Amid the series of killings of local officials, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said there is no culture of impunity in the country.
“I don’t think there’s a sense of impunity here in our country. It’s probably unfair if we say that there is a feeling or sense of impunity,” Albayalde said in a press briefing on Monday.
Human rights groups have denounced the perceived culture of impunity in the country, which they claimed to have strengthened under Duterte administration because of his bloody anti-drug campaign.
Impunity refers to being exempted from punishment or receiving special treatment despite wrongful actions.
Talks about a culture of impunity in the Philippines have reemerged after at least four local government officials were brazenly murdered in a span of about two weeks: Tanauan City Mayor Antonio Halili, General Tinio Mayor Ferdinand Bote, Trece Martires Vice Mayor Alex Lubigan and Tawi-Tawi Vice Mayor Al-Rashid Mohammad Ali.
They were all brazenly murdered in public, particularly Halili who was gracing a flag-raising ceremony at the Tanauan City hall on July 2 when he was shot to death.
However, Albayalde said it is more important for the PNP to solve the cases with active support from the community, which he thinks plays a huge role in the solution and prevention of crime in the country.
The police chief pointed out that the recent cases of killings were solved with the public’s help.
“What’s important here is ‘pag may mga instances na ganito, ito yung ginagawa natin, nasosolve natin yung kaso based on the participation of the community,” he said.
(What’s important here is when there are instances like this, this is what we are doing, we solve the case based on the participation of the community.)
“We saw here, if only the community takes active participation in the solution of crimes and crime prevention for that matter, probably, these killings will be gone,” he added. — Syrah Vivien Inocencio/INQUIRER.net Intern
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