Cops confess EJKs participation, seek Church protection

(Photo from CBCP News)

Law enforcers who professed involvement in the extrajudicial killings of President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs have sought the protection of the Catholic Church, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas announced on Monday, October 2.

“They have expressed their desire to come out in the open about their participation in extrajudicial killings and summary executions. Their consciences are troubling them,” Villegas said in a statement.

Villegas said that the whistleblowers, whom he did not name, have approached him and other priests of Lingayen Dagupan to “seek sanctuary, succor and protection.”

Villegas, moreover, affirmed the safety of the witnesses if they desire to stay with the Church.

“If their preference is to stay with us in the Church, they will not be turned over to the State under its own witness-protection program,” Villegas said.

The outgoing president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) also stated that the Church is willing to provide refuge for the policemen and their families when their stories are proven accurate.

“We will look prudently into the sincerity of their motives and the veracity of their stories. Within the bounds of Church and civil laws, we express our willingness to grant them accommodation, shelter and protection (including their families if necessary). The hospitality, comfort and acceptance that they seek from the Church will be attended to,” Villegas assured.

He added, “We are likewise putting our Ministry of Mercy at the service of these law enforcers who need the hospitality of the Church.”

Villegas urged the priests in Lingayen Dagupan to secure the safety of these police officers as the clerics “open their hearts and their rectories, the convents of religious communities and seminaries as well as other secure buildings.”

The Church will not force the witnesses to testify, but when they decide to reveal themselves, “every means must be provided for a fair, accurate and unconstrained or unrestrained testimony that may be used in evidence,” the pastoral letter read.

The testimonies of the law enforcers will be recorded in the form of affidavits and depositions, with the assistance of a competent independent counsel, according to Villegas.