The Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, chaired by Senator Richard J. Gordon, has started a public hearing on the series of killings in the country.
On January 18, Gordon delivered a privilege speech during the Senate regular session and condemned the continued acts of violence perpetrated by criminals, including riding-in-tandem gunmen.
Gordon called for immediate action to end the assassinations, and appealed to arrest and bring the perpetrators to justice.
“One killing is one too many. Alas, there are too many. They have no qualms shooting people in front of their family. They are not even afraid to shoot them in front of their children,” he said in his speech.
Gordon noted that there have been 19 people killed from January 1 up to the present composed mostly of civilians based on the news monitoring of his office. Some of these killings happened in broad daylight and some took place in their own homes.
The killings of mother-and-son Sonya and Frank Gregorio in Tarlac on December 20, 2020, and barangay tanod Joseph Labonera in Floridablanca, Pampanga last January 4 were among the recently reported crimes which caused public outrage.
Gordon said that there are too many killing incidents but very few cases are being solved and pointed out that these assassinations will not stop if the public, especially the government, will not act on it.
Among the resource persons who were invited are from the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Philippine National Police (PNP), National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM), Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), and other agencies.