Use money to stop the killings instead

PALMA ON BOUNTY FOR NINJA COPS

CEBU Archbishop Jose Palma on Sunday urged President Rodrigo Duterte and other officials who offer a bounty for the heads of so-called “ninja cops,” or rogue police officers, to use the money to stop the killings rather than to encourage more killings.

“Ang approach nga reward sa makapatay [ninja cops] is a little bit questionable. For us, ayaw lang unta nang ways nga maghatag og hint nga pagpatay mao ang solution sa atong mga problema,” Palma said.
(The approach of giving a reward to those who can kill ninja cops is a little bit questionable. For us, we appeal that we do not resort to giving hints that killing is the solution to the problem.)

Palma said he feared the outcome of such pronouncements, as it may encourage more violence.

Last August 17, President Duterte announced that he will give P5 million to anyone who can bring to him a dead ninja cop, or the bad eggs in the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña backed the pronouncement by offering another P50,000 on top of the President’s bounty offer.

“There is a way to use the money to stop the killings and the criminality but not as a bounty for the killing of bad policemen [because] it encourages nga patayon na lang tanan (to just kill all). We feel sad and I hope we know something better to solve it,” Palma said.

“For now, we recourse to prayer. Let us all pray that the Lord will inspire to have other approaches to implore those who have the capability to stop the killing,” he added.

How to stop the killings

Palma also said that the leaders of the Catholic Church are willing to initiate a dialogue with the officials of the PNP to find ways to stop the killings.

While there are suspects in some of the killings, Palma said they hoped to find the real source of the “motivation to kill.”

“We feel sad towards every lost life and we wish we have the capacity to stop it. So far, we have Oratio Imperata, which is our way to the tell people that we do not approve such acts of killings. It’s just that we do not know who to approach or to confront. We offer to God nga unta all of these would stop,” said Palma.

Palma released the Oratio Imperata on Aug. 16 amid the continuing rise of unsolved killings in Cebu.

The Oratio Imperata to end the spate of killings in Cebu is a mandatory prayer which will be used in all Masses in the archdiocese and recited after the post communion prayer.