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‘Lord Heal Our Land’ an expression of frustration, not destabilization — organizers


"Lord Heal Our Land Sunday" was an expression of frustration over some of the Duterte administration's policies, particularly the violent anti-illegal drugs campaign, the event's organizers said.

"Dissent is not destabilization. Dissent is a right under democracy and we are just exercising our right," Jozy Acosta-Nisperos of Tindig Pilipinas told GMA News Online.

"Ang intent naman namin is not to give a bad image to the Philippines. Hindi 'yun ang purpose namin. Our purpose right now is to express our frustration, our anger... hindi 'yan para magmukha silang masama," she said.

She also expressed elation over the large number of people and sectoral and church groups who joined the peaceful protest action, estimating the crowd size at around 20,000 as of 6:30 p.m.

"Talagang overwhelming, in fact before the procession came from the church, more than half fills na 'yung place and people are very participative," she said

The police, however, estimated the number of people at the event at only 4,000.

Good rapport between Duterte admin and Church

Acosta-Nisperos also welcomed the earlier pronouncement of acting Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque that the government is wishing to create a better relationship with the leaders of the Church.

"I think it's really good if they would pursue good relationship with the church, pero it has to go beyond words, it has to go beyond meetings with the church," she said.

"They have to show that they're serious about it by making sure that killings are stop, by taking measures that killings will not increase," she added.

Asked about President Rodrigo Duterte's decision to transfer the leadership of drug war campaign to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Acosta-Nisperos said this just showed that the police are not effective in curbing the country's drug problem.

"I think kahit papano, it's an admission na the PNP [Philippine National Police] has not been effective in drug campaign. They have not executed it in the way that there are supposed to," she said.

However, Tindig Pilipinas also said that killings have continued even with the PDEA at the helm.

Sunday's event started at the EDSA Shrine and moved on to the People Power Monument.

Organized by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and multi-sectoral organizations such as Tindig Pilipinas, Layko, Kaya Natin Youth, and Youth Resist, Sunday's event was the start of a 33-day series of activities that aim to amplify the call to stop extrajudicial killings. — BM, GMA News

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