A mayor on President Rodrigo Duterte’s list of alleged narcotics-linked officials was shot dead Monday by a sniper during the flag ceremony at the Tanauan city hall in Batangas.
Mayor Antonio Halili was hit in the chest by a single shot fired from a distance, unleashing chaotic scenes during the weekly flag-raising ceremony.
In the moments that followed, terrified onlookers screamed and the mayor’s security details opened fire, video of the scene showed.
However, the shooter managed to escape and Halili was pronounced dead at the hospital at 8:10 am.
City police chief Renato Mercado said the shot was fired from about 150 meters away.
“The distance from the position was extraordinary. It could not be done by an ordinary person. His skill can be compared to a trained sniper,” he said.
Halili had compared himself to Duterte as he publicly shared the President’s hardline position against crime and illegal drugs.
But in 2017, Halili’s name surfaced on a “narco-list” presented by Duterte, of officials allegedly linked to narcotics.
Hours after Halili was killed, Duterte likened him to other slain mayors who were tagged as narco-politicians, namely Reynaldo Parojinog of Ozamiz City and Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte.
But Duterte said he does not know who made the hit on Halili.
Halili was stripped of control of the police following the publication of the list, but he denied any ties to drugs.
The brazen nature of the killing and links to Duterte’s drug war drew immediate outrage.
“This is clearly another case of EJK [extrajudicial killing] resulting from the so-called drug war launched by the government,” opposition leader Senator Francis Pangilinan said in a statement.
“It is this Philippine image of a ‘wild, wild west’ that has also dampened the desire of both foreign and local investors,” he added.
The government has said that more than 4,200 suspects have been killed as part of the war on drugs that is the centerpiece of Duterte’s administration.
But rights groups charge that the actual death toll is three times higher and that the police and shadowy vigilantes are murdering people even without proof they are linked to drugs.
Three other mayors on the “narco-list” have been shot dead, one of them while being held inside a jail cell.
Mercado, the Tanauan police chief, said that the killing may be linked to the illegal drugs allegations.
Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque condemned the crime and praised Halili as the mayor of “one of the most progressive towns,” in his province.
In 2016, Halili paraded drug suspects in a program called the “Walk of Shame” but was later also linked to illegal drugs—an allegation he denied.
The Palace condemned Halili’s assassination.
In a radio interview, Roque said the government is exerting all efforts to hunt down the suspect in the killing and give justice to the family of the slain mayor.
“We promise the family and constituents of Mayor Halili that there will be justice and an investigation and that those behind the killing will be punished,” Roque said.
Lawmakers expressed shock and indignation over Halili’s murder.
Opposition Reps. Tom Villarin of Akbayan, Gary Alejano of Magdalo Party-list and Luis Campos Jr. of Makati City said the incident reflects the state of peace and order situation.
“I think the cornerstone of Duterte’s anti-illegal drug policy is the tombstone of suspects,” Villarin said.
“While Mayor Halili has been indicted for his supposed involvement in drugs and condemned for his ‘walk of shame’ campaign, his assassination in broad daylight shows how the rule of law has been compromised and the rule of the jungle reigns,” he added.
Villarin said if it can happen in a city near Metro Manila, how much more in localities farther from the seat of government authority.
“The killing of Tanauan City Mayor Antonio Halili in broad daylight during a flag ceremony in front of the city hall is yet another proof of the culture of violence perpetuating in our country right now,” Alejano said.
Campos said the killings in recent weeks of local officials, priests, and of media practitioners “constitute a grave law enforcement problem.”
“The only way to stop these killings is for the authorities to swiftly apprehend, prosecute and put the perpetrators behind bars. This is also the only way we can deter other would-be assailants, including guns-for-hire,” Campos said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said his home province of Batangas was littered with bodies of victims of political assassinations and unsolved murder.
“When the rule of law is more observed in the breach, including by agents of the state who do it with impunity, it incentivizes people to take the law into their own hands, and indicts the police for failing to stop it,” he said.
When killings are rewarded by the failure of authorities to solve them, Recto said, it strengthens the culture of violence, where disagreements are settled by permanently silencing the opponent.
“Tony Halili was a colorful man who had done many great things for his people and Tanauan City. He had a governance style that was unconventional in some aspects, but it effectively kept the city he loved safe and prosperous,” he added.
Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Eduardo Año, meanwhile, said he sees on the pattern in the killing of mayors who have been linked to the illegal drug trade.
“It’s hard to say there is a pattern but all of these cases will be investigated by the police on a case-to-case basis,” Año told the News To Go program on GMA-7.
Senators JV Ejercito, Juan Edgardo Angara, and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV condemned the assassination.
Senator Panfilo Lacson said the killing of priests, prosecutors, and former and incumbent local officials in broad daylight and in full view of the public may be suggestive of the impunity and brazenness of those responsible for such acts.
“The Philippine National Police should feel challenged, if not taunted. And they must immediately consider stricter firearms control strategies before similar killings could reach ubiquitous levels,” he added.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III called Halili’s killer a coward.
“Criminality in the country has always been alarming. That’s why we want government to come down hard on the criminals and not contradict efforts to do so,” Sotto said. With AFP