Lack of outrage over killings ‘quite disturbing,’ says De Lima

Senator Leila De Lima says the lack of a ‘roaring rejection’ of daily killings in the country is ‘quite disturbing.’ INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

Senator Leila de Lima found “quite disturbing” the absence of a “roaring rejection” by Filipinos of the daily killings in the country since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office.

Speaking at the Annual Conference on Cultural Diplomacy 2016 in Berlin, Germany on Sunday, De Lima noted how Duterte continued to enjoy a “very good” performance rating based on the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

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“Of course surveys aren’t always accurate, but the absence of a roaring rejection of the occurrence of daily deaths in our streets is in itself quite disturbing,” she said.

“If 6,095 deaths, including deaths of innocent children, in less than 6 months, (aren’t) enough to spark outrage, how many more will it take?”

De Lima said she expected more deaths if Duterte and his allies in Congress would succeed in pushing for the restoration of capital punishment in the country. She predicted that the proposal to revive the death penalty could easily pass in the House of Representatives.

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“Apparently, our choice is be killed in the streets, or be killed by public execution,” the senator said, lamenting how the Philippines was fast becoming a nation where killing was seen as the solution to the problems.

“It doesn’t even matter that it has been clearly demonstrated that some cops are complicit in the very crimes they are supposed to suppress– clearly, the only real solution is to give them a carte blanche authority to kill the suspects outright. That is our brand of justice these days. And the true horror is that some of our people will stand up and applaud this reality.”

When she returns to the country this week, the senator said she would be again branded as the government’s enemy for questioning “the abuses of power” and objecting to the “rampant killings” in the country.

“But I shall take with me the knowledge that my one and only “sin”, so to speak, is having stepped out of the cave and seen the world outside – especially through the eyes and wisdom of all of you who have graced this year’s conference,” De Lima said.

“Having done so, I go back home, conscious of my duty to help the prisoners still trapped in the cave: to make them see the chains that bind them for what they are, to help them free themselves of those chains, and to finally step outside the cave and see the beauty, freedom and opportunities that the real world has to offer,” she said.

De Lima left the country last December 12 to receive an award in the the United States, and for her speaking engagement in Germany. She is expected to return home this week. CBB/rga