VACC to Duterte: Act on rising death toll before it’s too late

An anti-crime watchdog made an urgent appeal to President Duterte to address the rising death toll amid the government’s brutal war on drugs, which has claimed the lives of over 3,700 persons over a span of four months, and the slow pace of investigation in the recent spate of killings.

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), citing the killing of 21-year-old Yani Jebulan, a son of a retired intelligence cop, warned that criminals were taking advantage of the apparent “free-for-all” while the government was cleansing the country of drugs and criminality.

“The bodies of the dead have so piled up that the morbid line is blurred—what are legitimate police operations, what are the extrajudicial killings, what are the killings of the innocents by criminals over whatever motive—as in the case of Jebulan, lumped together in the war against drugs,” the VACC said in a statement on Friday.

READ: Retired cop asks Duterte, De la Rosa to help solve son’s killing

VACC President and Chairman Dante Jimenez, a known staunch supporter of Duterte, said it was high time for the President to address the slow investigation of crime cases “before the situation gets completely out of control.”

“Criminals are easily taking advantage of the apparent ‘free-for-all’—despite the government’s pure intention to cleanse the country of drugs, and the slow pace of investigation of the crimes has worsened matters,” Jimenez said.

Given that not all cases of killings could be investigated because of their volume, Jimenez raised concerns that all deaths since the Duterte administration waged its war on drugs could be misconstrued as “state sanctioned even if these may not be true.”

“Let’s face it, not all the crime cases are being investigated because of its volume. Police investigators don’t have the capability for such a huge task. The cases are piling up and speculations are also mounting not only locally in our country but also abroad,” he said.

“It’s high time the President step  in and address the investigation of these crime cases although these are actually judicial cases, before the situation gets completely out of control.”

Retired SPO3 Alfredo Jebulan condemned the cold blooded murder of his son Yani in Cupang, Antipolo last Saturday. Jebulan asked the President and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa to help him find the killers of his son.

“I’m begging you. Help me solve the unnecessary death of my son, please, or I will be the one to do it without your help,’’ Jebulan said.

If I find out that one of your policemen had a hand [in] the death of my son, God forbid… I know you don’t tolerate this, but let me be very, very frank: If they know how to kill people, so do I.”

READ: ‘Bato’: Don’t be quick to blame drug war for death of cop’s son

But Dela Rosa asked the Jebulan family not to readily attribute Jebulan’s killing to the government’s drug war.

The organization, in coordination with other government agencies involved in the judicial system, will also launch a program “Buhayin ang mga Patay (na kaso)” to revive criminal cases that have been inactive or neglected because of the problems of the criminal justice system. CDG/rga