Senators on Monday condemned the police officer who shot to death a mother and son in Paniqui, Tarlac on Sunday afternoon.
The killing of Sonya Rufino Gregorio and her son Frank Anthony in Barangay Cabayaoasan went viral on social media. The suspect, Police Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca, who is assigned in Parañaque City but lives in Tarlac, surrendered to authorities minutes after the shooting incident.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon was joined by fellow opposition Senators Francis Pangilinan, Leila de Lima and Risa Hontiveros in denouncing the killings.
Senator Christopher Lawrence Go also weighed in, saying that he and President Duterte would like justice to be fully meted out.
“This is pure evil. That devil who committed an evil act in front of his own daughter deserves to rot in jail. I have no words to describe his unspeakable act. He should spend Christmas and a lifetime in jail,” Drilon said in a statement.
Drilon said he believes such police abuses and violence will continue unless the government addresses the culture of impunity in the Philippines.
“So long as the culture of impunity exists in the country, and when there is a system that rewards misdeeds instead of punishing them, police abuses and violence will continue,” the minority leader said.
“Impunity breeds trigger-happy cops,” the senator added.
Go, chairman of the Senate health and demography committee, asked authorities to make sure Nuezca rots in jail and that his removal from the force would make PNP slate clean.
He pointed out that he and President Duterte fully support the members of the police force in performing their duties to protect the citizenry but added that the administration will not allow an abusive policeman to destroy the reforms that have been initiated.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros also slammed the incident on her Twitter account.
“Saan papunta ang lipunan natin? If a law enforcer and father can feel so invincible that he thinks it’s his right to murder an unarmed mother and son. Without missing a heartbeat in front of his child, shot them in the heads. Binaril pa yung bangkay dalawang beses (He even shot them twice),” she lamented.
Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan also denounced the killing, saying he, too, is exasperated.
“Nakakagalit ang pangyayari. Yan ang resulta kapag kinukunsinti o hindi pinaparusahan ang mga pulis na abusado at tiwali. (This incident is infuriating. That’s the result when cops who are abusive and corrupt are condoned),” Pangilinan said in a separate statement.
“Hihintayin natin ang pagkondena ng administrasyon sa pangyayari at tiyakin na mapaparusahan sa halip na kinukunsinti o pino-promote pa ang mga tiwali at abusadong pulis (we will wait for this administration to condemn the incident and make sure that abusive cops who committed the crime would not be condoned or even promoted),” he said.
Detained Senator Leila de Lima also expressed her indignation at the killing of two unarmed victims at point-blank by an active member of the PNP, describing it a “ghastly and bestial murder.”
“Appalling and shocking! Walang puso at konsensya lamang nag kayang gumawa ng ganitong karumal-dumal at kalunos-lunos na krimen (only someone who is heartless and has no conscience can carry out such abominable crime),” De Lima said.
“This is another incident that desensitizes the public towards violence and cruelty, a proof that authorities can go overboard with abuse of power especially when you give them a license to kill, kill, kill,” she added.
De Lima, a vocal critic of the Duterte administration, said such atrocity should remind the President and his allies of the need to put a stop to the prevalent climate of violence and abuses that provides authorities and vigilantes the impunity in committing crimes and grave human rights violations without fear of accountability.
“Kung walang pag-aalinlangan ang pulis na ito na gawin ito sa harap ng maraming tao, anon a lang ang kaya pa niyang gawin kung walang ibang nakakakita? (If this policeman has no qualms doing such crime before many people, what else can he not do when no one is looking on him?),” she pointed out.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has also strongly condemned the “brazen, senseless killing” and urged authorities to dig deeper into its investigation. The CHR has also called on the government to conduct widespread probe on every allegation of arbitrary killing involving policemen.
Police Lt. Col. Noriel Rombaoa, chief of the Paniqui Police Station, said the Gregorios allegedly caught Nuezca’s ire over an improvised cannon but the altercation eventually escalated to their longstanding disagreement regarding right of way.
Nuezca reportedly had two homicide cases before the murder of the two people in broad daylight, but those cases were dismissed.
Reaction from the social media showed that Nuezca could felt ‘’emboldened to murder because he got away with killing two times—and if not for the video, he might have gotten away with this. This is impunity.’’
READ MORE: Police in viral Tarlac shooting had two dismissed homicide cases — Sinas