Duterte urged: Don’t condone extrajudicial killings

MANILA, Philippines - Lawmakers yesterday warned President Duterte about condoning summary executions when he took full responsibility for the killing of Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa.

“Based on the testimonies of the police, their actions were not in accordance with the President’s previous statements that if you are a policeman and you commit a wrongdoing, you must be held accountable,” Sen. Grace Poe said.

“It’s very evident that many did not act according to their jobs in this so-called raid. We got the impression some police are protecting their interests and themselves,” she said.

In the testimonies of the witnesses – including PNP officials – in the first Senate hearing on the Espinosa slay on Thursday, Poe said there were many inconsistencies as well as violations of established police procedures in the incident that strongly indicated the mayor was silenced.

Poe said she understood Duterte’s tough stance against illegal drugs but he should be reminded that he, himself admitted many in the government are also drug pushers or protectors.

Sen. Leila de Lima, however, was more direct by saying Duterte’s statements only showed he was condoning or even promoting extrajudicial killings while protecting himself from further scrutiny.

“It’s an unfortunate, deplorable state of affairs in our country today to be witnessing these brazen acts of impunity, and with a Chief Executive empowering abusive and violent policemen by continuing to protect said policemen and their gross misconduct in carrying out attacks against civilians,” De Lima said.

“The President will refuse or play blind to what is right in front of his eyes, and what most people – including my fellow senators who conducted the hearing – would consider as proof of extrajudicial killing by the police,” she said.

De Lima was referring to Sens. Panfilo Lacson, and Richard Gordon – chairmen of the Senate committees on public order and dangerous drugs and Blue Ribbon – who conducted the Senate inquiry.

According to De Lima, Duterte’s statements could be used to present a case against him before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on extrajudicial killings.

She said Duterte has a tendency to be willfully blind when he feels it would reflect badly on him and his “war on drugs.”

“He is not really protecting the police – in fact, he is destroying the institution by such explicit and unmitigated partiality. He is really protecting himself from scrutiny and criticism. To admit premeditated killing by the police would be against his interest,” De Lima said.

De Lima said she found “disturbing” facts during last Thursday’s hearing.

She said she had the impression that the police are attempting to dehumanize Espinosa, and suggesting that his death was a blessing because of his connections with the illegal drug trade.

“They say that police officers don’t like to kill but the fact remains that they kill when they feel it is necessary and, sometimes, ‘necessity’ comes not from the desire to bring out the truth, but to bury it,” De Lima said.

‘Creeping culture of death’

President Duterte had tagged Espinosa as a narco politician.

Upon his return from his trip to Malaysia early Friday, Duterte said he believed the policemen’s version of the mayor’s death.

Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said Espinosa “may have been guilty of a drug-related crime but the policemen went into his cell to finish him off.”

“No amount of good intentions will justify breaking the rule of law. No mere allegation is enough to justify killing anyone,” he said.

Atienza warned of what he called a “creeping culture of death” in the wake of daily drug-related killings perpetrated by policemen and alleged vigilantes.

“Many of these killings may be drug related and some of them are not. We don’t know which is which. We are allowing the nation to tread on a system where the rule of law is not respected,” Atienza said.

“We are afraid that a creeping culture of death may be upon us, slowly converting the nation into one where the rule of law is being flouted even by those sworn to uphold it. The killing of Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. in his jail cell is a very clear picture of what can happen to anyone,” he said.

Atienza expressed his support for President Duterte’s anti-drug stance and desire to eradicate the drug problem.

“We want him to succeed, but unless the President re-directs the present trend, he might not succeed. The economy cannot possibly grow amidst a culture of death. Violence only begets more violence. The President will find it very difficult to restore order unless this creeping culture of death is prevented from further establishing itself,” he said.

Atienza urged Duterte to “correct the situation.”

“No amount of good governance that is not anchored on the rule of law has any chance to succeed. Where will economic development and prosperity come in? Order needs to be restored, as well as confidence in our police force. More and more, people are getting skeptical over the end result of all these killings,” he said.

Reps. Tom Villarin of Akbayan and Gary Alejano of Magdalo have urged the people to start expressing outrage over the daily killings.

They lamented that the public seems to have accepted the killings as a fact of life.          

Soon, they said, relatives and friends would be the victims and complaining would be too late.

Other militant groups led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) criticized Duterte over his statements.

“The President must realize that granting the presumption of regularity every time the PNP carries out questionable operations encourages impunity,” Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes said.