Vice President Leni Robredo FILE PHOTO / OVP
A day after President Rodrigo Duterte praised Bulacan police for killing 32 drug suspects in a single sweep, Vice-President Leni Robredo called for outrage.
“Ito, isang bagay na kailangan tayong mag-express ng outrage (This, this is a thing where we need to express outrage,” Robredo said in a press conference in Naga City on Thursday.
She said the killing of drug suspects is not something that should characterize Filipinos, claiming the country had long renounced “impunity.”
“Hindi naman tayo ito. Iyong culture of impunity, matagal na nating isinikwal dito sa ating bansa. Sana… sana hindi na natin papayagang makabalik pa (This is not us. The culture of impunity is something we have long renounced in our country. I just hope, I just hope we would not allow it to return),” she said on the eve of the fifth death anniversary of her husband, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.
Robredo stressed the need for due process to hold a wrongdoer liable and not put the law in one’s own hands.
“Hindi na hinahayaang gumiling pa iyong mga proseso na nasa Konstitusyon natin para siguruhin na iyong hustisya nabibigay para sa lahat. (The processes under the Constitution is not being allowed to run its course to ensure justice is being given to all),” she said.
Meanwhile, Akbayan Party-list Rep. Tomasito Villarin said Mr. Duterte’s remarks were “callous and insensitive,” especially in light of his recent admission that the drug problem cannot be easily solved contrary to his campaign promises that it ended in six months.
“President Duterte’s previous admission that illegal drugs can never be fully eradicated the way the US did it in the 70s should send a signal to the PNP to at least take a step back and stop the killings,” the opposition lawmaker said in a statement.
“Lauding this crime only reflects the rejection of a person’s right to life, and our very own humanity as Filipinos,” he added.
Mr. Duterte, in a Wednesday speech before the members of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, described as “maganda (good)” the recent deaths in a “one-time, big-time operation” in Bulacan on Tuesday.
“’Yung namatay daw kanina sa Bulacan, 32, in a massive raid, maganda ‘yun. Makapatay lang tayo ng mga another 32 everyday, then maybe we can reduce what ails this country (The ones who died in Bulacan, 32, in a massive raid, that is good. We could just kill another 32 everyday, then maybe we could reduce what ails this country),” he said.
That day too, another 26 were reportedly killed in a similar anti-drug sweep in Manila.