A leading Catholic archbishop regretted that divisions have ensued following the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity during his war on drugs.

Former Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in his Pastoral Letter to the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan: ''Divided by ethnic roots and languages, politics and economics, faith and religion, literacy and ignorance, prestige and anonymity, weaknesses and strengths ? we are a nation wrecked by division."

"As if we do not have an excess of reasons to be divided as a nation, here is fate giving us another explosive situation that has added more fragmentation to our already highly divided nation," he added.

He said the division is worsened by fake news, blind sentimentalism, vulgarity, violence, and mob rule.

"Such polluted drinks poison our spirit and slowly cause the decay of morality and the loss of rationality in our society," said Villegas.

He said such a division can be resolved by using facts as source and basis for one's words and actions.

Villegas worked with the late Cardinal Jaime Sin, who led the call for people to join the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution that resulted in the departure of the Marcos family and their associates. DMS