The League of Municipalities of the Philippines on Wednesday expressed alarm over the murder of two town mayors on two consecutive days, in Batangas and Nueva Ecija.
In a radio interview, Mayor Marife Brondial of Socorro, Oriental Mindoro, president of league, said all mayors were terribly worried about their safety.
“They are nervous, especially the female mayors,” Brondial said in Filipino, noting that many of them have asked her to request police security for them.
“It’s really tragic and ghastly, what’s happening to the mayors,” she said.
“From what is happening now, we can see that the killers have no fear, no fear of God or respect for human life, so it’s really scary to be a public official,” Brondial added.
The league has condemned the murder of Tanauan Mayor Antonio Halili and Gen. Tinio Mayor Ferdinand Bote, who were killed Monday and Tuesday by unidentified assassins.
The LMP, she said, is coordinating with the Department of the Interior and Local Government and asking that supervision over the police be returned to the mayors.
Brondial said they have also sought a dialogue with President Duterte to discuss the alleged involvement of some mayors in illegal drugs.
“It’s very frightening, especially for mayors on the President’s list,” she said. “They are so scared, it’s pitiful, saying they are not involved in illegal drugs and asking why they have been included.”
“We have courts, we have the Ombudsman. The DILG can file a complaint against an erring mayor, but the mayor shouldn’t be killed,” Brondial said.
The LMP, with 68 member municipalities, will ask the President that supervision of the police be returned to the mayor who have been implicated in his list.
Other mayors on Duterte’s list who were killed are Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte; Reynaldo Parojinog of Ozamiz City; and Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
The Commission on Human Rights, meanwhile, said it was wrong for Halili to be assassinated, even though he had violated others rights when he paraded drug suspects in a “walk of shame.”
Commission spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said on a TV interview that everyone, even those accused of human rights violations, has the right to be presumed innocent and the right to due process.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, dismissed claims that the recent killings were ‘inspired’ by President Duterte’s threats, and attributed the string of murders to the proliferation of loose firearms.
“Especially in local politics, if the political battle is so fierce… they resort to killing each other,” said Lacson, who served as Philippine National Police director under the administration of former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.
“It is incumbent upon the PNP to do something about it. How? Control the movement of firearms,” Lacson said.
He noted that the PNP could not even provide senators with the number of loose firearms.
“I reiterate my call to the PNP to conduct, or put in place a stricter firearms control or some control measures. There’s too much proliferation of firearms, loose firearms. Not only loose firearms. It seems that every Tom, Dick and Harry [has a gun],” Lacson said.
He said the Philippines is just about the only country in Asia, where anyone can carry a gun.
Senator Nancy Binay said the string of killings show a disturbing pattern of lawlessness and indifference to the value of human life.
Opposition Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV expressed concern over the growing culture of violence under the present administration, and said the public should not grow numb to all the killings.
Earlier, Aquino submitted a Senate resolution calling for an investigation on the killings of priests Richmond Nilo, Mark Ventura, and Father Marcelito Paez, and 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.
Senator Leila de Lima said there is a killing spree on mayors. She noted that the path to this kind of impunity has been paved with the summary execution of thousands of poor Filipinos in Duterte’s drug war.
Ordered and goaded by Duterte, she said the violence of the drug war has long ago spilled over to the rest of society. It has claimed the lives of priests, lawyers, prosecutors, mayors, journalists, and labor, peasant, indigenous people and community leaders, she said.
De Lima said that in the case of Halili, a police investigation would be fruitless since Duterte himself had already justified his killing and excused the murder with his sweeping declaration that Halili was involved in drugs.
“How can the police still investigate when the President has already sided with the assassin?” she said.
“Once Duterte was allowed to justify summary executions in the drug war against the poor, murder became justifiable in this country. The question we should therefore ask is not what is happening to our country, but why did we allow Duterte to do this to our country?” she said.
Vice President Leni Robredo on Wednesday called on Filipinos to unite against the killing of priests, public officials, loiterers and the youth.
“Let us not allow that our country reach the peak of chaos. At times like this, our united voice is our weapon against the culture of violence and killings,” she said.
The National Bureau of Investigation, meanwhile, is looking into the possible link between Halili’s killing and illegal drugs, acting Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Wednesday.
Guevarra made the disclosure as the NBI started its fact-finding investigation into the murder.
“Yes, the NBI will look into that angle. The NBI is expected to look at all possible angles and motives,” Guevarra said in an interview.
The Philippine National Police, which started its probe ahead of the NBI, is reportedly zeroing in on the possibility that Halili’s killing had something to do with illegal drugs.
Guevarra instructed the NBI to conduct its parallel probe on Tuesday.
A team of agents went to Tanauan in Batangas and met with several city hall officials to gather information in a bid to pinpoint the killer, believed to be a sniper, and determine the motive behind the killing. With Rey E. Requejo and Rio N. Araja
