Nancy to PNP: Don’t treat local exec killings as isolated cases
Senator Nancy Binay. INQUIRER.net / CATHY MIRANDA
Senator Nancy Binay on Wednesday said the Philippine National Police (PNP) should not treat recent killings of local chief executives as isolated cases.
She said the death of local executives is a “systematic failure” of authorities to prevent such crimes.
“Hindi po dapat tratuhin ng Philippine National Police ang mga insidenteng ito bilang isolated cases ng murder o personal vendetta; bagkus ay tingnan bilang isang systematic failure ng mga kinauukulan na hadlangan at sugpuin ang krimen ayon na rin sa paninindigan ng Pangulo sa isyu,” Binay said in a statement Wednesday.
(The Philippine National Police should not treat these incidents as isolated cases of murder or personal vendetta; instead they should see it as a systematic failure of authorities to prevent and stop crime according to the stand of the President in the issue.)
Senior Superintendent Benigno Durana, spokesperson of the PNP, earlier said that despite these recent deaths, crime rate in the country has improved.
“Alam po natin kahit na ito ay mga isa, dalawa, tatlong insidente sa pagpaslang. Siguro po tingnan din natin [ang crime rate] base po sa mga objective na datos,” noted Durana in an interview with dzMM on Tuesday.
(We know that even if this is one, two or three killing incidents, maybe we should also look at [the crime rate] based on objective data.)
Binay cited the deaths of local politicians since January this year, including La Union second district representative Eufranio Eriguel, Buenavista Mayor Ronald Tirol of Bohol, and the latest, Tanauan City Mayor Antonio Halili and General Tinio Mayor Ferdinand Bote of Nueva Ecija.
Halili was shot dead during a flag ceremony in Tanauan City, Batangas, last Monday, while Bote was shot dead in Cabanatuan City on Tuesday.
Aside from politicians, Binay also condemned the killing of priests, journalists, and prosecutors which she said “has no place in a supposedly civilized and law-abiding society like the Philippines.”
“No amount of condemnation would bring justice to these killings and murders, unless the authorities seriously do everything in its powers and mandate to resolve the seeming lawlessness that is happening in the country,” the senator said. /cbb
