Gayotin welcomes IBP case on vigilante killings

Acting city police director Melvin Gayotin yesterday welcomed the threat of the city chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to sue him for his alleged failure to solve the spate of vigilante killings.

This came after Antonio Medina, a petty crime suspect, was shot dead Monday evening just 10 meters away from the Mobile Patrol Group headquarters where he was earlier detained for drunkenness. He was said to be the 102nd victim of vigilante executions in the city.

Aside from Gayotin, the IBP also threatened to file charges against regional police director Eduardo Gador and Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

Osmeña, for his part, was unfazed by the threat. "I can't allow that threat to influence my decision. Of course, I care about that threat because I have to hire my own lawyers. If they fight, I will just have to fight them, no problem with that," Osmeña told reporters yesterday.

The mayor instead lambasted lawyers whom he claimed to have been losing money because some of their clients were already dead and could no longer pay the legal services.

"Ila manang katungod. But personally, I don't believe I am neglecting my duty. We have the record to show what we are doing. We have subpoenaed witnesses (but) nobody showed up. There were no complaints. Asa manta magsugod," Gayotin said.

Earlier, Gayotin had said that although police have intelligence units, it is not a guarantee that everything can be detected.

But a human rights group disagreed and called on intelligence chiefs in the region to resign because of their alleged failure to resolve the spate of vigilante killings since December.

In a statement, the Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights-Central Visayas said that if policemen "still have some semblance of decency left, they should resign."

KARAPATAN chair Poch Cinco said intelligence chiefs have failed to solve any of the killings, a situation he described as "a gross embarrassment to the police force."

Cinco said that police should stop blaming the public for being uncooperative in their investigation into the killings.

He added that the only way to gain public trust and make some headway in the investigation is for the intelligence bosses to relinquish their post. - Ryan P. Borinaga, Jasmin R.Uy and Mitchelle P. Calipayan