Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle A cardinal has ordered church bells to be rung in one of the Philippines’ dioceses every evening to remember the thousands of people killed in the government’s campaign against drug dealers and addicts.
The Manila archdiocese joined a long list of dioceses across the country that started commemorating the deaths by tolling church bells nightly.
Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle called attention to the sustained killings of mostly poor people, either in police anti-drug operations or unexplained deaths that human rights groups have called vigilante murders. The Manila diocese will start ringing its bells on September 14.
“With pain and horror, we continue to get daily news of the killings around the country,” said Cardinal Tagle. “We cannot allow the destruction of lives to become normal. We cannot govern the nation by killing. We cannot foster a humane and decent Filipino culture by killing.”
Since he took office in June last year, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered law enforcement to eliminate what he calls the country’s “drug problem,” ordering officers to kill drug offenders and users.
Before being elected, Duterte ran a campaign claiming he would clean up crime, and has encouraged the public to take matters into their own hands if they see any wrongdoing. Rights groups say more than 7,000 people have been killed since then. Local news outlets place the deaths between 10,000 and 13,000.