In Pasay, no letup in ‘cardboard justice’

Five more men turned up dead in various areas in Pasay City early Wednesday, in a continuing wave of vigilante-style killings whose numbers have surged under the weeks-old Duterte administration.

Three of the bodies, whose hands and heads were wrapped in packaging tape and bore multiple stab wounds, were found in separate locations along Roxas Boulevard and Diokno Boulevard. They were identified by the Southern Police District only with aliases, “Reggie,” “Toto” and “Boy Silva.”

The first body was discovered around 12:50 a.m. on Diokno Boulevard as officers on patrol noticed the body in a dimly lit part of the road. A placard placed on it said: “Wag tularan, carnapper/adik kami. Marami na tao niloko namin (Do not emulate. We are car thieves, drug addicts. We’ve fooled a lot of people).”

The second body was found at 2:33 a.m. on the southbound service road of Roxas Boulevard after concerned citizens alerted the police. It also had a placard tagging the victim as a car thief. The third body, with a similar sign, was discovered 5:50 a.m. by a security guard of PNB Roxas Boulevard at the bank’s back parking area.

Two more men were shot and branded as house robbers (akyat-bahay) by their assailants.

A motorist notified police officers in a nearby barangay hall about a body spotted along Donada Street around 3:45 a.m. The victim was hogtied and his head was wrapped in packaging tape.

He had a tattoo on the left arm, which reads “Martinez,” while its placard called the victim an akyat-bahay burglar named “Patrick.” The police recovered three .45-caliber bullet casings and two slugs at the scene.

Earlier, around 3 a.m., a body was discovered in a vacant lot at No. 1760 Interior, Barangay 41, Zone 6, Taft Avenue. He was identified by a placard as “Kuntil” and labeled as robber. Two .45-cal. spent shells were found next to the body.

Also in Pasay, 27-year-old Jethro Sosa was playing inside a computer shop along Andrews Avenue, Barangay 185, Zone 19, around 9:30 p.m. when a hooded gunman suddenly entered and shot him once through the mouth.

The gunman fled on foot and Sosa was brought to a hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

The police later described Sosa as a member of the Sigue-Sigue Sputnik gang and a known robber and drug pusher.