An opposition senator on Friday called on the Philippine National Police to launch a full investigation into the “summary execution” of a man who was brutally shot and killed inside a government hospital in Angono town only hours after barely surviving bullet wounds in the head.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros said she was “gravely disturbed and enraged” by the brazen killing of 27-year-old Antipolo resident Vincent Adia, who was recovering from three gunshot wounds at Rizal Provincial Hospital-Annex wounds when a masked assailant barged into the emergency room and pumped two bullets into him, in full view of hospital employees.
“This horrific attack was a naked violation of Vincent’s human rights and a gross disrespect of the health-care sector,” the senator said.
“I am gravely disturbed and enraged by this incident. The initial indiscriminate assault on Vincent out in the streets already shocks the conscience. But his summary execution, while he was helpless on his hospital bed, adds to the harrowing spate of killings that has continued under this administration,” Hontiveros said.
News reports quoting Adia’s relatives indicated that the victim had been tagged as a drug pusher by his killer, although Police Col. Joseph Arguelles, Rizal provincial police director, said he was not on the watch list of drug personalities.
Hontiveros said she was aghast that the second attack took place inside a hospital.
“Hospitals are meant to be safe spaces for recovery and rehabilitation, but Vincent’s place of refuge was debased by perpetrators of extreme violence, who remain very much at large,” she said.
She urged the PNP to conduct “a timely, thorough, and transparent investigation into this gruesome incident.”
“The PNP should also adopt rigorous protection measures for eye-witnesses who were unsparing in their details,” Hontiveros said.
“However, the statistics for unresolved extrajudicial killings are also a testament that many promises from law enforcement officials have gone unfulfilled, extending the period of emotional brutality for the victim’s families,” she added.