CBCP alarmed over vigilante killings

MANILA, Philippines – The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Monday raised concern over the increasing number of reports that suspected drug-peddlers and pushers have been shot.

CBCP President Socrates Villegas said in a statement the rising vigilantism in the country is equally disturbing.

"Media has carried reports of bodies, apparently of homicide or murder victims, showing up on whom placards announcing their supposed crimes are writ large," Villegas said.

Villegas called on law enforcers to "shoot to kill" on the ground of self-defense or the defense of others.

"To kill a suspect outright, no matter how much surveillance work may have antecedently been done on the suspect, is not morally justified," the CBCP president said.

Villegas added that law enforcers can only "shoot to kill" first when there is unjust provocation and when there is a threat to the life and safety of others.

"To kill a suspect outright, no matter how much surveillance work may have antecedently been done on the suspect, is not morally justified," Villegas said.

The archbishop stressed that non-lethal means should be used to stop a suspect from fleeing or escaping arrest.

The CBCP president also noted that receiving reward money to kill another is not morally permissible.

"When bounty-hunting takes the form of seeking out suspects of crime, killing them, then presenting proof of the death of the object of the hunt to the offeror of the reward, one is hardly any different from a mercenary, a gun-for-hire, no matter that the object of one’s manhunt should be a suspected offender," Villegas said.

The CBCP pointed out that impunity that law offenders carry on with their criminal activity reflects the flaw in the country's criminal justice system.

Villegas called on prosecutors and judges to remain firm in their consecration for justice "for there can be no greater insult to the Creator than to use the gifts of intelligence, discernment and one’s success at legal studies for ends contrary to builds the Body of Christ and contributes the building of the Kingdom of God." – Patricia Lourdes Viray