CBCP: In the name of God, stop the killings!

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines on Tuesday called for an end to the spate of killings in the country, adding that justice should fall on those who are responsible for the slays.

In a statement in behalf of the CBCP permanent council, CBCP president Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said the nation was guilty and complicit with the killers  because of its silence and inaction.

Villegas called on members of the clergy and the Catholic faithful to pledge 40 days of prayers, pealing of bells and lighting of candles for the victims of the killings. He also asked for assistance for their bereaved families.

"In the name of God, stop the killings! May the justice of God come upon those responsible for the killings!" the CBCP president said.

"Kian, Carl, Reynaldo… they were young boys, enjoying life, loving sons of parents who doted on them. Now an entire nation knows them by name because their lives have been snuffed out so cruelly, their dreams and aspirations forever consigned to the sad realm of what could have been but never will be,” he added.

The CBCP released the statement following the deaths under questionable circumstances of teenagers Kian Loyd Delos Santos, Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo "Kulot" De Guzman.

Delos Santos, 17, was killed in an alleged shootout with policemen following an alleged drug raid in Caloocan City. Arnaiz, 19, allegedly fought policemen who tried to arrest him after he supposedly robbed a taxi driver.

Forensic examination by the Public Attorney's Office indicate that the two could not have fought back, although Arnaiz was found positive of powder burns.

De Guzman was the last person Arnaiz with whom Arnaiz was last seen alive. A cadaver, which his parents identified to be his, was found riddled with almost 30 stab wounds in Gapan, Nueva Ecija.

Police, however, said DNA tests show the body was a negative match with samples taken from De Guzman's parents.

"They cannot be statistics, for to reduce them to numbers in an increasing tally is to heap yet more injustice than has already been visited on them. They are only three of so many, awfully many, who have paid the price of what is touted to be the country’s resolute drive against criminality!" Villegas said.

"We mourn. The nation must beat its breast in a collective admission of guilt for in our silence and in our inaction, in our diffidence and in our hesitation lie our complicity in their deaths!" he added.

"We are appalled by the remorselessness by which even the young are executed. The relentless and bloody campaign against drugs that shows no sign of abating impels us your bishops to declare: In the name of God, stop the killings! May the justice of God come upon those responsible for the killings!" Villegas said.

The CBCP called on the Catholic faithful to do the following:

1. We invite you to offer prayers particularly for those killed in the government’s campaign against drugs, as well as for all victims of violence and the war in Marawi, in our country for a 40-day period, starting September 23 and ending on November 1. Please offer the rosary daily for the killed and receive Holy Communion as an offering for their souls. May the souls of the killed find rest. Prayer heals us. Prayer helps their souls.

2. Subject to the approval of the diocesan bishops, we appeal for the pealing of church bells at 8:00 pm during the same forty day period in remembrance of the souls of those killed. The ancient pious tradition of De Profundis is worth restoring. Let the bells call us to pray for the dead.

3. One beautiful Filipino custom observed in prayerful remembrance of the dead is the tirik ng kandila sa patay. So we urge our Filipino Catholics, during this same 40 day period, to light candles in front of their homes, in cemeteries, in public places, and particularly, at spots where the victims of the on-going violence have been felled and have lost their lives, while praying for them and for their families. Candle lighting can soothe grieving hearts.

4. Finally, we beg you to contribute to the support and the schooling of the orphaned children of the victims of these murders, or of their siblings, or the support and sustenance of their families. Almsgiving covers many sins. Almsgiving heals. —NB, GMA News