Iloilo executions: Torture also used

ILOILO CITY—If this is how brutal President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s war on criminality would become, then criminals and crime suspects have reason to fear.

Lou Facto bore 18 gunshot wounds—10 in the thighs and eight in the head and chest.

Sherwin Taasan was shot eight times and bore bruises in the chest and face. His left arm was broken.

Taasan also bore second degree burns in the face, possibly due to electric shock.

These were the findings of forensic tests made by Dr. Noel Martinez, of the Western Visayas police’s crime laboratory, on the two victims of summary killings whose bodies were found separately on Saturday.

“These indicate that they were most likely beaten up or made to suffer before they were shot fatally,” Martinez told the Inquirer.

Facto’s body was found in the village of Sooc in Arevalo District here with his face wrapped in packing tape and his hands tied.

Taasan was shot and his body left on a grassy lot in the village of San Vicente in Leganes town, Iloilo province. He was forced to get off a jeepney in this city by unidentified men who introduced themselves as law enforcers serving a warrant of arrest.

The two victims had criminal records.

Taasan, 38, was previously arrested for theft and was also involved in a murder case. Facto, 33, had just been released from detention for a still undetermined criminal case. He was also linked to illegal drugs.

The killings have raised alarm from the Commission on Human Rights and Church leaders on what appears to be a trend of summary killings of crime suspects that followed a pronouncement of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte about the days of criminals being numbered.

In his talk with media after being proclaimed winner of the presidential race, Duterte said his priority would be to restore the death penalty and he preferred hanging as a method of execution because of its more shocking effects. Kill criminals became Duterte’s battle cry.

The regional police office, however, quickly dismissed speculation that the two killings were the work of vigilantes or law enforcers.

“The crackdown on criminals is being implemented within the bounds of the law,” said Supt. Gilbert Gorero, spokesperson of the Western Visayas police office.

He said the killings are still being investigated and the perpetrators are being identified.

“They could have been killed due to personal grudges or because of conflict within criminal groups,” he said.

He said police units had been directed to identify and go after the executioners of the two victims.

The regional police said its stepped up campaign on illegal drugs resulted in an 80 percent increase in operations last month compared to the same month last year.