CBCP refutes reports saying they condemn Maute, Hapilon deaths
by Philip Jamilla
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) denied circulating reports saying that bishops condemned the killing of Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon, leaders of the Islamic State-linked Maute group.
In a statement released earlier today, Tuesday, Oct. 17, CBCP President Archbishop Socrates Villegas, said that the CBCP is “Once more, […] a hapless victim of fake news.”
“The CBCP never made such a statement,” Villegas said.
Several pro-Duterte Facebook pages and blog sites ran similar reports following the deaths of Maute and Hapilon in battle with military troops yesterday, Oct. 16.
A particular post from the Facebook page “Rodrigo Duterte Supporters” claimed of a particular pastoral meeting where Villegas supposedly said that “the photos of the killed leaders should not have been shown to public.”
The post has since reached more than 34,000 reactions and 31,000 shares as of press time after it was published 12:15 p.m. earlier today.
Word-for-word content of the post can also be read in a “humor and satire” article from blog site OKD2.com, which was published yesterday.
“On the contrary we laud the gallantry of our soldiers and the heroic efforts to free Marawi,” Villegas said further in the statement.
He also stated that the CBCP “will gladly join government in rebuilding the city in the measure we are able.”
The Duterte administration has been repeatedly accused of supporting propaganda pages and their proliferation of “fake news”, particularly in the appointment of the personnel behind them to key government positions.
