“Their consciences are troubling them”

PHILIPPINES - The Roman Catholic Church has offered to protect police officers who want to come forward and testify about their participation in President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, a prominent archbishop said on Monday. The protection offer could escalate an emerging clash between the church and the government. More than 80 percent of the Philippine population is Catholic, and the church has long been a political force in the country. Since the killing of a 17-year-old boy by police officers in August, the church has led protests demanding accountability for the victims of Mr. Duterte’s antidrug campaign, which has left thousands dead at the hands of police officers or vigilantes. In a pastoral letter, Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas, the president of the Catholics’ bishops conference in the Philippines, said that officers had come forward with misgivings about their role in the war on drugs. “They have expressed their desire to come out in the open about their participation in extrajudicial killings and summary executions,” he wrote. “Their consciences are troubling them.” The prelate said that the officers had approached church officials “to seek sanctuary, succor and protection” and that the church would listen to their statements. The church will also guide witnesses who want legal assistance to independent volunteer lawyers. The church will not induce witnesses to testify, the pastoral letter said, but if witnesses “so decide or opt to identify themselves and to testify, every means must be provided for a fair, accurate and unconstrained or unrestrained testimony that may be used in evidence.” Archbishop Villegas did not identify the officers. A church official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said they claimed to have taken part directly in Mr. Duterte’s drug crackdown. That campaign has had widespread support in the Philippines since Mr. Duterte took office last year, but the death of the teenager, Kian Loyd delos Santos, in August has galvanized opposition to it. Catholic churches have been tolling their bells in a daily act of remembrance for those killed in the drug campaign. The police said Mr. delos Santos had been armed and had fought with officers, but surveillance footage and other evidence contradicted their account. Two other teenagers were killed by the police soon after Mr. delos Santos was, and in the face of the outcry, Mr. Duterte has stopped making broad promises of impunity for officers who kill suspects while carrying out the antidrug campaign. He has said that he will not lift a finger to protect a police officer who commits murder. A survey released last week by a Philippine research institute, Social Weather Stations, found that more than half of Filippinos believed that many of those killed by the police during the antidrug campaign had not resisted arrest. The church played a significant role in the downfall of two past Philippine leaders: Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, and Joseph Estrada in 2001. But the demonstrations against Mr. Duterte have been much smaller, an indication of the extent to which his crackdown has a measure of popular support. (nYTImES)