20 already killed by riding-in-tandem gunmen in January — Senate panel

MANILA, Philippines — Just this month, 20 people already have been reported killed in the country by riding-in-tandem gunmen, Senator Richard Gordon disclosed on Thursday.

Gordon said this was based on own monitoring by the staff of the Senate committee on justice and human rights which is now probing the spate of unlawful killings in the country.

Of the 20 people killed by riding-in-tandem gunmen, panel chairman Gordon said 12 are civilians, three were policemen, and the others were a teacher, a priest, a government employee, a lawyer, and a politician.

“Hindi ako sigurado na ‘yan lang ang talagang namamatay, pero ‘yan ang nakalap ng mga tauhan natin dito sa Senado, mga staff ng committee on justice,” said the senator.

(I am not sure if they were the only ones who were killed, but this is the only information that my staff of committee on justice gathered.)

These killings, he said, happened in broad daylight and some were even inside the “sanctity of their own home or just steps away from their home.”

“This manner of killings ay talagang umaalingasaw na ang impunity. Lumalakas ang loob ng mga mamatay-tao,” Gordon said.

(This manner of killings really reeks of impunity. The killers are getting more bold.)

He then reminded the police, without saying they were involved in the said killings, that “You can’t be judge, you can’t be jury and executioner at the same time.”

“Kung hindi natin pakikiaalaman ito e lalabas na may breakdown tayo ng (If we don’t do anything about this, then it will seem like we have a breakdown of) peace order and failure of the law. Something that we don’t appreciate,” Gordon added.

JE