BISHOP: DUTERTE ‘NOT A MESSIAH’

Bishop Patricio Buzon of the Diocese of Bacolod slammed President Rodrigo Duterte for declaring martial law in Mindanao in the wake of the clashes between government troops and the Maute terror group in Marawi City.

“We will see if he will keep it for 60 days. But we react very strongly when he intimates that he will not honor the Supreme Court or Congress,” he said.

“I think we’re in trouble if he talks like that, as he always had. We strongly stand against it,” he added.

The bishop stressed that Duterte is “not above the law. He’s not the messiah of this. He only thinks he can solve this.”

He also strongly opposed the plan of Duterte to expand martial law beyond Mindanao should the terror threat reach Luzon and Visayas.

“My goodness. We hope he’s not going to use the incident in Mindanao to justify this. He was always open to wanting to. He even used the drug issue,” he said.

The bishop appealed to the public to be “very vigilant,” pointing out that Filipinos have a “short memory” as “we have been through martial law before and we know what it has been.”

“I hope we, as a people, will be very strong in our stand against all attempts to perpetrate this,” he added.

Meanwhile, Buzon said Negrenses who want to help the displaced families in the Marawi clash in Mindanao can go to the Bishop’s Office and make donations.

“There’s a desk there,” he said. “(The Diocese will) exert all effort to help the affected families.”

“We still have funds from Alay Kapwa, we will allocate from that. Since this (Mindanao crisis) has started, there have been initiatives. People have been very responsive. I thank them,” he said.

The bishop called on the public to continuing praying for the individuals who were caught in between the war of the government and the terror group.

He said the church will “have to make a comprehensive appeal all the kinds of help we can extend to them.”