In the Philippines, clergy and faithful of the country's predominant Catholic Church, as well as students and human rights activists, protested on September 21 to mark the 44th anniversary of the introduction of martial law in the country under President Ferdinand Marcos. But the real target of the demonstration was the country's new president, Rodrigo Duterte, who became famous for his rude remarks about Barack Obama and the European Union. The main complaint of the demonstrators to the new head of state was the massacre of alleged drug dealers and drug addicts, the number of victims of which, according to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, since the inauguration of President Duterte on July 1 this year has already exceeded 3 thousand people. They also recalled the president's methods of restoring order during his tenure as mayor of Davao City (Mindanao Island), where he used volunteer detachments for extrajudicial killings of criminals.

Demonstrators, including monks, carried placards reading " Pursue and punish drug lords, but stop the killing!". Franciscan friar Angelito Cortez, who was involved in the preparation of the event, told the press: "Since the day Duterte became president and announced the start of the campaign against drugs, murders have become widespread. We support him in his anti-drug campaign, but if the murders are inevitable, then there are some failures in the system." According to the monk, more people have been killed in the three months of Duterte's presidency than in the 14 years of martial law under Ferdinand Marcos. Atilano Fajardo, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Manila, called the war on drugs "a war against fellow citizens."

Earlier, in mid-August, a similar statement was made by the Association of Heads of Religious Communities of the Philippines, created on the initiative of the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. A month later, the same position was taken by the Conference of Catholic Bishops of this country. Before that, immediately after Duterte was elected president, the Philippine Catholic clergy opposed his initiative to revive the death penalty.

In addition, the president is accused of introducing a tacit state of emergency in the country after another attack by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in early September this year in the tourist city of Davao, whose mayor was previously Duterte, who was in this city at the time of the attack. Then the president of the Philippines said that he would not impose a state of emergency in the country, but would provide for additional security measures. "I ask the armed forces of the Philippines, the military and the police to act on my orders," Duterte was quoted as saying by the Financial Times. According to the clarifications of the law enforcement forces of the Philippines, we are talking about the introduction of a provision outside the law in the country, which is provided for by the current Constitution. According to section 18, part VII of the Philippine Basic Law of 1987, the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the country and is authorized to call on the armed forces of the country to prevent the "illegal use of force". A precedent for using this article of the Constitution has already happened: after the terrorist attack in the same city of Davao in 2003, the outlaw status was introduced by the then President of the country, Gloria Arroiro. According to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, President Duterte introduced a state of emergency not tacit, but legislated by Manifesto No. 55. Moreover, the same publication quotes the president as saying that he will not allow any police officer to go to prison. In any case, members of the public, including Catholic bishops and the faithful, have spoken out against increasing security measures at the expense of human rights violations.

The bishop of the Diocese of San Carlos, Gerardo Alminaza, who was present at the demonstration, said that " many young people no longer remember what happened during the years of martial law." Socrates Villegas, Archbishop of the neighboring diocese of Bacolod and president of the Catholic Bishops ' Conference of the Philippines, said martial law taught people to "stand up for the right cause." The dioceses of Bacolod and San Carlos are part of the Archdiocese of Jara, located in the province of Negros Occidental (Visayas).

In addition, Catholic clergy during the demonstration expressed their objections to the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos in the state cemetery for heroes, which is currently being discussed in Philippine society. The Association of Heads of Religious Communities of the Philippines issued a statement about the" moral failure " of this plan. "Because of the atrocities committed during the state of emergency," the association said in a statement, " he cannot serve as a role model for any generation."

The September demonstration highlighted the Catholic Church's stance on the populist president's political methods in the Philippines. Representatives of the Church spoke out against illegal methods of instilling order in society and against equating the" glorious past " of the Marcos dictatorship, whose political legacy is currently being discussed in the Philippine Islands. Perhaps the opinion of representatives of the Catholic Church was influenced by the fact that during the election campaign in April this year, Duterte insulted Pope Francis. Then, when referring to the traffic congestion that occurred during the pontiff's visit to Manila in 2015, Duterte noted that he wanted to tell the pontiff: "Son of a bitch, don't come here again." According to Time, the future Philippine leader then sent a letter of apology to the Holy See addressed to the pope. Then the same publication wrote that the president apparently canceled an already planned trip to the Vatican to apologize to the pontiff, explaining that such a trip would be "an exercise in duplicity."

Soon, Duterte again insulted representatives of the Catholic Church. "Aren't you ashamed of yourself, you sons of bitches? You constantly ask for some favors even from me, " the president asked. "Do you know who the biggest hypocrite is? The Catholic Church, " Duterte was quoted as saying by the Guardian. He went on to accuse the country's Catholic bishops of constantly asking for money from the government. The President noted that he considers this another form of bribery. He recalled that the church hierarchs opposed his election as leader of the state, but did not succeed. "You didn't manage to stop me," the head of state gloated. Indeed, despite the fact that Catholics make up 80% of the population of the Philippines, we must not forget that many in the Philippine society support Duterte's tough actions to combat crime. In addition, the head of state has a trump card – the fight against the terrorist group "Abu Sayyaf". Shortly after the demonstrations of Catholics and human rights activists in the Philippines and the launch of a campaign on English-language resources to demonize the actions of volunteer detachments to combat drug trafficking, a number of articles appeared in which it is mentioned that Abu Sayyaf Islamists threaten not only the inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago, but also neighboring Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. "Duterte's task of eradicating Abu Sayyaf is not easy," writes the Asia Times. In other words, the president's tough actions are justified.

In addition to the Catholic Church, local human rights activists and students, Human Rights Watch, the UN Human Rights Council, representatives of the European Parliament and the US State Department condemned Duterte's anti-drug campaign. Here, the Holy See found itself in solidarity with the West, for which Duterte's actions are one of the obstacles to completing the ratification of the Trans – Pacific Partnership (TPP), a preferential trade agreement on reducing duties in the Asia – Pacific region (APR). For example, news of Manila's talks with Beijing, according to Indian diplomat Bhadrakumar, published in the Asia Times, was an additional factor in Vietnam's postponement of TPP ratification. The TPP issue is one of the key issues for US foreign policy, so we can predict the development of the conflict between Duterte and the United States. For example, on September 17 this year. Philippine Foreign Ministry Perfecto Yasay said from the UN rostrum that the Philippine president has an "unprecedented mandate", so the world community should not interfere in his actions to eradicate crime in the Philippines: "We call for allowing us to solve our own internal problems to achieve the goals of domestic development without unnecessary interference." Perhaps the response to this appeal should be interpreted as the words of the former president of the Catholic Bishops 'Conference of the Philippines, Archbishop Oscar Cruz, who stated that" protecting those whose lives were in danger, especially those who witnessed the wave of murders related to the anti – drug campaign, is the moral duty of the Catholic Church." On the other hand, the Philippines is an important US ally in the Asia – Pacific region, for example, in January of this year, the Agreement on expanding Defense Cooperation was approved by the Supreme Court of the Philippines, which allows the Americans to deploy an unlimited contingent to the Philippine Islands.

Given the course of Duterte, whose populist statements are aimed at defending the original Philippine path of development, the Catholic Church can play an important role in shaping the views of the population, more than 80% of which in the island country are Catholics. However, the president does not seem bothered by this. In late September, at a press conference in Manila, he admitted that he doubts the existence of God. The reason for the revelation was the president's defense of his initiative to return to the practice of the death penalty in the Philippines.

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