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Just do it.
This was the challenge posed by opposition lawmakers following Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s vow for the House of Representatives to investigate the killings of teenagers in the administration’s war on drugs.
“Just do it. I think it is long overdue for the House to act on several resolutions on extrajudicial killings, including two I co-sponsored,” Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin said.
Villarin said the killings of Kian delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz, and Reynaldo de Guzman “show that the anti-drug war has gone haywire with the police as primary suspects.”
READ: Cabbie says killing of Carl Angelo Arnaiz was ‘scripted’
“It has gone overboard as a culture of violence is foisted as a national policy by no less than President Duterte himself,” Villarin said.
He made the statement after Speaker Alvarez, in an interview with CNN Philippines’ “The Source,” said the lower House should look into the killings of teenagers, which he blamed on drug lords who want to undermine the administration’s war on drugs.
READ: Alvarez sees drug lords’ hand in teenagers’ killings
Delos Santos and Arnaiz became the faces of police abuses after being killed in alleged shootout with police, when autopsy results showed they were tortured and intentionally killed.
Meanwhile, De Guzman, Arnaiz’s companion who was accused of robbing a taxi driver and reported missing for days, was found dead last week in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, his body dumped into the river.
READ: PAO dismisses PNP findings on De Guzman’s DNA
For his part, Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano chided Alvarez for seemingly hiding under a rock for pushing for a House probe on summary killings a year into the administration’s war on drugs.
“Sa’n ba nanggaling si Speaker for the past one year? Hindi ba siya aware na libu-libo na ang namatay sa war on drugs? Marami na ring ang napaslang na mga kabataan. Marami din ang gustong magtestigo na mga pamilya ng mga biktima,” Alejano said.
Alejano said the House investigation should not be limited to the teenagers’ slay, but should include all the thousands of victims of the brutal war on drugs.
“Ngayon, gusto nang imbestigahan ang kaso ni Kian delos Santos ngunit pinapahiwatig na kaagad na ito ay kagagawan ng drug lords o politicians para sabotahiin ang war on drugs ng administrasyon,” Alejano said.
“Hindi lang dapat buksan ang imbestigasyon para lang kay Kian kung hindi sa lahat ng biktima ng extrajudicial killings,” he added.
READ: Why can’t the House prioritize probe into drug killings? – opposition solons
In a separate statement, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate welcomed Speaker’s word to start a probe on the summary killings, but belied that the killings were perpetrated by drug lords to undermine the war on drugs.
“Is the government’s bloody war on drugs being sabotaged? These summary executions, including those of minors, are the result of the government’s tacit approval of these killings; this state of impunity, waged for the sake and in the name of Duterte’s war on drugs, must be stopped,” Zarate said.
READ: Lawmaker calls out House for ‘inaction’ on drug war killings