VACC on speculations over local execs’ slays: Wait for task force’s report

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said on Monday that the public must focus first on the investigation of the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) instead of relying on the various speculations on the series of killings of local officials.

“Dapat nakatutok muna tayo sa lead agency, sa Special Investigation Task Group, kasi ‘yun talaga ang may authority,” VACC Spokesperson Arsenio “Boy” Evangelista said in an interview on Radyo Inquirer.

(We need to focus on the lead agency, Special Investigation Task Group, because they are the ones who have the authority.)

With the consecutive killings, Evangelista pointed out that there is a possibility that the public would attribute the deaths to the controversial “narco list.”

“Nakakita na sila ng magandang cover. Yung investigation, lalabas na involved sa drugs, nasa narco list, kaya pwede,” he said, when asked if the said list could be one of the motivations of the killings of local executives.

(They found a good cover. The investigation may show there’s involvement in drugs or inclusion on the narco list, so that could be a possibility.)

According to Evangelista, the early pronouncement that these deaths were “government-sponsored” is quite inappropriate.

“Yung mga nasa narco list, karamihan, ‘yun ang perception na lumalabas, government-sponsored. Makikita naman natin sa series, medyo mali rin ‘yung eary pronouncement na ito’y government-sponsored,” he said.

(On those on the narco list, the perception is usually that it’s government-sponsored. We can see that on the series, it’s wrong for the early pronouncement that these are government-sponsored.)

In the meantime, Evangelista suggests that the public would wait for the final report of the authorities before drawing conclusions.

“Itong accumulation ng mga sinabi ni ganito, ni ganyan, pati may ganitong report, [it] boils down to, ‘yung dapat na kumolekta – ‘yung SITG. ‘Yung final summary executive report, dun tayo mag-start,” he added.

(This accumulation of the statements of this and that person, as well as the reports, it boils down to who needs to collect them – the SITG. We need to start on the final summary executive report.)

Three local politicians, which include two mayors and a vice mayor, were killed in the same week, which raised concerns about the rising lawlessness in the Philippines. Syrah Vivien Inocencio, INQUIRER.net intern/je