THE HEAD of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has called for “the healing of our land,” following the surrender of Sen. Leila de Lima to authorities due to her alleged involvement in illegal drug trafficking inside the New Bilibid Prison.
“Following the arrest of Senator Leila de Lima, we turn to God in fervent prayer to heal our land,” CBCP President and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said today in a statement.
“We beg the Lord to pour forth upon us the passion NOT for vengeance but for justice,” he said.
Villegas added that those accused of crimes should be given a fair trial in the court of law.
“As we deplore what is wrong, let us always allow the reign of charity to prevail in imitation of Christ in whose heart was a special love for those whom all else rejected,” he said.
The CBCP president reminded the faithful that it is “unchristian to find secret pleasure in the sufferings of others.”
Last Feb. 23, Judge Juanita Guerrero of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204 ordered the arrest of de Lima, a staunch critic of the Duterte administration’s bloody drug war, and two others.
De Lima maintains the charges were trumped-up to silence her and other critics of the Duterte government.
The former Justice secretary, who turned herself over to authorities this morning, has two other cases pending before two other branches of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court.
