‘Walk for Life’ protesters march in
Philippines
‘NO KILLING’:Archbishop Socrates Villegas
said that ‘execution is murder’ and added that ‘we cannot teach that killing is
wrong by killing those who kill’
Sun, Feb 19, 2017
AP, MANILA
Thousands of people yesterday joined a
march with Catholic Church leaders in Manila in one of the largest shows of
opposition against Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s crackdown on illegal
drugs and attempts to reinstate capital punishment.
Police estimated that at least 10,000
people joined the “Walk for Life” march and rally starting at dawn at Rizal
Park, carrying placards that read “Choose life” and “No to death penalty.”
Organizers gave a larger estimate of the
crowd.
It was the latest sign of the Roman
Catholic Church’s increasing activism against a government crackdown that has
left thousands of drug suspects dead and efforts by pro-Duterte legislators to
reinstate the death penalty as early as next month.
Catholic bishops expressed concern over
drug killings in a recent statement read in churches across the nation.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas said that no
civilized nation should allow such actions to continue unabated.
“They ought to be judged by the court of
law and never by the extrajudicial means,” Villegas said in a statement.
Duterte, a longtime city mayor before being
elected to the presidency in May last year on an anti-crime platform, has asked
the Philippine Congress to revive the death penalty, preferably by public
hanging.
That, along with his pro-birth control
stance and threats to kill criminals, has put him on a collision course with
the church in Asia’s largest Catholic nation.
“Execution is murder,” Villegas said. “We
cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing those who kill.”
Duterte has been antagonistic to the
church, once calling it “the most hypocritical institution” and lashing out at
some local bishops he accused of corruption and sexual abuse.
Senator Leila de Lima, one of the most
vocal critics of Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, joined the rally.
State prosecutors charged her in court on
Friday for allegedly receiving bribes from detained drug lords, an allegation
that she denies.
The prosecutors alleged that De Lima, while
she was secretary of justice in the administration of former Philippine
president Benigno Aquino III, received huge bribes from detained drug lords to
finance her senatorial campaign last year.
The bribes were allegedly solicited by her
former driver and lover, who was also charged.
If judges, who would handle the three
separate complaints, assess that there is strong evidence against her, they
might decide to issue a warrant for her arrest.
De Lima told reporters at the rally that
the criminal charges were meant to intimidate her, but said Duterte’s
administration would fail.
“I will continue to fight. They cannot
silence me,” she said.
網址: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2017/02/19/2003665264
WHO: protesters who are against to Philippine
President Rodrigo Duterte’s policy
WHEN: 2017-02-18
WHY: against to Philippine President
Rodrigo Duterte’s policy
WHERE: Manila
Revive 復興
lashing out 猛烈抨擊
rally示威運動
bribe 賄賂
warrant 保證
unabated不減弱的
reinstate恢復
