End the slaughter over drugs

It is the kind of news parents dread when their children go missing: not only were they found dead but also the gruesome manner of their death.

We hoped and prayed that Kian Loyd delos Santos would have been the last one. But four more young people suffered the same fate in a span of less than two weeks:  Carl Arnaiz, 19; Reynaldo “Kulot” de Guzman, 14; Obillo Bay-ao, 19; and Vaughn Carl Dicang, 17. While the case of Dicang is still under investigation, the cases of Arnaiz and de Guzman have been attributed to the police while that of Bay-ao to a suspected military agent.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines condoles with the bereaved families of these young people. We pray that God’s holy comfort overshadow them now and in the days to come.

Be it in the name of the war against drugs or the all-out-war under Oplan Kapayapaan, terror and impunity stalk many of our communities. While we reiterate our support to the campaign against illegal drug use, we are appalled at the way such war on drugs is being conducted. Young people and the poor have become vulnerable to impunity while suspected big-time drug syndicates have their day in court.

The slaughter has to stop. Impunity has to end. Let justice be meted out.

Because human beings are created in God’s image, the dignity that is inherent in that image is diminished each time a human right is violated. And greater offense is committed by those who kill and commit murder for God alone is the author of life.

JUSTICE RAOUL V. VICTORINO, chair, BISHOP RODOLFO A. JUAN, vice chair, SHARON ROSE JOY RUIZ-DUREMDES, vice chair, LISSA BELLE R. BROWN, vice chair, REV. REX RB REYES JR., general secretary, REYNALDO M. NATIVIDAD, corporate treasurer, National Council of Churches in the Philippines