Sen. De Lima's Statement on the Senate hearing regarding the downgraded charges vs cops in Espinosa slay
Dispatch from Crame No. 124

(On the Senate hearing on the downgraded charges vs cops in Espinosa slay)

I, of course, share the indignation, a righteous one, of some of my colleagues, in probing into the DOJ's downgrading of the double murder charges into homicide only versus Supt. Marcos and his men for the killing of Mayor Espinosa and another detention prisoner.

My colleagues appear to be up in arms against both the DOJ and PNP Chief dela Rosa for the downgrading leading to Marcos, et al.'s posting of bail and for reinstating (as a prelude to eventual promotion) Marcos, respectively.

But I'm afraid my colleagues are barking at the wrong tree.

To be sure, both dela Rosa and the DOJ, more specifically, USEC Orceo and certainly SOJ Aguirre (who, characteristically, is again lying through his teeth when disowning Orceo's ruling), are not blameless. They are in fact culpable for enforcing illegal orders from their common principal, the President.

But most culpable is Duterte himself who gave them such illegal and unjust order to 'go slow' on Marcos, et al, which translates, as it did, to the latter's freedom from detention and their reinstatement into service and promotability.

Why? Because, again, Marcos, et al. were simply carrying out Duterte's illegal and criminal order to summarily execute Espinosa. The trail of blood goes all the way up to the highest chain of command.

It's a monstrous cycle of violence and defiance of the rule of law that our society has to live with for as long as this tyrant holds his awesome powers, fueled by his own dark psychology.