A resolution seeking a Senate inquiry into the spate of unlawful killings of citizens, including doctors, lawyers, journalists and members of other professions in the Philippines has been filed in the Senate.
The measure, Senate Resolution No. 600, seeks to identify the gaps in law enforcement, attain justice for the victims, and break the culture of impunity in the country especially among law enforcement agencies.
The filing of the measure comes on the heels of the cold-blooded murder of a mother and son by a police official in Paniqui, Tarlac last Sunday afternoon.
Senators who co-authored the resolution are Joel Villanueva, Juan Edgardo
Angara, Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, Sherwin Gatchalian and Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri.
The senators stressed the necessity to conduct a Senate probe, noting that in a span of six months from July to December of this year 2020, at least 15 persons consisting of doctors, lawyers, journalists and other members of the community were unlawfully killed.
The resolution also mentioned the most recent killings involving health officials including the head of the COVID Task Force in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental; of Dr. Dreyfuss Perlas, a volunteer doctor under the Doctors to the Barrio Program of the Department of Health (DOH) in Sapao, Lanao del Norte, who was shot dead allegedly due to work-related reasons in March 2017; of Dr. Sharid Sinolinding, who was shot dead inside his clinic in Cotabato City in April 2017; and of Dr. George Repique, another doctor serving as the provincial health officer of Cavite who was shot dead while on his way home.
The measure also cited the death of Manila Chief Inquest Prosecutor Jovencio Senados in July 7, 2020 who was gunned down by unidentified persons who apparently followed him from his home in Laguna all the way to Manila; Randy Echanis, peace consultant for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, who was shot dead in his own home on Aug. 10.
The lawmakers also cited the death of journalist Ronnie Villamor last Nov. 14 who died after an altercation with members of the military while covering a land dispute case in Masbate; lawyer Eric Jay Magcamit in the province of Palawan last Nov. 17; and another journalist, Virgilio Maganes, who died in Pangasinan after being strafed by unidentified gunmen riding in motorcycles.
The resolution also sought an inquiry into the killing of Sonya Gregorio and her son Frank Anthony who were mercilessly shot execution-style by a neighbor who is a policeman in Paniqui, Tarlac, last Sunday, December 20.
“The series of killings in the past six months of at least 15 people from members of various professions, including lawyers and journalists, and other members of the community, exacerbated by the fact that justice remains elusive for the victims and their families, highlight the need to launch an inquiry, in aid of legislation, to identify the gaps in law enforcement,” the senators said in the resolution.