As Romero approaches canonisation, his legacy lives on

Jul 26, 2018

By Anil Netto
When I first saw the video on WhatsApp of a bishop speaking in a church about extrajudicial killings in the Philippines with such obvious courage, the first thing that ran through my mind is “Oscar Romero lives again,” this time not in El Salvador but in Asia.

Some simple sleuthing around led me to discover that the prelate is actually Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, the fourth most populous city in the Philippines and the seventh most densely populated in the world. The lowland city of 1.6m is bordered by larger cities like Manila and Quezon City. Here, over 23,000 people squeeze into every square kilometre.

Since last December, three priests — Fr Richmond Nilo, Fr Mark Anthony Ventura and Fr Marcelito Paez — in the Philippines have been killed by unknown assailants. Another priest, Fr Rey Urmenta, survived an ambush earlier this month.

The similarities with Romero are uncanny. Like Romero once did, Bishop Davidspeaks in a climate where many are afraid of death squads around the country in an ongoing so-called “drug war.”

Like Bishop David, Romero was 59 when on March 12, 1977, his personal friend Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit priest who worked among the poor, was killed by a death squad. His death had a profound impact on Romero, who began to preach with astounding conviction.

Similarly, the 59-year-old Bishop David was personally moved by his failure to protect a murder victim’s widow. Jennifer Taborada, 27, a mother of two young children was leading a support group for murder victims’ families, when she was murdered by a death squad on July 18. Jennifer’s husband Ryan was also murdered a year ago.

Philippines’ authorities claim over 4,000 people have been killed in the so-called “drug war.” But Human Rights Watch put a much higher figure: “More than 12,000 suspected drug users and dealers, mostly from poor families in urban centres across the country, are estimated to have died in the ‘drug war,’ including an estimated 4,000 during operations led by the police and the remainder by ‘unidentified gunmen’.”

Bishop David looks clearly in the mould of the shepherds that Francis, the Bishop of Rome, is looking for — shepherds who smell of their flock. He embodies the same spirit as Oscar Romero, the archbishop of San Salvador who eventually was slain by a death squad in 1980, soon after he exhorted the death squads to stop the repression.

Romero, who was beatified three years ago, received thunderous applause on the eve of his assassination when he uttered these immortal words while preaching:

I would like to make a special appeal to the men of the army, and specifically to the ranks of the National Guard, the police and the military. Brothers, you come from our own people. You are killing your own brother peasants when any human order to kill must be subordinate to the law of God which says, “Thou shalt not kill.” No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. It is high time you recovered your consciences and obeyed your consciences rather than a sinful order. The church preaches liberation. The church, the defender of the rights of God, of the law of God, of human dignity, of the person, cannot remain silent before such an abomination. We want the government to face the fact that reforms are valueless if they are to be carried out stained with blood. In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose cries rise to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you in the name of God: stop the repression.

Romero is expected to be finally canonised later this year. And by the looks of it, his legacy and spirit live on closer to home in Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, who has spoken out so courageously against the mass killings in the Philippines. The good bishop deserves our solidarity.