Statement in support of the CBCP’S ‘Lord Heal Our Land Sunday' on Nov. 5

The Movement Against Tyranny supports the call of our Catholic bishops to commemorate November 5 as “Lord Heal our Land Sunday.” Organizations and individuals within the Movement’s network will be joining the faithful at the mass at the EDSA Shrine at 3 p.m. and related activities nationwide. The call of the bishops to “stop the killings, start the healing” is most urgent given the continuing extrajudicial killings (EJKs) being committed under the Duterte administration’s “war on drugs”, “all-out war” vs. the CPP-NPA-NDFP, and “war vs. terrorism” especially in Mindanao. Pres. Duterte has already admitted that he cannot wipe out illegal drugs nor end rebellion within his term. He should realize that criminality and rebellion are complex, multi-faceted problems that cannot be simply resolved by aggressive, often fatal, police and military campaigns. It is time for him to reconfigure his brutal strategies into more humane, just and progressive solutions that address the social, economic and even cultural roots of the problems. We hope that the November 5 mass at EDSA Shrine and other activities will contribute to our people’s growing clamor to end the extrajudicial killings and the increasing tyranny of the Duterte administration.#