PASIG (PHILIPPINES)
Rappler
July 15, 2018
By Jeremy Simons
Washing his feet will symbolically send a powerful image of subservience rather than prophetic witness, and will be used to coopt your credibility and cause confusion and division within the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches
Editor’s Note: The author originally wrote this on Facebook as an open letter to the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC). Rappler is republishing this with the author’s permission.
I recently saw a report that PCEC leaders will meet with President Duterte and have offered to wash his feet as an act of humility and healing for the abuse he suffered under a Roman Catholic priest.
Whether this is true or not, it raises important questions that need to be aired. While acts of contrition and solidarity are noble and good, it is the wrong time involving the wrong people for such an effort. The issue of church responsibility for sexual abuse is being used by Duterte to divert attention from his own violence – the killings and his verbal attacks on women and Christianity, mismanagement of the economy, corruption, and more.
Engaging the issue of Duterte’s childhood sexual abuse in this context incorrectly shifts the focus away from the justified outrage that people have over Duterte’s recent words and actions. Now is the time to channel that outrage into action that will bring Duterte to account for his own foolish and reckless behavior. Washing his feet will symbolically send a powerful image of subservience rather than prophetic witness, and will be used to coopt your credibility and cause confusion and division within the PCEC.
There is nothing worse than helping someone avoid the consequences that their actions deserve, and the outrage that has erupted is a necessary part of that corrective process of accountability in the Philippines. The reign of violence and injustice that has mutated under the Duterte regime is only made possible because the Filipino people and key sectors of Philippine society continue to consent and give their support to that regime. To divert Filipinos’ righteous anger into an untimely act of reconciliation is to enable impunity rather than advocate for healing, justice, and transformation.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.