An open letter to the President

I, an ordinary priest, am asking you, Mr. President to live a peaceful and happy life for your own sake and for the whole country. Please resign now. Since the Philippines is not yet under the Chinese Communist Party and while we are still a democracy, I am duty-bound to communicate to you as the President who is our paid public servant.

I was your silent campaigner when you articulated convincingly that change was coming for the poor. When you won, I encouraged people to support your programs—until your administration started to kill the poor. In 2017 during a wake in a squatter area, the bereaved mother embraced me tightly. Her drug addict son was gunned down the previous Saturday evening. Where did that black jacket in his body and the gun nearby come from? I wanted to report the incident to the media but the family was too scared: “They might come back for us.” I understood—I kept quiet.

Your war on drugs successfully created an atmosphere of fear in the whole country. To those who are suffering deep pain for being widowed/orphaned because of your war on drugs or because of the mishandling of the pandemic, I ask for an apology.

Filipinos who have been infected by the pandemic because you have already compromised the whole country to China also deserve an apology. At the beginning of the pandemic, you still welcomed the Chinese into the country in contrast to the other countries that had immediately closed their borders. Our COVID-19 infections have breached 200,000 and our economy is now in shambles. Yet, Francisco Duque III remains at the helm.

Whoever failed to follow the IATF protocols — hungry drivers and urban poor included — were jailed, except for the favored ones who could go on mañanita parties. Medical practitioners who expressed exhaustion due to the uncontrolled infections were even accused of fomenting a revolution.

Nonetheless, we can forgo those mentioned above as part of having a President who has his own “peculiarity,” but we should not play with our sovereignty. With your overly accommodating attitude to Xi Jinping, China has intensified its foothold in the West Philippine Sea.

Your self-defeating attitude has emboldened China to fortify its military installations there, even when Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia had asserted their rights against this Big Bully. Your administration even mollified our enraged fisherfolk who were rammed by the Chinese. Those opposing the Kaliwa Dam project feel the pain of your pro-China and anti-Filipino stance. You signed a lopsided agreement with China wrapped in secrecy.

I agree with lawyer Dino de Leon regarding the disclosure of your medical bulletin to confirm if you are still fit to lead the country. Mr. President, be at home with your true self, not with your macho image. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses oneself? Be humble before God. Resign. The Lord give you peace!

Fr. Pete Montallana
Coordinator, Indigenous Peoples’ Apostolate of the Diocese
Convenor, Stop Kaliwa Dam Network