Louie Grace Ibarra

CLEDU – Ma’am Salud 12-Saint Mary of Bethany

LAWS OF MOSES: Respect for Human Life (Exodus 21:12-32, Numbers 35:12-
30
1.
PHILIPPINES: Extrajudicial killings and attacks against human rights
defenders surge under Duterte 08/09/2017

In recent days, at least four representatives from different

communities, - peasant and small-scale miner groups - have been shot dead.
More than 50 human rights defenders - mostly peasants or indigenous persons
- have been killed since President Duterte assumed office in June 2016,
according to human rights NGO Karapatan (a member of OMCT’s SOS-Torture
Network). Karapatan has documented the killing of more than 660 human
rights defenders in the last 16 years in the Philippines.

“While human rights defenders in the Philippines have been traditionally

vulnerable to killings, threats, and attacks [1], President Duterte’s anti-human
rights rhetoric and blatant disregard for human life have created a (1)
President Duterte has repeatedly threatened to kill human rights defenders.”,
said FIDH President Dimitris Christopoulos.

President Duterte has repeatedly threatened to kill human rights defenders.

The latest such instance was on August 16, when he suggested that human
rights activists were “obstructing justice” and urged police to “shoot them”.
“President Duterte’s Government, like any other Philippine Government,
has a legal obligation to protect human rights and human rights defenders. His
discourse that literally encourages violence against defenders - the very people
who stand up for human rights, social justice, and an inclusive society - must
stop”, said OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock.
On August 23, 2017, Mr. Roger Timboco, a member of the peasant
group KAMMAO (Kahugpungan sa mga Maguuma sa Maco ComVal), was shot
dead in Mawab, Compostela Valley. Four days later, a member of “Abante”, a
local organisation of small-scale miners, Mr. Lomer Gerodias, was shot dead in
Maragusan, also in Compostela Valley. Both killings were believed to have been
carried out by Philippine soldiers. Two others, Mr. Jezreel Arrabis and his wife
Ms. Dalia Arrabis, both members of the Farmers Association in Davao City
(FADC), were gunned down in Davao City on September 2, 2017.
In addition to extrajudicial killings, human rights defenders operating in
the Philippines continue to be the target of harassment, death threats, and
verbal abuse. On August 22, police raided the houses of peasant activists Mr.
Rolando Gumban, his son Jeremy Gumban, and son-in-law Jun Roy Diane - all
members of farmers group Pamanggas-KMP, which works to promote land
rights in Sitio Lubigan, Barangay Pananawan, Masbate Province. Police
Louie Grace Ibarra
CLEDU – Ma’am Salud 12-Saint Mary of Bethany

arrested the three and detained them at Sara police station, Iloilo Province.
The charges against them are still unknown. In July and August, several
members of Karapatan, including Secretary Generals Ms. Cristina Palabay and
Mr. Reylan Vergara, received death threats. On August 20, 2017, Dr. Darby
Santiago, Chairperson of the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) - a
member organisation of Karapatan, also received death threats.
A fact-finding mission to the Philippines, carried out by the Observatory
from August 7 to 16, 2017, observed an increasingly hostile environment for
human rights defenders in the country. Interlocutors reported having
experienced increased difficulties in carrying out their human rights activities
under President Duterte, particularly in relation to investigations surrounding
extrajudicial killings allegedly committed by police and vigilantes as part of
Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’.
House Bill 1617, which is currently under consideration before the House of
Representatives and aims at strengthening the protection of human rights
defenders, could help improve the situation for defenders. The draft legislation
reaffirms the rights of human rights defenders when carrying out their peaceful
and legitimate activities. It also imposes an obligation on the Government to
take all precautionary measures to ensure the protection of human rights
defenders against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse
discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of their
legitimate activities.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the
Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against
Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedy
situations of repression against human rights defenders.
Louie Grace Ibarra
CLEDU – Ma’am Salud 12-Saint Mary of Bethany

2. Summary

President Duterte has repeatedly threatened to kill human rights defenders.

