PNP quizzed on probes on killings of activists, mediamen

Sen. Richard Gordon is asking the Philippine National Police (PNP) to submit to the Senate a progress report on its investigations into the killings of journalists and activists.

Gordon said PNP officials must bring the list of people who had been killed so that they could explain what they have been doing to address the problem.

In a privilege speech, he condemned the killing of broadcast journalist Aristeo Padrigao in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental last Monday. 

Padrigao is the sixth journalist slain this year and the 61st since 2001.

Padrigao, radio host of DZRS Radyo Natin and a columnist of the Mindanao Monitor Today, was gunned down last Monday by two motorcycle-riding men wearing dark jackets. He was taking his children to school, one of them aged seven, when he was attacked.

“If we do not act, we are encouraging, in effect, these people who have no morals, who have no qualms of killing people in front of their families, to continue these acts,” Gordon said.

He said it was unacceptable for the police to say that they were following up the case or that the killing was work-related.

“What kind of policemen do we have, when all they can say is, ‘We’re investigating, we’re making a follow-up. We’re looking at this event but sorry there are no witnesses and we think it was related to his job that’s why he was killed.’ We must say no more,” he said.

Gordon recommended the relief of Superintendent Leonroy Ga, Gingoog police chief, and make PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa himself explain “what he is doing about it, what kind of programs he is doing about it to answer for all these motorcycle-related killings and public executions that have gone array in this country.”

Gordon said the Senate should be the forum where people could seek redress for their grievances, as he noted the killings had gone haywire, “with reporters doing their jobs are shot in broad daylight, or judges cannot make decisions because they are killed in public, and many other people brutally robbed of their lives for the flimsiest reason.”