Quezon City, the erstwhile national capital, does not tolerate “wanton violence” in its streets and will fight to protect the dignity of is people, Mayor Joy Belmonte said Wednesday.
The city’s chief executive issued the statement, reacting to the nightly activity of Fr. Robert Reyes who has been lighting candles after evening Mass in San Isidro Labrador Parish in Quezon City.
Belmonte said: “Quezon City shall not tolerate wanton violence in its streets. We shall fight to protect the lives and dignity of our people.
“Quezon City shall and always remain a steadfast bastion of our freedoms, where the rights of its people are held paramount, and faithfully upheld.”
Reyes started off with seven candles representing residents slain in vigilante-style murders, which have gripped the slums in Barangay Pinyahan since January, with the killings becoming more frequent and brazen during the pandemic, according to residents.
The number has since increased to 10 with half of the murders taking place during a 4-week stretch.
The priest is apparently worried there might be a possibility that people might get used to these extrajudicial killings, especially as communities grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 5,500 people have been killed in anti-drug operations by law enforcers under President Rodrigo Duterte.
Reyes acknowledged that some of the victims might have been linked to illegal drugs in the past. But they should have been accorded due process just the same, instead of a brutal "sentencing"
In a span of 2 weeks in July, he presided over funeral Masses for Jeselyn Ordono, 39, Gilbert Paala, 46, and Jonathan Burce, 42, a former village councilman.
Before the final blessing, he told parishioners to offer prayers as well for victims of extrajudicial killings, warning of the "virus of the war on drugs."
In the statement released by the Quezon City LGU, Belmonte said: “We stand in solidarity with Fr. Robert Reyes’ advocacy for a more peaceful and law-abiding community. Just like our much-respected Parish Priest from San Isidro Labrador, we condemn in the strongest possible terms all forms of violence that transpire in our city.
In the statement, Belmonte said “each incident is being comprehensively investigated by the Quezon City Police District.
“At present, QCPD Col. Ferdinand Navarro and his team continue to examine all the angles behind these terrible crimes. Their efforts are heavily focused on investigating and gathering intelligence from various information networks.”