LEADERS OF the opposition Liberal Party (LP) and their allies on Wednesday flagged a growing “culture of violence” amid the recent spate of killings of local executives and priests as well as common folk.
“Sa panahon na ito, ang ating nagkakaisang boses ang panlaban natin sa kultura ng karahasan at patayan (At this time, our united voice serves as our weapon against the culture of violence and killing),” Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo, an LP member, said in a statement.
Tanauan Mayor Antonio C. Halili was shot during the regular Monday flag-raising ceremony. Following this was the assassination of General Tinio Mayor Ferdinand P. Bote in an ambush on Tuesday.
“Mariin akong nananawagan sa mga awtoridad, lalo na sa ating kapulisan, na paigtingin ang imbestigasyon sa mga krimeng ito at gumawa ng agarang mga hakbang upang matigil ang tila sunod-sunod na patayan (I strongly urge the authorities, more so the police, to intensify investigations on these crimes and take immediate steps to stop the murders),” Ms. Robredo said.
Senator Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV, meanwhile, reminded the people not to grow numb over the killings and proposed to hold public hearings on the crimes.
“Sa bawat Pilipinong pinapatay mayor man yan, pari o tambay, inuusig ang konsensya natin bilang isang bansa (For every Filipino who dies, be it a mayor, a priest, a loiterer even, our conscience as a country is being challenged),” the senator said.
Mr. Aquino had previously filed Senate Resolution 765 for an investigation on the attacks against other religious leaders of the country, particularly, in the cases of slain priests Richmond V. Nilo, Mark Ventura, and Marcelito Paez.
At the House of Representatives, Ifugao Rep. Teodoro B. Baguilat, Jr. likewise condemned the murders and called on the Philippine National Police to step up its operations against hired assassins.
“There is a climate of fear engulfing us. Priests and mayors are being killed after indigenous peoples and the urban poor,” Mr. Baguilat said, emphasizing that this spawned from the administration’s anti-drug war.
“Because nobody is being arrested then the criminal elements feel that they can get away with anything, even going now as far as killing more high profile individuals in broad daylight and in cold blood,” he said.
Magdalo Rep. Gary C. Alejano echoed this saying the drug war had created a “climate of impunity” in the country.
“The atmosphere of violence and lawlessness in the country cannot be separated from the war on drugs of the Duterte administration which has already enabled thousands of extrajudicial killings,” Mr. Alejano said.
Malacañang, on the other hand, insisted there is “no culture of impunity in the Philippines.”
“There is no culture of impunity in the Philippines as we do not condone any state-sponsored killings,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. said in a statement on Wednesday.
Mr. Roque said the government “continue(s) to adhere to the rule of law and consider(s) the recent killings of high-profile figures as an attempt to erode confidence in the President, whose main platform of governance rests on fighting crimes.”
The administration of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, according to his spokesman, “cannot be deterred in (its) focus in securing and restoring order in the community.”
“Our people have acknowledged the President as the protector of people, as evidenced by surveys giving him high satisfaction, approval, trust and performance ratings,” he stressed.
Mr. Roque also said that the police is “sparing no effort to find and capture the killers of the two slain mayors.”— Charmaine A. Tadalan and Arjay L. Balinbin