Senator Francis Pangillinan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
This is not the rule of one man. This is the rule of law.
This was how Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, acting president of the Liberal Party, reacted on Thursday to President Rodrigo Duterte’s reported statement that the police allegedly involved in the killing of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. would not go to jail.
This despite the National Bureau of Investigation’s findings that the killing was a “rubout” and not a “shootout” as claimed by a police unit that raided the mayor’s cell at the Baybay sub-provincial jail in Leyte last November 5.
READ: Duterte: I won’t allow cops who killed Mayor Espinosa go to jail
“Nakakatakot ang sabi ng ating Pangulo na kahit may NBI findings e hindi sila makukulong,” (The President’s statement that despite the NBI’s findings (of a rubout), they (police) would not go to jail. That’s scary) Pangilinan said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel’s morning show “Headstart.”
“Dapat hinahayaan n’ya. May proseso tayo. Ibig sabihin, wala ng proseso basta sinabi ko,” (He should have just kept quiet. We follow a process. That means processes are ignored because he said it so) the LP official said.
“Nakakatakot yun dahil saan na tayo papanig dito? Sinabi nang ‘murder,’ pero hindi pwedeng makulong tsaka walang makukulong. Mahirap yun.” (That’s scary because to whom do we turn to? It’s been found to be murder but they won’t go to jail. No one will go to prison. That’s tough.)
“We have to go through our processes because this is not the rule of one man. This is the rule of law,” the senator said.
“We have to go through our processes because this is not the rule of one man. This is the rule of law,” the senator said.
Asked then if he would now consider the killings in the country as state-sponsored following the President’s latest pronouncement, Pangilinan said, “Yes, because he said also na utos ko ‘yan na pag naglaban, patayin.”
The senator lamented the State’s apparent failure to prevent the alleged cases of “vigilante killings” in the country, which have reportedly been on the rise since the start of the Duterte administration.
“It’s the responsibility of the State to ensure that these are not happening — itong vigilante killings. In that sense, the State failed to prevent it from happening,” he said. CBB/rga