Rights group worried about stand of Robin Padilla on EJKs

MANILA, Philippines — Human rights group Karapatan on Saturday raised concern about the possibility of actor and now senatorial aspirant Robin Padilla winning in the elections despite his stand on extrajudicial killings (EJKs).

“Mr. Padilla’s views on extrajudicial killings as inevitable incidents during anticrime operations are anathema to democratic principles and the so-called rule of law in the country,” Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, told the Inquirer.

Padilla, a staunch supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte, had claimed that the latter’s bloody drug war was “most successful.”

In a television interview last week, Padilla said that EJKs had been a “part” in carrying out the fight against illegal drugs. Padilla was convicted of illegal possession of firearms in 1994 and was granted absolute pardon by Duterte in 2016.

—DEMPSEY REYES

READ: Robin Padilla says EJK part of crime-fighting, Duterte drug war ‘most successful’