The Church of the Philippines has rejected an invitation from the national police to become part of President Duterte’s murderous campaign against drug dealers.
Following the call, issued by police chief General Ronald dela Rosa, the Filipino bishops’ conference insisted that it supports “whatever strategy there is, for as long as there’s no killing and it is devoid of any corrupt and unjust practice”.
After months of controversy and some 7,000 deaths, the anti-drugs clampdown launched by President Rodrigo Duterte was halted temporarily at the end of January amid accusations of extra-judicial killings and of corrupt practices on the part of the police, some of whom, it emerged, were engaging in kidnapping and extortion under the cover afforded by the campaign.
Now seeking to re-launch the initiative, General dela Rosa suggested that if priests were to accompany police on drugs raids, it was more likely suspects would surrender and not resist officers. A standard line cited by police to date in connection with the thousands dead is that they were shot only when resisting arrest, something disputed by many eyewitness accounts.
