CBCP president Villegas writes letter to late Cardinal Sin about PHL 'nightmare'

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines president Archbishop Socrates Villegas on Thursday wrote a letter to the late Jaime Cardinal Sin over the "nightmare" the nation has been experiencing the past eight months.

Less than a year under the Duterte administration, Villegas said many people in poverty have been killed "in the name of change," while the history on Martial Law is being revised.

"It is a nightmare Your Eminence! It is a shame," Villegas said.

"History books are rewritten. Historical memory is revised. The hero is a villain. The plunderers are now heroes," Villegas said.

He noted that even the late dictator, former President Ferdinand Marcos, is now buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani while his wife Imelda holds a seat as Ilocos Norte representative.

"The dictator ousted by People Power is now buried among heroes. The Lady of one thousand two hundred pairs of shoes is now Representative in Congress," Villegas said.

Two days before the 31st anniversary of the 1986 EDSA People Power, Villegas told Sin that questions now linger on whether the nation should still celebrate the historic uprising.

"Thirty one years after EDSA 1986, I hear our people ask: What shall we celebrate? What is there to celebrate? By the corner of EDSA and Ortigas, I want to sit and weep as I remember the four glorious days of February 1986 now dimmed," Villegas said.

He added the glory achieved by the four-day bloodless revolt now "flickers in the darkness of fear and terror again. The songs of peace now drowned by the cuss words of hate that invite murder."

"The bloodless revolt now stained by the blood in our streets and street gutters. The statistics of unresolved murder continues to rise and not a single one has been investigated and brought to justice," Villegas said.

Villegas asked Sin, his mentor who was instrumental in toppling Marcos, whether he experienced discouragement in overthrowing an “unbeatable foe” since the nation has been struggling to fight for what is right. 

"Tears flow. Uncertainties choke us. It is hard to choose silence and take the blows. How long can we endure?" Villegas said.

Nonetheless, Villegas vowed that the nation will still celebrate the anniversary of the uprising as long as Filipinos beam with hope despite others' attempts to “prostitute the meaning of EDSA.”

"For EDSA is not about the enemies of peace and democracy but the faith and bravery of a people who called upon the Lord in their distress and whose cry the Lord has heard from heaven. EDSA is our people’s cry and our God’s loving reply," Villegas said.

"You were firm to remind me even from your sickbed that EDSA is heroic courage and will always be. What the pimps of that spirit have done cannot remove the purity of EDSA’s valor and the nobility of its lesson. The EDSA spirit is pure worth celebrating always. It is people who have raped it," he added. —Joseph Tristan Roxas/KG, GMA News