House opposition lawmakers on Wednesday denounced what they called the growing climate of fear and breakdown of the rule of law in the country following the spate of unsolved killings, including the murder of two town mayors.
Ifugao Rep. Teddy Brawner Baguilat Jr. said the Philippine National Police (PNP) should recalibrate to address these crimes.
“There is a climate of fear engulfing us. Priests and mayors are being killed after indigenous peoples and the urban poor,” Baguilat said.
“I urge the Philippine National Police to recalibrate and even step up its law enforcement campaign and go after hired assassins,” he added.
The Ifugao lawmaker said the spike in the killings by unknown assailants to the ongoing so-called war against drugs has emboldened unscrupulous individuals to flout the law and kill alleged drug users and pushers.
“Because nobody is being arrested then the criminal elements feel that they can get away with anything, even going now as far as killing more high-profile individuals in broad daylight and in cold blood,” he said.
“Now they are selling their service cheap to anyone who holds a grudge without fear of being caught, and that is because they know or feel that there is really no commitment on the part of the authorities to go after them,” Baguilat said.
The gruesome murders of two mayors, Tanauan city, Batangas Mayor Antonio Halili and Mayor Ferdinand Bote of Gen. Tinio, Nueva Ecija, were done separately on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay said whether Halili is involved in illegal drugs, it is “slandering the dead” for President Duterte to link without proof Halili’s murder to the drug trade.
“Duterte again justified the use of force in a society where the proliferation of the culture of violence seems to be encouraged and inveigled by the administration,” he said.
Also, the lawmaker said, the President’s proposal to arm barangay chairmen, which makes them veritable targets of criminals, fits the mold of this culture of violence.
“Duterte is also inculcating violence in the youth with his proposal to arm ROTC cadets to beef up his unsuccessful campaign against drugs and criminality,” he said.
While a gun may be for “self-defense,” in most cases it is an assault weapon, an instrument of aggression and violence, Lagman added.