Catholic priests tackle mental fallout of Filipino polls

Catholic clergymen in the Philippines have begun counselling sessions for Filipinos experiencing post-election stress following May 9 presidential polls.

Many are those who experienced repression during the martial law years imposed by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and who are struggling to come to terms with his son Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, who won the poll by a landslide.

They fear history could be about to repeat itself.

Marcos Jr garnered more than 31 million votes — more than twice the 14.8 million the Church-backed candidate Vice President Leonor “Leni” Robredo got. The vast majority of Marcos’ supporters were too young to remember the rights abuses committed by his father’s regime.

The group of priests called Clergy for the Moral Choice on May 16 opened its free online counselling service “to talk and to accompany” the stressed.

Read More

Additional reading

News category: News Shorts, World.

Tags: , , ,