Zubiri says Degamo assassination considered 'an act of terror'
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Monday, March 6, called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to live up to their mandate to serve and to protect the Filipino people.
Zubiri stressed this in his co-sponsorship of a Senate resolution calling on the PNP to address the killings and attacks against government officials and private persons.
He was referring to the fatal attack against Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo—an ambush that killed not just the long-serving governor, but eight other individuals, some of whom were civilian constituents, who were simply seeking government aid at the time (last Saturday, March 4).
“We cannot afford to be desensitized to incidents like these. We cannot accept these attacks as a normal part of our culture. We cannot let violence like this terrorize our people, and force us all to live in fear,” he added.
“Worse yet are the deaths of innocent civilians, who have nothing at all to do with whatever motivations are behind these assassinations. To target government officials is dastardly, but to involve hapless civilians is downright evil,” he said.
The Senate chief said the Degamo assassination could be as “an act of terrorism.”
Under Sec. 4A of Republic Act 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, a terrorist act is committed by any person who “engages in acts intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to any person, or endangers a person’s life.”
Zubiri said the crime committed is intended to “intimidate the general public” and “create an atmosphere of fear or spread a message of fear,” which qualifies the crime as an act of terrorism under our law.
“These perpetrators should be treated as terrorists, including the masterminds,” he added.
“By now, many of us have probably seen the CCTV footage of the ambush at Governor Degamo’s compound. We saw how the constituents were patiently lined up in their chairs, waiting for the governor to attend to them as beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. Walang kamalay-malay, walang kalaban-laban (They had no inkling, they were helpless). Ganyan silang pinatay (That’s how they were killed),” he pointed out.
“We must not let these heinous crimes pass as an inevitability. This is how the culture of impunity continues to grow, and this is how spineless murderers—shielded by anonymity and by hired gunmen—are emboldened to carry out these killings,” he said.
“We are appealing urgently to the Philippine National Police and our law enforcement agencies to step up their efforts against these killings. That means arresting the perpetrators behind the Degamo ambush, yes, but it also means preventing similar crimes from happening in the future.
Nauubos na po ang tiwala ng taumbayan na kaya silang protektahan ng gobyerno (People’s faith in government to protect them is diminishing),” the Senate leader lamented.
“Every incident like this ambush is a failure of police intelligence, of police visibility, and of our peace and security efforts. We have already failed Governor Degamo and his constituents. We cannot keep on failing, not when lives are at stake,” he added.