Robredo, CHR alarmed over killings, call for swift justice

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Vice President Leni Robredo and other members of the opposition expressed alarm yesterday over the spate of killings in the country and called for swift justice for the victims.

CHR executive director Jacqueline de Guia urged the government to “act with a greater sense of urgency in ensuring that every Filipino’s right to life is protected.”

“More so that, aside from local officials, priests, media workers and common Filipinos have been subjects of violence, often leading to their deaths,” she added, citing the killings of Tanauan, Batangas mayor Antonio Halili and General Tinio, Nueva Ecija mayor Ferdinand Bote this week.

The CHR has initiated its own fact-finding investigations into the deaths of Halili and Bote.

“At this point, the demand to deliver swift justice by making perpetrators accountable rings louder than before, as the cycle of violence and culture of impunity continues to worsen,” De Guia said.

Unite vs killings

Robredo, for her part, called on authorities to put a stop to the recent spate of killings of priests, loiterers and government officials as she urged Filipinos to unite against the “culture of violence” in the country.

“It is alarming that some of our fellow citizens think that this violence is common in our society now,” the Vice President said in Filipino.

“I call on our authorities, especially the police, to intensify investigations into these crimes and immediately find ways to stop these seemingly successive killings,” she said.

Apart from the local government officials, at least three priests were murdered since December last year – Mercelino Paez, Mark Anthony Ventura and Richmond Nilo.

Last month, 25-year-old Genesis “Tisoy” Argoncillo was killed while in detention in Quezon City after he was arrested during an anti-tambay campaign of the Philippine National Police.

Robredo said she is one with every Filipino who wants a country free of violence.

“Let’s not allow the violence in our country to get worse. At this time, our united voice will be our weapon against this culture of violence and killing,” she said.

According to reports, at least 10 mayors and four vice mayors were killed under the Duterte government. 

Don’t be apathetic

Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV appealed to Filipinos not to get used to or “grow numb” to the rising number of killings in the country that he said were apparently encouraged by the Duterte administration.

“For every Filipino killed, be he a mayor, priest, or ‘tambay,’ our conscience as a nation is being troubled,” Aquino said.

“We never learn. Violence begets killings and suffering,” he said.

Aquino earlier filed Senate Resolution 765 calling for an investigation on the killings of Paez, Ventura and Nilo as well as the attacks against other religious leaders of the country.

“A public hearing can be a venue for us to evaluate the festering culture of violence in our country,” he said.

Members of the independent opposition bloc in the House of Representatives also raised the specter of a so-called reversed Schindler’s List owing to the series of attacks on local chief executives allegedly involved in illegal drugs. 

As far as Akbayan party-list Rep. Tom Villarin is concerned, the license to kill had the imprimatur of no less than President Duterte himself, who made it crystal clear that nobody faces charges for as long as the killings would annihilate drug lords and drug users. 

He lamented that summary killings nowadays are considered acceptable if “done in pursuit of his anti-illegal drug policy and tagged in the so-called Duterte’s ‘reversed Schindler’s list’ where those in it are not for saving.”

Villarin was referring to the 1994 Steven Spielberg film that honored German industrialist Oskar Schindler who protected and saved Jewish workers in his factory from being exterminated by the Nazis. 

“Duterte’s attack against institutions upholding the rule of law has led to a weakened state and a population desperate for security thereby pushing everyone to bad decisions culminating to a vicious cycle of violence that destroys society,” Villarin said. 

His colleagues in the so-called Magnificent 7 – Reps. Edcel Lagman of Albay, Teddy Baguilat of Ifugao province and Gary Alejano of party-list Magdalo – likewise condemned Duterte’s culture of violence and impunity.  – With Paolo Romero, Delon Porcalla, Marvin Sy