​

             The Damdaming Katoliko sa Teolohiya (DaKaTeo), the Catholic Theological Society of the Philippines, expresses its solidarity with all the church people who are accused by the Philippine National Police (PNP) with sedition and other crimes. We are alarmed that they are now facing those charges because of: (i) their public criticisms of the excesses of the Duterte administration, and (ii) the testimony of a witness whom the PNP itself discredited. The accused have been vocal in their resistance to the government’s “war on drugs” which has resulted to the deaths of thousands of suspects. The PNP’s actions are apparently intended to silence the critics of the administration and its ineffective and antiquated drug policies. We find it disconcerting and mind-boggling that the PNP would use a witness who, when he initially involved President Duterte and his family in the drug trade, was labelled by the PNP Chief himself as an “information peddler.” The trumped up charges against those church people seem intended to quell any dissent to the pet project of the President. We call on the PNP leadership to be true to its motto, to serve and to protect the people, and not to ingratiate itself to Malacañang. We call on our judiciary to dismiss the baseless accusations against our church leaders and several laypersons who are merely exercising their prophetic office in their opposition to the anti-life and anti-poor policies of the present administration and their rights as citizens of a democratic society. We offer our prayers for and unconditional support to all who are maligned unjustly and unfairly for speaking truth to power and for fighting for the rights of the least of our society. We are one with them in their journey of building a more inclusive and just society.