How many of the Philippines’ 85.6 million Roman Catholics are rejoicing over Pope Francis’ appointment of Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David as cardinal-elect?
The Philippines has four cardinals among the 235 representing 1.375 billion Roman Catholics worldwide. Currently, only Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle and Cardinal Jose Advincula qualify as cardinal electors, those below 80 years old, who meet in conclave once the Holy See is declared vacant to choose a new Pope. David, 65, will be the third after the December 8 Consistory (Meeting of Cardinals).
By any angle, his appointment is no mean feat in this country that erupts in celebration with every achievement on the world stage.
But a third of our Church faithful have had testy relations with the bishop of Kalookan, who also heads the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
Nearly 80% of Filipinos are Catholic. Many were among the 36% of voters who swept Rodrigo Duterte to the presidency in 2016. They kept faith in him even as the blood of tens of thousands dripped from the altar of his drug war.
David’s diocese, a gritty sprawl across cities of industry and urban poor communities, was among the most affected by the carnage .
The bishop called his territory “the killing fields,” a reference to the madness that gripped Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, when citizens turned against each other, even their own kin.
Faith turned on its head
Filipinos’ religiosity has been credited for the compassion we pour out during disasters. By the time Duterte ended his term in 2022, that image was in tatters.
I have spent hours randomly scrolling through the profiles of folks who hailed the killings as comeuppance for social vermin. Many of the most strident voices were people whose social media pages showed scenes of daily life or special family events with the Cross, the Rosary, and other symbols of Catholic faith in prominent display. A man who regularly crawled on his knees from door to altar of the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran shrieked “Ubusin!” on his Facebook wall, brandishing a poster with the distorted faces of rights defenders calling for a halt to the killings.
This mix of piety and violence also stretched across other Christian churches.
People of the Book know the Ten Commandments. It starts, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
In the Philippines, God’s children chose to take their cues from Duterte. They called him “Father” and treated him like a messiah — omniscient, infallible. Thus, critics automatically became the enemy.
They threw brickbats at David as he condemned extrajudicial killings and other violations of human rights.
In December 2018 Duterte singled him out: “Bishop David of Kaloocan, I know you roam around at night. You must be into drugs. If I catch you with even just one gram of shabu, I will chop off your head.”
Always, hope
There was no truth to Duterte’s claim. But the former leader had only to publicly link people to drugs for death to follow.
The Kalookan prelate briefly went into hiding. But he soon resurfaced and never wavered on his defense of rights, warnings against corruption, and appeals for Filipinos to examine their roles in helping build a hell on earth in the name of saving society.
The reminders from David and other bishops who refused to cower before Duterte are all gleaned from Christ’s teachings.
First, that the right to life is the most basic human right.
Second, no ruler can unilaterally shove folk from the category of human.
Third, leaders claiming to guide societies back to order cannot behave like scum who live beyond the law.
David walked his talk. He didn’t just call out police abuses. He didn’t just demand a halt to a mad war.
The bishop offered sanctuary for bereaved families grappling for paths to justice even as they reeled from the loss of their breadwinners. He protected the witnesses in the killing of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos. He helped groups put up livelihood programs for victims’ families.
David also donated the diocese’s land for a living memorial to EJK victims, a final resting place symbolizing healing and hope for the justice yet to come.
Unhealed trauma
Duterte’s term ended with an election where even more Filipinos batted for yet another symbol of tyranny. David had warned against that, too.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has never apologized for the plunder and brutality of the first Marcos regime.
But fractured relations with Duterte’s daughter, Sara, his vice president, has led to legislative investigations.
Bereaved families and their supporters believe the confessions by police officers provide more evidence of how Duterte and his lieutenants committed crimes against humanity in the course of the drug war. These new revelations also vindicate prophetic voices who stressed how a climate of fear can only strengthen corruption and crime.
Aside from confronting those who actively abetted drug war excesses, bishops have also reminded us of the bitter fruits of apathy.
The Duterte and Marcos atrocities happened because Filipinos chose to be “mere spectators — unconcerned until they are personally affected,” the CBCP pointed out in a statement just before Filipinos went to the polls in 2022.
Perhaps now, we will listen.
But healing must also take place within our families and circles of friends.
In 2023, amidst a furor stoked by the artistic expression of drag artist Pura Luka Vega, which many of the faithful equates with blasphemy, David said: “It is good to remind ourselves that the natural tendency for people who are hurt is to assume a defensive mode and quietly transition into an offensive mode, often without their realizing it.”
It may be time to rebuild bridges and tap into the love that once bound our circles together.
There are degrees of evil. While the masterminds of the butchery remain unrepentant, reaching out to those who fell into the traps of hatred could help them out of the dark. – Rappler.com
