The government of the Philippines will forcibly close Catholic churches in Manila if priests hold Easter masses next week in violation of a federal mandate banning religious gatherings in the city to curb the spread of coronavirus, a government spokesman announced on Tuesday.
“In the exercise of police powers, we can order the churches closed and I hope it will not come to that,” Harry Roque, a spokesman for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, said when asked at a regular press briefing about a rumored plan by priests in Manila to proceed with Easter masses despite the ban on gatherings.
“We won’t achieve anything … if you will defy and you will force the state to close the doors of the church,” he warned.
The Philippine federal government has the right to enforce a ban on gatherings in Manila, Roque explained, adding that “such exercise of the state’s police powers would not violate the constitutional principle on the separation of church and state and religious freedom” in the Philippines.
The Philippine government announced on Monday a ban on public meetings, including religious gatherings, in Manila from March 22 to April 5 in response to a surge in new coronavirus infections nationwide. Manila has been subjected to the Philippines’ strictest anti-coronavirus mandates this month, and throughout the pandemic, because it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Most of Manila’s 12 million inhabitants live in poor, overcrowded residential blocks where viruses may easily spread.
In addition to closing all churches in the capital, the Philippine government has banned indoor dining at Manila restaurants and prohibited non-essential travel into and out of the city. The restrictions also apply to provinces surrounding Manila, including Laguna, Bulacan, Cavite, and Rizal.
Manila’s ban on religious gatherings and travel coincides with the Christian Easter holiday on April 4. The Philippines – Asia’s largest Catholic nation – celebrates the Easter holy week from March 28 to April 3, meaning the church closures are especially devastating for Catholics in the capital.
The ban on leisure travel in and out of Manila and its surrounding provinces has also dealt a blow to the Philippines’ already struggling tourism industry. Manila-area tour operators rely heavily upon Easter holiday travel “when many Filipinos flock to the country’s beaches and mountains,” Channel News Asia noted on Monday.
“We know that some of you have plans and you are looking forward to this Holy Week break, but if we allow unimpeded travel right now, the new variants of the virus will spread faster in different parts of the Philippines,” Roque said when announcing the coronavirus restrictions on March 22.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has a contentious relationship with the Philippine Catholic Church and has previously alleged that he was sexually molested by a Catholic priest as a teenager. The president complained that “all [Catholic bishops] do is criticize” in remarks to the press on December 5, 2018, adding, “these bishops, kill them, those fools are good for nothing.”
Duterte described the Catholic Church as “the most hypocritical institution” two days later in a speech honoring the 85th anniversary of the Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment. “You see, the pope said, ‘If you cannot be celibate, get out.’ Most of them, 90 percent of the priests (are gay),” the president said.