Alvarez sees drug lords’ hand in teenagers’ killings
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. (File photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Monday said the House of Representatives should look into the killings of teenagers, which he said were perpetuated by drug lords to undermine the administration’s war on drugs.
In an interview with Pinky Webb over CNN Philippines’ “The Source,” Alvarez called it insane to say that the administration was behind the killings of teenagers Kian Delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz, and Reynaldo De Guzman.
“Alam mo Pinky, kailangan talaga imbestigahan ‘yan. Kasi nakita natin ‘yung proseso eh, na sadyang itong mga minors, sunud-sunod o, pinapatay. So ano motibo dito di ba? Malinaw, para mag-aklas, magalit sa administration,” Alvarez said.
READ: Duterte says he and Carl Arnaiz were related, teen slays meant to sabotage drug war
“Malinaw na malinaw. Maaaring gawain ito ng mga drug lord para mahinto ang kampanya against illegal drugs, o maaaring gawain ito ng pulitika. Dalawang possibilities dito. Pero para sabihin mong gawa ito ng administrasyon, kalokohan ito,” he added.
READ: Cabbie says killing of Carl Angelo Arnaiz was ‘scripted’
Delos Santos and Arnaiz became the face of police abuses after being killed in alleged shootout with police, when autopsy results showed they were tortured and intentionally killed.
Meanwhile, De Guzman, Arnaiz’s companion in in the alleged hold-upping incident of a taxi, went missing for days before he was found in a river. He was recently killed after being dumped in Gapan, Nueva Ecija.
READ: ‘Kulot’ thrown into river less than 24 hours after he was killed
Lawmakers have called for a probe into the slay of the three teenagers.
Although the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) can come in to investigate the killings, Alvarez said the commission has now become a “useless” agency because it only investigate alleged abuses by police, but is mum on crimes committed by drug addicts.
READ: Militant solons seek probe into Arnaiz’s killing
This is why Alvarez is pushing for a zero budget for the CHR, the Speaker said, although he clarified that he wanted P1,000, not a zero budget, for the beleaguered commission.
READ: Zero budget for human rights commission? Gascon fears the worst
“Gusto ko malinaw to. Hindi naman zero; 1,000. Kasi hindi nila ginagawa yung trabaho nila. Yung mandato nila under the Constitution, hindi nila ginagawa. Ano yun? Para protektahan yung karapatang pantao ng lahat ng tao, hindi lang nung mga kriminal,” Alvarez said.
The House recently approved a P1,000 budget for the Energy Regulatory Commission, which is beset with corruption allegations.
READ: House gives ERC measly budget of P1,000 for 2018
“Ngayon, gusto nila kriminal lang ang poprotektahan nila. Pag merong victims na hindi ano, itong mga victims mismo ng human rights, ayaw nilang magsalita. Wala man lang silang programa para sa mga biktima. Pero kapag ka yung rights ng criminal ay maingay sila,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez chided the CHR that if it wants to defend the rights of criminals, it could ask its budget from the syndicates, not from Congress.
“Ngayon, kung gusto mong protektahan yung rights ng criminal, eh kumuha ka ng budget sa mga criminal. Ganun lang kasimple yun. Bakit ka kukuha ng budget sa gobyerno, eh hindi mo ginagawa yung (trabaho mo),” Alvarez said.
Alvarez said the mandate of the CHR was to protect the rights of all citizens, not just guard against abuses by the police and government.
“Basahin nila ang letra ng Constitution. Anong mandato nila sa Constitution, ng Republic of the Philippines? Para protektahan ang karapatang pantao ng lahat, hindi lang ng ano, bantayan yung pulis, bantayan yung gobyerno kung umaabuso,” Alvarez said.
“Hindi lang talaga nila ginagawa trabaho nila. Nung may namasaker, meron ba silang sinabi? May comment ba sila, may simpatiya man lang? Wala,” he added.
Alvarez maintained that the House would not budge from its stance to give a P1,000 budget to the CHR.
“Useless din naman sila ngayon eh,” he said. je
READ: Zero budget may be unconstitutional, CHR says
