Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 14) — About 700 Catholic faithful and clergy members gathered for a “Penitential Walk for Life” on the streets of Manila early morning of Good Friday.
The procession, however, was also a call to end the spate of alleged extrajudicial killings and to stop the revival of the death penalty in the Philippines.
During the march, devotees, priests, and nuns carried rosaries and transistor radios to assist them in saying their prayers. From 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., they prayed at 14 sites of the five-kilometer walk from Rajah Sulayman Plaza on Roxas Boulevard to the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros. Each Station of the Cross marked Christ’s passion and death and also represented the crises of modern times and how these affect society.
The devotees, for instance, prayed for the need to end corruption at the 6th station, which represents Veronica wiping the face of Jesus on his to Calvary.
At the Ninoy Aquino Park, the 9th station, where Jesus falls for the third time, they prayed to put an end to the drug problem.
“Extrajudicial killings, death penalty, nandyan din yung pagpapabaya sa mga urban poor, pagkasira ng kalikasan, kakulangan ng trabaho, walang sapat na trabaho, yung human trafficking, lahat yan ay kaugnay, violence against women, against children, sa mga tahanan, lahat yan ay kaugnay sa usapin ng buhay,” Manila Auxillary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said.
[Translation: Extrajudicial killings, death penalty, not attending to the urban poor’s needs, environmental degradation, unemployment, human trafficking, violence against women and children….all these affect our lives.]
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle led the prayer and delivered a message at the 14th and last station of Jesus’ Way of the Cross.
Tagle urged the faithful to denounce all forms of killings and the so-called “mentality of death.”
“Huwag po natin hayaan na ang kultura, yung parang natural na lamang ang pagpatay ay kumalat,” Tagle said.
[Translation: Let’s not allow the culture of killing to go on.]
He instead encouraged the devotees to promote the “cultures of love, compassion, care, and respect.”
“Hindi po pwedeng tayo ay nagmamasid, iiling lamang at magrereklamo. Kailangang kumilos bawat isa sa maliliit na pamamaraan paano palalakasin at palalaganapin ang kultura ng pag-ibig,” Tagle added.
[Translation: We cannot just disapprove of what we see and do nothing. We need to take action, even in a small way, to promote the culture of love.]
The Church organized the first Walk for Life last February 18. Pabillo said the April 14 rally was not a political gathering and it did not violate the separation between the Church and the State.
READ: Catholics protest against extrajudicial killings, death penalty
“We have always a say on what happens to the state. First of all because we are citizens and secondly, because also the state needs morality,” Pabillo said.
But Marita Wasan, Executive Vice President of CBCP’s lay arm Council of the Laity of the Philippines, said they have been convincing senators to vote against the death penalty bill.
“As of last week, we have eight (senators) and we need more,” she said.
After having passed the Lower House, the Senate is set to debate on the death penalty bill when session resumes in May.
