VP Leni brings Christmas joys to 152 EJK parents, dependents
By Roel Tibay
Published Dec 22, 2018 08:39 pm
By Raymund Antonio
With the season of giving in the air, Vice President Leni Robredo hosted a Christmas party for the widows and orphans of extrajudicial killing victims at the Quezon City Reception House, where she holds office.
Vice President Leni Robredo
(OVP / MANILA BULLETIN) Robredo met with 55 parents, mostly mothers, and 97 dependents of EJK victims on December 19 to celebrate the holiday season. They belong to the several families who are part of St. Arnold Janssen Kalinga Center’s PagHILOM (Healing Intervention Leading to Optimum Management in the Rehabilitation of Significant Others of EJK Victims) program. Joining the party were Father Flavie Villanueva, who founded the center in 2015; PagHILOM volunteers; and their partners. The Kalinga Center has reached out to the families of drug war victims to help the healing process by providing holistic care and art therapy rehabilitation. "It is heartbreaking to hear the stories of these families, and we can only imagine the pain they must feel now that Christmas is almost here. As the rest of us celebrate amid the twinkling lights and the liveliness of carols and cheers, there lies a void in their hearts and their homes," Robredo said in a Facebook post. "But as Filipinos have always shown, resilience rises through grief and sorrow. This void may never be filled, but may these families take comfort in knowing that there are those, like us, who stand with them in search for justice and a better life, as they move forward from this tragedy," she continued. The Vice President watched the orphans and the widows perform a dance and song number during their Christmas party. Activist comedian Mae Paner, more popularly known as Juana Change, had a special performance as well. Robredo then delivered a Christmas message and distributed grocery packs for the loved ones of the EJK victims. A staunch critic of the government’s bloody anti-drug campaign, Robredo has vowed to support initiatives for the families of victims of extrajudicial killings. The Vice President said she empathizes with them as her office continues to receive various forms of appeals and look for more ways to help the drug war victims. Last June, Robredo’s office invited the group to perform an hour-long play that tells the stories of their relatives who were killed under President Duterte’s war on drugs.
Vice President Leni Robredo(OVP / MANILA BULLETIN) Robredo met with 55 parents, mostly mothers, and 97 dependents of EJK victims on December 19 to celebrate the holiday season. They belong to the several families who are part of St. Arnold Janssen Kalinga Center’s PagHILOM (Healing Intervention Leading to Optimum Management in the Rehabilitation of Significant Others of EJK Victims) program. Joining the party were Father Flavie Villanueva, who founded the center in 2015; PagHILOM volunteers; and their partners. The Kalinga Center has reached out to the families of drug war victims to help the healing process by providing holistic care and art therapy rehabilitation. "It is heartbreaking to hear the stories of these families, and we can only imagine the pain they must feel now that Christmas is almost here. As the rest of us celebrate amid the twinkling lights and the liveliness of carols and cheers, there lies a void in their hearts and their homes," Robredo said in a Facebook post. "But as Filipinos have always shown, resilience rises through grief and sorrow. This void may never be filled, but may these families take comfort in knowing that there are those, like us, who stand with them in search for justice and a better life, as they move forward from this tragedy," she continued. The Vice President watched the orphans and the widows perform a dance and song number during their Christmas party. Activist comedian Mae Paner, more popularly known as Juana Change, had a special performance as well. Robredo then delivered a Christmas message and distributed grocery packs for the loved ones of the EJK victims. A staunch critic of the government’s bloody anti-drug campaign, Robredo has vowed to support initiatives for the families of victims of extrajudicial killings. The Vice President said she empathizes with them as her office continues to receive various forms of appeals and look for more ways to help the drug war victims. Last June, Robredo’s office invited the group to perform an hour-long play that tells the stories of their relatives who were killed under President Duterte’s war on drugs.