CATHOLICS will gather for a “Walk for Life” at the Quirino Grandstand Parade Ground on Feb. 18, to protest extrajudicial killings and the proposal to return capital punishment in the country.
The event, which has the theme “Care, protection and defense of all human life from conception to natural death,” is being organized by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on the Laity and its lay arm, the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas.
“Walk for Life” will begin at 4:30 a.m. and end at 8 a.m.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on the Laity, said the event would be an expression of opposition to threats on the dignity of human life.
“Sa atin pong panahon ngayon, napakarami nating isssues tungkol sa buhay at kailangan ay panindigan natin sa harap ng mga tao ang ating paniniwala na ang buhay ay mahalaga, na ito ay regalo ng Diyos na dapat nating pangalagaan,” Pabillo said in a promotional video for the event.
Earlier this month, the CBCP issued a pastoral letter calling for an end to the illegal drug trade but said the killing of suspected drug users and peddlers is not the solution.
“Any action that harms another (seriously) is a grave sin. To push drugs is a grave sin as is killing (except in self-defense),” the CBCP said.
“It is good to remove the drug problem, but to kill in order to achieve this is wrong,” it added.
The CBCP also urged the public to be vocal in criticizing the Duterte government’s bloody drug war.
“To consent and to keep silent in front of evil is to be an accomplice of it … if we consent or allow the killing of suspected drug addicts, we shall also be responsible for their deaths,” it said.
