“How are you?”

With that question, Cubao Bishop Elias Ayuban Jr. challenged what he described as society’s selective empathy following the recent shooting incident at the Senate that left lawmakers shaken and prompted Senator Pia Cayetano to break down in tears during a session discussing the incident.

In a social media post in Filipino, Ayuban contrasted the emotional reaction to the Senate shooting with what he said was the muted response to the deaths of ordinary Filipinos, particularly victims of the previous administration’s anti-drug campaign.

“When bloodied bodies lay by the creek night after night, did you and your 12 colleagues also ask how the bereaved families were doing?” Ayuban wrote.

On 21 May, Cayetano became emotional while objecting to another senator’s remarks about the 13 May shooting inside the Senate complex.

Ayuban urged lawmakers to reflect on instances when similar concerns were absent.

“Does justice have a preferred address? Does compassion choose only certain people to receive mercy?” he asked.

The bishop recalled the plight of families affected by drug war killings, many of whom came from poor communities where deaths were frequent but often received limited public attention.

“The blood of the poor is easily dried by time, especially when it does not carry a famous or powerful surname,” he said.

Ayuban further invoked the memory of minors killed in anti-drug operations, asking whether those deaths still weighed on the conscience of officials now expressing grief over the Senate incident.

He warned that unresolved injustices do not simply disappear.

“And blood, even when covered by speeches and cameras, has a way of seeping through the cracks,” he said.