and the Church from cooperating.

 

 

The CBCP president stressed though that the Church would continue to speak out against social ills and unacceptable practices like extrajudicial killings, disregard for human life and adultery.

 

“We note the good bishop's (Villegas) statement that the Catholic Church ‘is not against the president’ but against some policies and measures that they believe ‘would not help the Philippines and the Filipino people.’ And his statement that ‘it is not the business of the Church to be leading political upheavals,’” Abella said.

 

“It is a good reminder that power struggles between church and state belong to a dim dark past, and in a world that has evolved by leaps and bounds, it is imperative that all work together to put food on every table, no matter what beliefs one holds in private,” he added.