Archbishop Villegas on drug-related killings: “This is too much to swallow”

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas. (Facebook photo)

MANILA—Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said he could no longer stomach the killings of suspected drug users and peddlers that have caught the news these past few months.

“I do not have to be a bishop to say this. I do not have to be a Catholic to be disturbed by the killings that jar us every time we hear or watch or read the news,” the prelate said in a statement entitled, “Let the Humanity in Us Speak”. The statement will be read on Sunday in place of the homily during masses in all the churches and oratories in the Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan.

“My humanity is in grief. I am in utter disbelief… This is too much to swallow,” Villegas said.

He noted that it pains him to see a fellow human hurt.

“A portion of my humanity dies when a fellow human dies. Who can say the killed is innocent or guilty? Both the guilty and the innocent are humans,” Villegas said.

He lamented the sight of a parent and a child grieving over loved ones killed on the sidewalk “or thrown in grassy areas hogtied or masked with tape”.

The Catholic prelate said he fears that the country would turn into a “killing fields” nation in its dream to wipe out drug addiction.

Villegas emphasized that he agrees that the youth need a safe and wholesome environment without the menace of drugs.

“We share the dream… It is a great dream for young humanity,” he said.

He however noted that the “little voice of humanity in us” that is disturbed by the killings is “drowned out by the louder voice of revenge or silenced by the sweet privileges of political clout.”

“I pray that humanity be regained so that the killers may listen to the voice of conscience–that conscience that has been dulled by the sight of too much blood everywhere,” he said.

Villegas meanwhile said he no longer cares if he gets bashed in the social media for his statement.

He however said he believes that reason will prevail and humanity will win in the end.

“I believe. I refuse to be forsaken in this belief. I believe in humanity,” he said.