Sen. Leila M. de Lima's Statement on DOJ plan to file cases of obstruction of justice against Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio "Ambo" David for custody of witnesses
Dispatch from Crame No. 159

Secretary Aguirre is leading the VACC and the PAO in a strategic operation to control the EJK narrative by pretending to help the families of, and securing the witnesses to, the killings of the teenagers. They who have proclaimed that criminals are not humans, that criminals should be killed, and that there are no EJKs, are now projecting themselves as the protectors of the victims of the drug war they have applauded.

They are not fooling anyone. This is nothing but Malacañang's damage control operations. By controlling the victims' families and witnesses, Aguirre, PAO Chief Acosta, and the VACC are able to dictate the narrative on the teen killings from hereon, and preempt the public relations nightmare that these have caused the Administration.

An absurd outcome of this Aguirre-PAO-VACC operation is their determined assault on Caloocan Bishop Pablo "Ambo" David, the very person who has suffered nights of disquiet and rage in witnessing his diocese become the hunting ground of the Caloocan Death Squad.

Long before Aguirre, Acosta and the VACC shed crocodile tears for Kian, Carl Angelo, and Kulot, Bishop Ambo has already attended the wake and said Mass to countless victims of the Caloocan Death Squad in his diocese. This is a man who, almost alone, raged against the darkness that fell upon his flock, a shepherd who stands helpless while his flock is repeatedly attacked by wolves, every night, every single day that God has made him the guardian of his faithful.

Bishop Ambo should take heart. He is already counted among the ranks of the Catholic clergy who defended his people from the murder and torture of tyrants, not unlike Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, Jaime Cardinal Sin, and Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, now Pope Francis, the bishop of Rome. God has not forsaken his people, that in the time of Duterte, He has chosen his best, his bravest, and his wisest to defend and comfort them.

This is the man of God that Aguirre, the PAO Chief, and the VACC has chosen to attack and shame, and threatened to be charged with obstruction of justice. But Bishop Ambo is beloved among his people. In these days when anyone among them can die anytime, they have already entrusted their fate and safety to God, and to the Vicar of the Pope in Caloocan.

Attacking him might be the single biggest mistake yet that Duterte and Aguirre are about to commit.

Duterte and his attack dogs should be wary of the Bishop of Caloocan. They do not want the Pope himself coming to the aid of his personal chosen. Although it may appear that Duterte has already turned the Filipino people against God, there is nothing like a martyred bishop that will call on Rome to finally raise its banners and wage war against the Devil in this country.