Senate wants PNP to submit updated list of extra-judicial killings nationwide

Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon today asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) to submit to the Senate a progress report on its investigations into cases of political and media killings in the country.

Gordon issued the directive as he condemned in a privilege speech the recent killing of broadcast journalist Aristeo Padrigao in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental last Nov. 17. Padrigao is the 6th journalist this year and the 61st killed since 2001.

"This Senate should call in the law enforcement authorities and haul them to task and bring in all the list of all those people who had been killed so that they can explain what they are doing to make sure that people don't get away with these criminal acts," he said.

"If we do not act, we are encouraging, in effect, these people who have no morals, who have no qualms of killing people in front of their families, to continue these acts," he added.

Padrigao, radio host of DZRS Radyo Natin and a columnist in the Mindanao Monitor Today, was killed on the spot Monday when two motorcycle-riding men wearing dark jackets shot him in the jaw with a .9 mm. He was taking his children to school, one of which was a seven-year old child when he was slain.

The senator said it is not acceptable for the police to say that they are following up the case or that the killing was work-related.

"What kind of policemen do we have, when all they can say is - 'we're investigating, we're making a follow-up. We're looking at this event but sorry there are no witnesses and we think it was related to his job that's why he was killed.' We must say no more," he said.

"We should recommend that he (Supt. Leonroy Ga, Gingoog Police Chief) be relieved and that the PNP chief (PNP Director Jesus Verzosa) himself explain to us what he is doing about it, what kind of programs he is doing about it to answer for all these motorcycle-related killings and public executions that have gone array in this country," he added.

Gordon reminded that the Senate should be the forum upon which people can redress their grievance, such as beseeching them to move to put a stop and awaken the law enforcers and local officials to the fact that the dastardly killings must be contained.

He noted that the killings have gone haywire, with reporters doing their jobs are shot in broad daylight, or judges cannot make decisions because they are killed in public, and many other people brutally robbed of their lives for the flimsiest reason.

Gordon stressed that if they, in the Senate, can call the policemen to task for the "euro-generals" scam, then they must also do so when these law enforcers have been remiss in carrying out their duty of protecting the people.

"We call these policemen to task for taking P10-million out of the country. What is more dastardly than people who get away with killings when these policemen are supposed to be doing their jobs, making sure they have criminal investigation techniques," he said.

"They should be using the intelligence fund instead of using it for travel, they should have used that intelligence fund to identify organized crimes in this country, perpetrators of assassinations, guns for hire so that we can get these people to task," he added.