The Philippine National Police (PNP) has recorded 600 possible summary killings in the country in July alone, according to Sen. Panfilo Lacson, citing “well-informed” police sources.
But Lacson, a former PNP chief, on Wednesday said the police were still validating if the deaths were indeed summary killings and not police operations.
He said this was the reason he wanted a Senate investigation to focus on the alleged summary killings by unidentified assailants or vigilante groups.
“Napagalaman ko from well-informed sources sa loob ng PNP mismo, ang bilang nila 600 and they are trying to validate the 600 killings na summary killings talaga, dahil hindi police operations,” he told Senate reporters.
“So itatanong ko sa kanila (police), ilan ba among the 600 na summary executions ng mga unidentified o vigilante groups? Ilan doon ang nasimulan na ng investigation? Ilan ang meron na silang leads? Ilan yung meron na silang na-identify? At ilan na-file-an ng kaso o mafa-file-an ng kaso? Kung wala, malaki talaga ang problema natin.”
If the PNP would not act on the alleged summary killings, Lacson said people might think they were tolerating it.
“Whether they like it or not, ‘yan ang magiging perception. At the very least tino-tolerate nila. At worst, baka sila ang nag-sponsor. So dapat talaga ipakita nila iso-solve nila ang murder cases na ‘yan,” the senator said.
“For all intents and purposes, those are murder cases. Dahil hindi naman police ang nagsagawa at hindi naman sa police operations. Dahil maliwanag, killings ‘yan. So ‘pag killings at faceless individuals ang gumawa, talagang murder case ‘yan,” he added.
Lacson recalled that when he was the PNP chief, they were already alarmed when they had 10 unresolved murder cases in a month.
“And we’re talking of 600 murder cases in a month na kung walang solution e talagang nakakabahala. There’s reason for the citizenry to be alarmed,” he stressed.