Joint Tokhang: A challenge to priests and pastors

BAÑOC

After President Rodrigo Duterte suspended the war on drugs for one month because of alleged imperfections in the implementation, now it is back with measures to prevent some irregularities, if there is any, to happen again.

Considering that there are some leaders of the Catholic Church who are vocal critics of the Duterte administration’s way of solving the drug problem, General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa decided to invite the priests and pastors to join Tokhang Part 2.

Tokhang means “toktok hangyo” or to knock on the doors of known drug users, pushers and drug lords and to plead them to either stop their illegal activities or surrender and change their lives. This is different from drug raids or drug bust operations.

Let me see the invitation of Dela Rosa in two perspectives: 1. That he is sincere in his invitation which prompted Msgr. Joseph Tan, spokesman of the Archdiocese of Cebu, to thank him for acknowledging the role of the church in solving the drug problem; and 2. That he is malicious in his invitation which triggered Manila Auxillary Bishop Broderick Pabillo to quickly conclude that it is just propaganda that’s why he will not allow the priests to be used in the said campaign.

First let me give General Dela Rosa the benefit of the doubt and say that his invitation to priests and pastors is of utmost sincerity. I could say that his idea is very much laudable. At least he acknowledges the church as a factor than can help in solving the enormous drug problem.

I myself am a believer that the spiritual aspect is very important when we talk about changing one’s life. According to Dr. Rene Obra, chief of the Center for Behavioral Sciences of the Vicente Sotto Hospital, a healthy person is is fit physically, mentally, socially and spiritually.

So it is suitable that priests and pastors will help the police in knocking on the doors of drug users, pushers and drug lords in order to convince them to change their lives. They can also invite those people to Bible studies or Bible sharing or encourage them to do confessions. After all, we believe that they are instruments of God in preaching His words.

Aside from the Tokhang, if priests and pastors are also willing to observe the police during the drug operations, it would be a great opportunity for them to witness personally if, indeed, the police are doing their duty within the bounds of the law.

This will resolve once and for all the conflicting claims between the police who say that their lives are in danger, hence they use their weapons that resulted in the death of their subjects, and those critics who accuse the police of doing EJKs (extrajudicial killings) by shooting people who are even unarmed.

For anybody who is not around during the actual incident or without personal knowledge about it, between the two versions, the logical thing to do is to believe the police because of the presumption of regularity in carrying out their duty. This presumption is in line with the Rules on Evidence.

To overthrow the presumption of regularity, those who insist that the killing is EJK need to have at best personal knowledge. So it is incumbent upon those church leaders who accuse the police of EJK to witness in person during the actual drug operation or during the Tokhang to substantiate their claims. It is time for them to accept the invitation of General Dela Rosa. No excuses, please.

Moreover, if indeed they are true to their concern on the sacredness of human lives, they will not hesitate to accept the invitation because in this manner they will have the opportunity to stay the hands of a trigger-happy policemen from shooting a person who does not fight back. Abusive policemen will also become hesitant to commit illegal acts when there are priests and pastors who are credible witnesses. Hence, I appreciate Monsignor Joseph Tan, spokesman of the Archdiocese of Cebu, who said that they are willing to accept the invitation.

Second, granting for the sake of discussion that the invitation of Dela Rosa is just mere propaganda and that he is just using the priests as alleged by Bishop Pabillo, then it is justifiable that the latter declined the invitation.

But aside from using the pulpit in purely lip service, what concrete actions should they do to help in solving the drug problem? Can they not do their independent Tokhang, unique, distinct and separate from the one implemented by the police? Can they not independently visit the houses of drug users, pushers and drug lords and convince them to change their lives? Anyway most of them are members of the Catholic Church. Can they not build their own rehabilitation centers to cater their very own members?

If they cannot take action, will they not feel awkward if they continue to be critics of the government’s efforts to solve the drug problem? Do they still have the credibility to criticize Duterte’s way of solving the drug problem when they don’t have the effective alternative, more so, if they will just keep on talking without doing anything?

The old and popular saying, “actione minus verbis ex” which means “action speaks louder than words,” is still relevant and always worth remembering.