Senator Richard Gordon on Thursday denounced the killing of a public school teacher who was gunned down by a motorcycle-riding criminal in Amadeo, Cavite.
Gordon, who chairs the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, said he is saddened with the loss of a dedicated educator in Normita “Noemi” Bautista and slammed the prevailing culture of killings in the country, many of which are carried out by so-called “riding-in-tandem” criminals.
“Her students have lost a veteran teacher who has shaped the lives of generations' worth of aspiring Filipinos,” Gordon said in a statement.
“Hindi ako masasawang tawagan ng pansin ang ating otoridad ukol sa riding-in-tandem na ito. Isa na namang pagpatay ng ating inosenteng mamamayan. Naging barya-barya na lang ang buhay ng tao sa ilang indibidwal na batik na ng kasamaan ang mga ugali (I won’t stop calling the attention of our authorities about our problem with these riding in tandem. Another innocent citizen is killed. There is utmost disregard for the human life due to loss of morality),” he lamented.
Bautista, a senior high school teacher at Tagaytay City National High School, was killed outside her home in Bgy. Salaban last Jan. 5, Wednesday, after being shot in the head.
Police said the killer fled on board a neon green motorcycle as local authorities have yet to determine the assailant's identity, whereabouts, and motive behind the killings.
Gordon lamented that if the Republic Act (RA) 11235, or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act had been properly implemented, police could have easily identified the suspect with the help of the Joint Command Center.
“Imagine if we have the Joint Command Center up and running, an accessible database set up by the Land Transportation Office (LTO), the PNP could immediately track down the neon green motorcycle,” he pointed out.
“That is why I called the LTO out last month, because many of these crimes could have been solved immediately or prevented because motorcycles should be identified easily through readable license plates and a working and updated database,” he added.
He also said ordinary citizens could easily report crimes, such as theft, robbery, or murder, through a hotline or a mobile application that could provide immediate leads to investigators if the law has been properly executed.
Last December, Gordon criticized the LTO for dilly-dallying in the full and immediate implementation of the law.