MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino Catholic group, led by a prominent activist priest, wore sackcloth and ashes in a penitential service that sought the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.

The penitential service on Friday was led by Clergy for Good Governance, a group of Catholic priests seeking morality in public service. The ritual was held at the Our Lady of Remedies Parish, an iconic 18th-century Baroque structure in Malate, Manila.

Activist priest Father Robert Reyes, an organizer of Friday’s activity, said participants prayed for a change of heart among the senators and Supreme Court justices who blocked Duterte’s impeachment. They prepared 32 pieces of sackcloth, representing the 19 senators and 13 justices who, in their view, need conversion.

Reyes wore the sackcloth named after Senate President Francis Escudero, who is accused of delaying Duterte’s impeachment trial at the Senate.

The Supreme Court, voting 13-0 last month, declared Duterte’s impeachment as unconstitutional, after which 19 out of 24 senators voted to archive her articles of impeachment. Duterte, the 47-year-old daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, had been accused of misusing public funds and plotting to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last year.

Catholic groups have been at the forefront of seeking to hold the Vice President accountable for her alleged crimes. Three priests and two laypersons filed a motion at the Supreme Court earlier this month seeking a reversal of its ruling on Duterte’s impeachment.

Reyes said, however, that Marcos needs to be held accountable as well for corruption in the government, including the plunder of flood control projects that have led to massive flooding in parts of the country. He said the President needs to answer for the sins of the Marcos family during the dictatorship of his father, Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, from 1972 to 1986.

Reyes said the organizers took their cue from the Prophet Jonah, who warned that the city of Nineveh would face destruction if it did not repent. It was after Jonah’s warning that the king of Nineveh wore sackcloth and ashes and instructed the whole city to do the same, as a sign of repentance.

“I call our country the new Nineveh,” the activist priest told journalists during the event.

Praying over the participants, Reyes said, “This is an indication of our desire for a change in life, not just for ourselves but for every Filipino citizen. Not just for the common people but especially for the powerful, in high positions, who have power and funds at their disposal.”

“May the campaign of sackcloth and ashes, which we are about to begin, bring about change, purification, and opening of the mind, heart, and spirit, will, and soul of each one,” Reyes prayed. He also sought the Lord’s help for Filipinos to “once again understand what it means to be dust, to be ordinary and small,” so that they may worship the God of eternal glory.

After the prayer, Reyes and other priests put ashes on the foreheads of dozens of participants to signify their repentance from sin. It was done the way it is performed every Ash Wednesday, the start of the penitential season of Lent.

Following this penitential service in Malate Church, the participants marched to the Supreme Court to stage a brief protest.

Reyes, still wearing a sackcloth in front of the Supreme Court, told radio station DZBB that they wanted to pray “to rid the Supreme Court of demonic possession.” “We don’t realize that the devil is already playing with us,” the activist priest said, adding that the court should reconsider its ruling that Duterte’s impeachment was unconstitutional.

After praying in front of the Supreme Court, they moved to the iconic EDSA Shrine in Quezon City, around 12 kilometers away, for a Mass and an overnight prayer vigil. The EDSA Shrine, formally known as the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace, Our Lady of EDSA, was built to commemorate the 1986 People Power Revolution that ousted the dictator Marcos.

Father Puti Enriquez, one of the organizers, prayed that God may help Filipinos “feel that we have the power to change the Philippines, to change the corrupt system, because of the grace that comes from you.”