Aguirre: I did not say ‘criminals are not human’

Justice Sec. Vitaliano Aguirre. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II might have been misquoted by the media or it was probably a simple error in grammar when he said that “criminals are not humanity.”

Aguirre’s reported remark that “criminals are not human” was raised on Tuesday by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who was opposing his confirmation at the Commission on Appointment’s committee on justice and judicial bar council.

The remark was made when the Justice Secretary was sought for comment in an earlier media interview about the Amnesty International’s report that the administration’s war on drugs may be considered crimes against humanity.

READ: Aguirre says criminals not human, disputes Amnesty International report

“I categorically deny that I uttered the words attributed to me that drug lords are not human. It’s either I’d been misquoted or words had been placed in my mouth because I distinctly remember saying that criminals, drug lords, drug pushers are not humanity,” Aguirre told the committee.

“I did not say that they are not human, but you could not equate these drug pushers as humanity. In other words, these criminals can’t be equated with humanity,” he said.

Trillanes said he was, nevertheless, bothered by Aguirre’s remark and said some of his colleagues who are members of the panel might agree with him.

“No, no one agrees with that because the vice chair and I agree that it’s not the right grammar,” Senator Loren Legarda , who presided over the hearing, said.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III asked if what Aguirre simply meant was that criminals should not be compared with other ordinary people.

It was Legarda, who volunteered to answer for Aguirre.

“I know what he (Aguirre) means. It was probably said out of frustration and what he refers to are the perpetrators of heinous crimes can’t be considered as one of us,” she said.

“I simply wanted to state that it seemed it was taken out of context or even not grammatically correct. But regardless, that’s what he meant…” the lady senator added.

But Trillanes insisted that Aguirre’s remark was unacceptable, considering that he was the Justice secretary.

He said Aguirre’s statement indicated that it was okay for criminals to die or not be accorded human rights because they are not part of humanity.

“But here is the question, are they criminals to begin with? They are not because they never went through due process as defined by the Constitution and by the courts. That’s why I’m bothered. Politicians can utter those statements, but a Secretary of Justice cannot,” Trillanes added. CBB