NOVALICHES Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani, Jr., O.P. has accused the Duterte government of making false claims to silence critics.
“Ito palang pamahalaan, puwede kang gawan ng istorya. To invent from nothing to make a story para sa ganoon patahimikin ka,” Bacani said in his homily during the solidarity Mass for accused clergymen on Aug. 22 at the National Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Makati City.
He said one reason the government was targeting the clergy was that the bishops were against extrajudicial killings.
Bacani is one of 36 individuals facing sedition charges due to an alleged “destablization plot” against the government, involving the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos of Peter Advincula, or “Bikoy.”
Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani, Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco, Fr. Flaviano Villanueva, Fr. Robert Reyes and Fr. Albert Alejo were the other clergymen facing sedition charges filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
Bacani denied the allegations that the bishops were financing the “destabilization plot,” and said he did not know “Bikoy,” the hooded figure in the videos who linked President Rodrigo Duterte to illegal drugs.
“Sinasabi rin po na kaming mga obispo ay mga members ng shadow group. Kami raw ay nagbibigay ng pondo para maituloy ang plano. Pondo? Aba’y mayaman pala ako,” he said.
(They were saying that the bishops were members of a shadow group. That we were the ones giving funds to push the plans. Funds? I did not know that I am that rich.) Mariel Celine L. Serquiña with reports from Ma. Alena O. Castillo
