By Kristian Javier
MANILA, Philippines — A Catholic bishop on Tuesday said Church leaders and the faithful should speak out against the continued drug-related killings in the Philippines.
"If we are true to our call to be Church of the Poor, we cannot as a Church keep silent on these issues," Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said at the 4th Apostolic Congress on Mercy in Manila, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines News website reported.
Pabillo, who formerly chaired the CBCP's National Secretariat for Social Action, and Peace, said that Catholics should not be afraid to denounce extrajudicial killings in the country.
More than 6,000 people with suspected links to illegal drugs have been killed since President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs started last July. The government has insisted that 2,550 of those killed were drug suspects who fought back. The rest, it has attributed to vigilantes and to drug syndicates.
The UN, the US, the EU and human rights groups have all called out to the president to ensure that the rule of law is respected in all law enforcement operations.
Read the full story at PhilStar