Osmeña admits ‘inspiring’ vigilante killings

CEBU CITY — Mayor Tomas Osmeña admitted he inspired the rash of vigilante killings of suspected criminals in the city but denied he was behind them.

Osmeña issued the clarification after a group of militants and human rights advocates rallied in front of City Hall the other day to accuse him of orchestrating the killings and demand that he stop them.

Since Dec. 22, at least 13 killings of suspected criminals and underworld characters have been recorded as being the alleged handiwork of an unknown vigilante group.

The suspicion, however, is that this vigilante group is no other than the so-called "Hunters’ Team" which Osmeña has formed to go after criminals.

A few days before the killings began, Osmeña went public with his plan, saying he intended to use the Hunters Team, to be made up of crack police elements, to "seek and destroy" criminals.

The mayor said the team will "shoot and kill" criminals if they resist or if they harm their victims.

When the killings began, the public reaction was split: some said the summary executions were illegal and immoral, while others said the killings helped eliminate undesirables from society.

But while those who go along with the killings and those who reject them preferred to issue mere public pronouncements, the more militant groups chose to stage a rally at City Hall.

The protest promptly elicited a curt reply from Osmeña. "I am not behind it. But I will say I inspired it. I don’t deny that," he said.

Eugenio Faelnar, who sits in the city council as barangay representative, said the killings are a welcome development and helped improve peace and order in the city.

Faelnar said criminals have started to move out of the city for fear they might be next.

"This is in itself a most welcome development. Be that as it may, the peace and order situation will tremendously improve and we can all look forward to a tranquil and more progressive new year," he said.

But the Integrated Bar of the Philippines condemned the summary executions, saying they imperil the justice system.

"Policemen or vigilantes will have the ultimate power to punish and execute suspected individuals without any judicial trial," it said.

While crimes must be solved and criminals punished, the IBP said the rule of law, not the rule of the gun, must be observed.

In separate resolutions, the IBP urged the Commission on Human Rights and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate the "extrajudicial killings," and regional police director Rolando Garcia and city police chief Melvin Gayotin to arrest the perpetrators.

NBI Region 7 chief Medardo Delemos earlier said there is no evidence to link the killings to the Hunters’ Team.

Delemos urged the victims’ families to approach the NBI to make it easier for the bureau to investigate the killings.

Last Tuesday, NBI officials waited for the family of slain suspected robber Darwin Mabugat but nobody showed up.

Osmeña conceived the Hunters’ Team as his solution to the rising criminality in the city, as he noted the "apparent helplessness of the regular police force to contain the criminals." - With Joeberth Ocao and Flor Perolina/ Freeman News Service