As drug war's toll grows in the Philippines, so does church's pushback
| Manila
In a dimly lit events room in a church compound in Manila's endless suburbs, a few dozen parishioners have gathered on a bleak Tuesday afternoon. The men and women sitting in rows of plastic chairs listen to a lecture in Tagalog; some come forward to share their experiences.
The Rev. George Alfonso watches intently. The parish priest is supervising the event, a group therapy session for drug users trying to come clean听鈥� and ensure their survival.
Since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in June 2016, pledging to rid the country of drugs in order to reduce crime, addiction comes with more than the usual risks. The ensuing crackdown has claimed the lives of thousands of alleged drug users and sellers. Filipino police say they have killed more than 3,900 鈥渄rug personalities鈥� in official operations since Mr. Duterte took office, while activists say the actual death toll could be听听鈥� and that听most victims are small-time dealers and addicts, many of them killed by vigilantes.
In Duterte鈥檚 inaugural State of the Nation address, he estimated there were 3.7 million 鈥渄rug addicts鈥� in the Philippines, a country of 100 million. 鈥淚 have to slaughter these idiots who are destroying my country,鈥� he said. The previous chairman of the Official Dangerous Drug Boards had put the number of drug users at 1.8 million听鈥� a discrepancy for which Duterte fired him in May.
Human rights groups have decried听the campaign鈥檚 violence.听But month after month, polls showed high support at home for Duterte鈥檚 anti-drug campaign, with many Filipinos frustrated by past failures to tackle the problem. Critics have been berated, and one of听the most vocal opponents, Sen. Leila de Lima,听on drug-trafficking charges.听But public opinion appears to be on the cusp of a shift 鈥� and one of the country鈥檚 most powerful institutions, the Roman Catholic Church, is also stepping up its criticism,听saying the crackdown has gone too far.
鈥淲hen the president declared war against drugs, we saw the magnitude of the problem,鈥� says Father Alfonso. 鈥淣ow other church people are opening their eyes and trying to do something.鈥�
Quiet pushback
In a society where 81 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, the church traditionally holds significant sway, and it is not known to be a passive bystander in Philippines politics. In the 1970s and '80s, it was a key player in the opposition movement that led to the downfall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos. As the press was muzzled and听political repression increased, the clergy helped mobilize the population against Marcos鈥檚 rule听鈥撎齛 legacy many are proud of today.
In many parishes, opposition to the anti-drug war began quietly, one by one. The Baclaran Church in central Manila, for example, has sheltered witnesses of police violence since the beginning of the year. It has also exhibited images of police victims, in protest of the alleged extrajudicial killings.
Activists opposing the carnage would engage with clergymen at the lower rung, going from parish door to parish door in search of cooperation.
鈥淲e cannot see the whole Catholic church as one. We have to talk to every church, each diocese, archdiocese. The local parishes, they鈥檙e easy to talk to, and they allow us to use their churches as a venue," says Benjamin Cordero, an activist for the 鈥淪top the Killing鈥� movement.
And as the war on drugs raged in the slums, the church鈥檚 base began to tackle its consequences.
鈥淚f you go to the really poor urban communities around Metro Manila where a lot of these killings are happening, you will find it鈥檚 the local dioceses that are taking action. They are reaching out to the poorest of the poor, they are reaching out to their flock,鈥� says Carlos Conde, the Philippines researcher for the international advocacy group Human Rights Watch.
Parishes like Alfonso鈥檚 Santa Quiteria church in Caloocan began to run rehabilitation programs together with the local government and the police, seeking to address the country's drug problem at its roots.
鈥淲e are not the owner of our life; it is God-given to us. We don鈥檛 have any right to kill a person; instead we should understand the person and [have] the means to correct his mistakes,鈥� says the priest.
鈥淲e are offering some kind of alternative, and this is really increasing in every diocese.鈥�
Shift in approval?
Since the start of the anti-drug campaign, critics from the European Parliament to former President Barack Obama have received verbal attacks from Duterte. The church is not immune. The president, who has said he himself was abused by a priest as a teenager, has criticized the church's alleged sense of听鈥渕oral ascendency,鈥澨齞rawing attention to the child-abuse scandals that have tainted its reputation here and around the world.
鈥淗e knows that this is the Achilles heel of the church, and he used it against them. From the moment he stepped into the office, Duterte started firing at the church, putting it on the defensive. And it worked,鈥� says Mr. Conde.
But as the public mood begins to shift, much of the clergy has found a louder voice.
In August, the police allegedly shot 17 year-old Kian delos Santos in an execution-style killing in the Manila district of Caloocan. Police claimed that Kian was armed and resisted arrest. Video at the scene and witness accounts, however, suggested that he was shot in the head, and that evidence of 鈥榬esisting鈥� was planted near his body. The teenager鈥檚 murder sparked outcry that previous accusations of murder had failed to ignite, with protests and a funeral march attended by thousands.
Soon after Kian's death, Bishop Pablo David sheltered several witnesses of his murder, including one minor, on the grounds of San Roque Cathedral in Caloocan. When the police came to pick up the young man on Sept. 9, the bishop refused to hand him over; his father, who had arrived with police, also wound up taking shelter inside.
That opposition听echoes wider public skepticism. While Duterte had previously been able to count on massive popular support for his tough stance on drugs, his net satisfaction rating fell in September to 48, compared to 66 in June, according to Philippine pollster Social Weather Stations.
The slump shows Duterte is losing the support of the country's poor, who had initially backed his crackdown, says the Commission on Human Rights, a government body that has consistently criticized the president for his anti-narcotics campaign. The lower house of Congress voted last month to slash the Commission鈥檚 budget to 1,000 pesos (about $20), although it reversed the decision after a week.听
鈥淔ilipinos in lower socio-economic classes tend to suffer more听鈥� and yet no one has been held accountable for any of these killings,鈥� the commission said in a statement.
Protest bells
For months, the influential Catholic Bishops鈥� Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) had shied away from strong criticism, bar a warning in February that Duterte's war on drugs was creating a 鈥渞eign of terror in many places of the poor.鈥� The letter also condemned public acceptance of the killings, saying 鈥淎n even greater cause of concern is the indifference of many to this kind of wrong.鈥�
But its willingness to speak up reached a new level in mid-September, when the CBCP decreed that church bells across the country be rung at 8 p.m. for the next 40 days in protest of the killings.
鈥淔or the sake of the children and the poor, stop their systematic murders and spreading reign of terror,鈥� the conference鈥檚 president, Socrates Villegas, wrote in a statement last month.
He became even explicit in a homily delivered a week later, marking the anniversary of martial law under Marcos. 鈥淲e are losing our national soul to the Father of Lies and Prince of Darkness,鈥� Archbishop Villegas preached, using traditional names for the devil. 鈥淭hey are killing the poor and poisoning our consciences.鈥�
On Oct. 12, the president听pulled听the national police out of the war on drugs, saying the change should satisfy 鈥渂leeding hearts and media.鈥� The decision leaves the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 鈥� which makes up only 1 percent of the police force 鈥� to conduct all official operations.
Despite the climb-down, some worry that the church is once again headed toward听a prolonged struggle with a head of state. Under Marcos, thousands of people were arrested, tortured, or killed.
"I am afraid that what we experienced during Marcos may come again. At that time, the church people were really on a collision course with Marcos, and now that may repeat itself," says Alfonso.