The latest such instance was on August 16, when he suggested that human
rights activists were “obstructing justice” and urged police to “shoot them”.
In recent days, at least four representatives from different communities, -
peasant and small-scale miner groups - have been shot dead. More than 50
human rights defenders - mostly peasants or indigenous persons - have been
killed since President Duterte assumed office in June 2016. President Duterte
has repeatedly threatened to kill human rights defenders.
There are several incidents of unknown charges filed against group of people
like farmers group that were killed. They were also human rights defenders
that are the target of sexual harassment and verbal abuse and also received
death threats.
House Bill 1617, which is currently under consideration before the House of
Representatives and aims at strengthening the protection of human rights
defenders, could help improve the situation for defenders. The draft legislation
reaffirms the rights of human rights defenders when carrying out their peaceful
and legitimate activities. It also imposes an obligation on the Government to
take all precautionary measures to ensure the protection of human rights
defenders against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse
discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of their
legitimate activities.
Louie Grace Ibarra
CLEDU – Ma’am Salud 12-Saint Mary of Bethany

3. What does the church say about the issue

Church calls for end to drug killings (CBCP)

The two highest-ranking officials of the Roman Catholic Church in the

Philippines on Sunday called for an end to the “waste of human lives” and
withdrawal of public support for drug killings following a brutal week in
President Duterte’s war on drugs in which a 17-year-old boy was among
dozens killed.
The Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, called on the faithful to
“reflect, pray and act” while the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of
the Philippines, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, called on the
nation to stop supporting the police killings of alleged drug offenders.
‘Killing spree’
Police raids dubbed “One Time Big Time” saw at least 76 people shot dead,
authorities said, as rights groups and lawmakers condemned the sudden surge
in operations as an alarming “killing spree” in Mr. Duterte’s flagship program.
On Sunday, Cardinal Tagle expressed concern about the increase in the
number of deaths.
“We knock on the consciences of those manufacturing and selling illegal drugs
to stop this activity. We knock on the consciences of those who kill even the
helpless, especially those who cover their faces with [masks], to stop wasting
human lives,” Tagle said in a statement read in churches.
“The illegal drug problem should not be reduced to a political or criminal issue.
It is a humanitarian concern that affects all of us,” Tagle said.
The cardinal said the Archdiocese of Manila was willing to play host to a
multisectoral dialogue on the drug problem.
Villegas, in a pastoral exhortation also read in churches on Sunday, deplored
public support for the killings of drug suspects and called on the nation to
summon up courage and oppose the killing of alleged drug offenders.
Disagree with Duterte
“They say that if there are 32 killed every day, our lives would be better, and
our countrymen nod in agreement. They applaud and cry with a smile … while
counting corpses in the night, while passing wakes for the dead left and right,”
Villegas said.
The people, he said, needed to be courageous and openly disagree with Mr.
Duterte’s stand that killing drug suspects will solve the country’s drug
problems.
“It’s not in our nature to be happy over the killings,” he said.
Villegas said he wondered why only a few pitied the orphans and widows of
slain drug suspects.
Louie Grace Ibarra
CLEDU – Ma’am Salud 12-Saint Mary of Bethany

The Catholic Church, one of the nation’s oldest and most influential institutions,
has been among the few voices denouncing the drug killings as polls show Mr.
Duterte continues to enjoy widespread popularity.
During the 14 months Mr. Duterte has been in power, police have confirmed
killing more than 3,500 people—insisting they acted in self-defense.
More than 2,000 other people have been killed in drug-related crimes and
thousands more murdered in unexplained circumstances, according to police
data.

Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 1993

PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST

 SECTION ONE MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

 CHAPTER ONE THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
 Article 4 THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS
 I. The Sources of Morality
 I. The Sources of Morality
 1750 The morality of human acts depends on:
- the object chosen;
- the end in view or the intention;
- the circumstances of the action.
The object, the intention, and the circumstances make up the "sources,"
or constitutive elements, of the morality of human acts.
 1751 The object chosen is a good toward which the will deliberately
directs itself. It is the matter of a human act. the object chosen morally
specifies the act of the will, insofar as reason recognizes and judges it
to be or not to be in conformity with the true good. Objective norms of
morality express the rational order of good and evil, attested to by
conscience.
 1752 In contrast to the object, the intention resides in the acting
subject. Because it lies at the voluntary source of an action and
determines it by its end, intention is an element essential to the moral
evaluation of an action. the end is the first goal of the intention and
indicates the purpose pursued in the action. the intention is a movement
of the will toward the end: it is concerned with the goal of the activity.
It aims at the good anticipated from the action undertaken. Intention is
not limited to directing individual actions, but can guide several actions
toward one and the same purpose; it can orient one's whole life toward
its ultimate end. For example, a service done with the end of helping
one's neighbor can at the same time be inspired by the love of God as
the ultimate end of all our actions. One and the same action can also be
Louie Grace Ibarra
CLEDU – Ma’am Salud 12-Saint Mary of Bethany

