Arroyo laments Batocabe slay: Life has become so cheap

Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo attends the wake of AKO Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe. Photo from the office of Arroyo

MANILA, Philippines — “Life has become so cheap,” House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo lamented Sunday as she again denounced the killing of AKO Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe.

Arroyo, who visited the wake of Batocabe in Daraga, Albay a day after his death, said “enforcement is the best deterrent” to avoid a repeat of the lawmaker’s killing.

“I condemn what has happened. Life has become so cheap. That should not be so. Nothing can justify that gruesome murder,” Arroyo told reporters in an ambush interview, a transcript of which was sent to reporters.

“So I hope our authorities could conduct a thorough and speedy investigation,” she added.

“As of now,” she said “about 150 congressmen have already committed to put up a fund to get the killers.

“That really is the best way to get the killers,” she added.

Arroyo said Batocabe was “very much loved in Congress both by the congressmen and non-congressmen.”

“Maybe your colleagues in media will tell you that he is popular with the media. They often got him as ninong in the baptism or whatever religious celebrations they had. He was really very popular,” she said.

She said Batocabe’s death was a big loss for the House of Representatives.

“Oh yes definitely. He was very very active in the hearings. Very tough interrogator and also a very tough debater. So he certainly did his part,” she said.

Batocabe, 52, was at a gift-giving event for senior citizens and persons with disabilities around 3 p.m. in Barangay Burgos in Daraga, Albay when he was shot dead. /je

READ: Six initial suspects eyed in Batocabe slay