Congressmen raise P30 million reward to catch Batocabe killers

MANILA, Philippines — Congressmen and local officials in the Bicol region have raised a bounty of up to P30 million for information leading to the arrest of the killers of party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe and his security escort, Special Police Officer 1 Orlando Diaz.

Senators, for their part, condemned the killing and announced that a congressional inquiry has been set on the murder in Albay last Saturday.

Fellow Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. yesterday said an initial P5 million was raised by 153 congressmen for the reward money, which eventually multiplied six-fold.

The bounty was created by the Ako Bicol party-list group, congressmen and Albay local officials.

Negros Occidental Rep. Albee Benitez, who spearheaded the move, said the Visayan bloc of legislators in the House of Representatives also pitched in.

“As of now, at least 153 congressmen have contributed,” Benitez said yesterday.

There are 292 House members, about 60 of them party-list congressmen like Batocabe.

The slain lawmaker was president of the Party-list Coalition Foundation Inc. in the House. The rest are legislators from legislative districts all over the country from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. said they are expecting the reward would further increase as more of their colleagues in the House are signifying to chip in from P50,000 to P100,000 each, if only to expedite arrest of the suspects and resolve the senseless killing of their fellow lawmaker.

“This bounty is expected to go up as more of our colleagues are already expressing interest to resolve the case the soonest time possible,” Andaya said.

Senators urged the authorities to identify the gunmen and bring justice to the family of the slain legislator.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III yesterday said the killing of Batocabe shocked him as they were together a few months ago in an official trip to London for members of Congress.

“The best thing to do is for the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) and the PNP (Philippine National Police) to act quickly,” Sotto told dzBB.

He also called for a reshuffle of local police in Daraga town where the lawmaker was assassinated.

Sen. Richard Gordon commiserated with the victim’s family and said his assassination was a loss to the country.

“It (killing) is also an indication of moral decay as it showed that there are elements in our society that believe that a culture of violence is the only way to change,” Gordon said.

“His assassination shows that there are people who think that violence and bloodshed are substitutes for dialogue and clean, honest and peaceful elections,” he said.

Sen. Loren Legarda described Batocabe as a climate ally and a hardworking legislator.

“The brazen killings must stop and the perpetrators must be brought to justice soonest. (Intelligence) funds and PNP funds are supported and sufficient. There is no excuse for this kind of violence,” Legarda said in her Twitter account.

Sen. Nancy Binay also condemned the killing and urged the Commission on Elections to declare Albay as an election hotspot.

Sen. Sonny Angara pointed out that Batocabe was an author of the Anti-Bullying Law.

“May he rest in peace, a victim of the ultimate form of bullying,” Angara said in his Twitter account.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan said while he and Batocabe have not been on the same side of the political fence, “his violent death in what appears to have been perpetrated by hired assassins should be roundly condemned.”

“The daily killings were touted by the Duterte administration as the solution to our country’s ills, that the more killed in the drug war, the better,” Pangilinan said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, said the PNP should lose no time in imposing stricter gun control measures, including the suspension of Permits to Carry Firearms Outside Residences (PTCFORs).

“At the rate murder is being committed with impunity, it’s time for the PNP to impose stricter gun control measures. For a start, try suspending all PTCFORs. Anybody in civvies (civilian clothes) carrying firearms must be assumed to have criminal intent and apprehended on the spot,” he said.

Lacson plans to hold a public hearing on recent killings with impunity in January.

He cited the killings of at least 14 lawyers, journalists, politicians and other prominent personalities in the past months.

“When persons in authority are now being killed in a brazen manner – in broad daylight and in full public view – that is cause for concern. If these personalities who have security detail are not safe, what more the ordinary Filipino?” he remarked.

Andaya, a Camarines Sur congressman, shared the “outrage, the pain and the shock of my fellow Bicolanos over the death of my friend and colleague Rodel.”

“He was a man of peace and a visionary for progress,” he said.

House lawmakers led by Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo condemned the attack.

“Life has become so cheap. That should not be so. Nothing can justify that gruesome murder. So I hope our authorities could conduct a thorough and speedy investigation,” Arroyo said.

“Congressmen have already committed to put up a fund to get the killers. That really is the best way to get the killers,” she added.

Arroyo said Batocabe was a “big loss” since he was a “very tough interrogator and also a very tough debater.”
Benitez, for his part, said he sees no reason why somebody would even want to hurt Batocabe.

“Maybe they are afraid of reforms, and they don’t want to be defeated,” he said.

Local officials led by Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara said they might request the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to place the province under its control following the killing of Batocabe.

“One remedy, maybe, is to put the province under Comelec control should the situation worsen in the coming days,” Bichara said. – Paolo Romero