inspired by several intentions, such as performing a service in order to

obtain a favor or to boast about it.
 1753 A good intention (for example, that of helping one's neighbor) does
not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying and
calumny, good or just. the end does not justify the means. Thus the
condemnation of an innocent person cannot be justified as a legitimate
means of saving the nation. On the other hand, an added bad intention
(such as vainglory) makes an act evil that, in and of itself, can be good
(such as almsgiving).39
 1754 The circumstances, including the consequences, are secondary
elements of a moral act. They contribute to increasing or diminishing
the moral goodness or evil of human acts (for example, the amount of
a theft). They can also diminish or increase the agent's responsibility
(such as acting out of a fear of death). Circumstances of themselves
cannot change the moral quality of acts themselves; they can make
neither good nor right an action that is in itself evil.

 II. Good Acts and Evil Acts

 1755 A morally good act requires the goodness of the object, of the end,
and of the circumstances together. An evil end corrupts the action, even
if the object is good in itself (such as praying and fasting "in order to be
seen by men").
The object of the choice can by itself vitiate an act in its entirety. There
are some concrete acts - such as fornication - that it is always wrong to
choose, because choosing them entails a disorder of the will, that is, a
moral evil.
 1756 It is therefore an error to judge the morality of human acts by
considering only the intention that inspires them or the circumstances
(environment, social pressure, duress or emergency, etc.) which supply
their context. There are acts which, in and of themselves, independently
of circumstances and intentions, are always gravely illicit by reason of
their object; such as blasphemy and perjury, murder and adultery. One
may not do evil so that good may result from it.
Louie Grace Ibarra
CLEDU – Ma’am Salud 12-Saint Mary of Bethany

4. My own moral stand

I strongly disagree on the stand of the issue extrajudicial killings, where

there is no legal judicial process of the judgement on taking one’s life.
According to Pope Francis, right to life is the first among human rights.
Actually, in this jurisdiction, the right to life is not merely a moral but a legal
principle well enshrined in our Constitution which contains several provisions
protecting such invaluable right.
Our fundamental law indeed highly values human life to the extent of
prohibiting the imposition of the death penalty, unless for compelling
reasons involving heinous crimes, the Congress provides for it. (Section 19,
Article III). In the humanitarian approach, every human life has the same
value and should be treated as such. Should the death sentence be legal in
the country? “Not guilty unless proven otherwise”.
I was honestly in favor of Duterte’s slogan change, but I do not want any
blood or bodies of my countrymen laying around lifeless on the streets and
the police authorized to kill targets of this “anti-drug war campaign.” Now
that I’m seeing horrendous acts of murder and uncompassionate gunshot
hits on minors and teens who still have a long way to live. I am utterly
disappointed and disgusted of the part of the population in the Philippines
that still support him and his absurd ideals of change. Nobody has the right
to kill someone from what God has given life to us. Especially the Extra
Judicial Killings and the forced disappearances happening currently in our
country, that is an illegal execution without going under a due process. We
should value and respect life, for there is nothing above our Lord God who
have given the gift of life to us.

Citation:
Avendaño et al. Church calls for end to drug killings. (2017). Retrieved September 30,
2018. From http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/924267/church-calls-for-end-to-drug-killings

Cathecism for Catholic Church. (1993). Retrieved October 6, 2018. From

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

Extrajudicial killings and attacks against human rights defenders surge under
Duterte. (2017). Retrieved September 30, 2018. From
https://www.fidh.org/en/issues/human-rights-defenders/philippines-extrajudicial-
killings-and-attacks-against-human-rights.