Palace on spate of killings: No need for military intervention

SCREENGRAB from Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption Facebook account

MANILA, Philippines—Although there have been a number of high-profile killings in the past week, there is no need to call the military for back-up, Malacanang said Wednesday.

“Wala namang ganyang pagsuri sa sitwasyon (There is no such assessment of the situation),” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in response to a question on whether it is necessary to involve the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

He said President Benigno Aquino III is also closely monitoring the situation through the security and law and order cluster of the Executive branch.

On Tuesday, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) suggested to the President a number of solutions to address the heinous crimes in the country. The group claimed that heinous crimes, including murder and rape, increased threefold during the term of Aquino.

Coloma said they welcome suggestions of citizens on how to improve law enforcement and crime prevention.

However, he debunked claims that crime rate was up.

“We would like to be able to verify and compare VACC’s crime statistics with those issued by concerned government agencies,”

VACC founding chair Dante Jimenez told INQUIRER.net that it might be because Coloma’s data is based on the national total compared to their tally of heinous crimes only.

Asked if Malacañang agrees with VACC’s suggestion of building a state-of-the-art prison facility similar to the United States’ defunct Alcatraz prison, Coloma said it still needs to be studied by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. who will in turn give his recommendation to the President.

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