Batangueño Senator Ralph Recto on Monday condemned the killing of Tanauan City Mayor Antonio Halili as he assailed the erosion of the rule of law in the country.
Halili was gunned down while singing the national anthem during a flag raising ceremony in the city hall grounds. Authorities said it was likely that a sniper killed the mayor.
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“Tony Halili was a colorful man who had done many great things for his people and Tanauan City. He had a governance style that was unconventional in some aspects, but it effectively kept the city he loved safe and prosperous,” he said in a statement.
“My thoughts and prayers are with Tony’s loved ones. I condole with his family. I condemn his death. I urge the police to arrest the killers on the loose,” he added.
Recto said that a sniper is “on the loose in Batangas” and Halili was the latest victim.
“The province is littered with bodies of victims of political assassinations and unsolved murders, and each unsolved killing emboldens the next, creating a spiral of violence, which authorities cannot seem to stop,” he said.
Recto hit the culture of impunity and failure of authorities to solve the string of killings that targeted local politicians, journalists, and priests.
“When the rule of law is more observed in the breach, including by agents of the state who do it with impunity, it incentivizes people to take the law into their own hands, and indicts the police for failing to stop it,” he said.
“When killings are rewarded by the failure of authorities to solve them, it strengthens the culture of violence, where disagreements are settled by permanently silencing the opponent,” he added. /ee
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