Before the war on drugs and the killings, Sr. Nenet Daño of the Religious of the Good Shepherd was busy with grassroots work in the area’s basic ecclesial communities, small Catholic communities whose members take part in the Church’s evangelical mission.
Assisting Daño are women called Good Shepherd lay partners; they are residents of the area, from poor families, but resolved to serve the Church and improve the lives of their fellow residents.
The women have been active in the Good Shepherd ministry and, recently but in a low-key manner, helping families of the victims of killings with Daño’s guidance. They help gather members of bereaved families for media interviews, such as Amina Merced, who lost her two adult sons and a brother to a police operation in January.
“I was told that two of them, my son Leo and my brother Bimbo, were asleep, while Joshua, my other son, was taking a bath and was naked when shot,” Amina said. “Bimbo was mistaken as his brother Crisanto who was being hunted. I rushed back and found blood all over the wall in our house.” The police took the bodies to a funeraria that charges P66,000 per body for funeral and burial services, and she had to borrow money even when the price was lowered, she said.
Unlike many, she is unafraid of being identified: “Yes, please use my real name.”
A seven-year-old boy told how he found his father lying dead in a pool of blood. With his mother now in jail on drug-related charges, the boy is being cared for by relatives and neighbors.
The oft-repeated police reason for the killings is that the suspects “fought back,” but in most raids, usually at night, the target suspects are unarmed or even asleep. As for unknown assailants in vigilante-style killings, people can only speculate whether the hired killers are from the police or the drug lords, who both want to silence their operators.
The women lay partners and volunteers assist with funerals and join protest actions. They spoke about first-hand experiences in the drug war, but for security purposes asked not to be named. “Ely” has had to comfort the mothers and to grieve with them. “I am a mother, too,” she said. “Some nights it is hard to sleep when you hear little noises” that might signal a police raid nearby.
The women also minister to drug users who are not yet badly addicted by giving them activated carbon capsules meant to help clean out their systems. The most common banned substances used are “shabu” (crystal meth) and marijuana.
“Diane” said: “I offered to help some users. For several weeks they take the capsules twice or thrice a day and later in lower doses. After that they undergo a urine test.” According to “Pia,” it is a joy when someone tests negative but a disappointment when someone who tested negative relapses.
Mostly middle-aged, the women undergo paralegal training so they can document cases. The Free Legal Assistance Group, composed of human rights lawyers including a law dean, has conducted a seminar for them.
“They can now write fact sheets in Filipino,” Daño said, a hint of pride in her voice.
Sr. Regina Kuizon, province leader for the Philippines and Japan, and co-chair of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines, is supportive of Daño’s ministry. “Like Jesus the Good Shepherd, Sister Nenet reaches out to the most in need and the victims of [extrajudicial killings],” Kuizon said. “Undaunted, she speaks on their behalf and takes the risk to protect them.”
Daño said in a recent FB posting: “The morgues are happy when drug suspects are killed and brought to them. The poor families sometimes leave the dead there as they cannot afford to ‘ransom’ their loved ones. This is a reality that shows this administration is antipoor. Killing the poor is their poverty-alleviation strategy.”
In a follow-up interview she cited a recent casualty: “He was a 49-year-old father of two, a person with disability and known to rent out his place for drug sessions. He charged P20 per person. He was sleeping in the alley that night. The raiders took him inside the house and killed him there. The police said he fought back. How could he fight back when he couldn’t even raise his withered hand?”
Daño is collating cases of the killings for her congregation and others to read. But her main focus is to prevent drug users from becoming victims of the war on drugs and to live drug-free, meaningful lives. “When I brought a 14-year-old girl for drug rehab to government social workers I was told they did not have a budget for even a drug test that cost P500,” she said. “I told them the government has no intention to let the addicts live.”
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