Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Vice President Jejomar Binay hit back at Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte for supporting extrajudicial killings as his platform of governance to stamp out criminality.
In an interview on radio station Energy FM on Thursday, Binay said as a human rights lawyer he could not accept Duterte鈥檚 admission of his links to the notorious Davao Death Squad, a hitman group in Davao City which targets drug pushers and criminals.
鈥淎bogado ako, I am a human rights lawyer. Iyong pagpatay, iyong extra-judicial killing, mali iyon,鈥� Binay said.
鈥淓xtrajudicial killing batay pa sa suspicion lang. Kapag napagtsismisan ka, iyong papatay sa iyo na taong gubyerno ay naniniwala,papatayin ka na agad. Mali naman iyon. Wala na tayong proseso roon,鈥� he added.
(I鈥檓 a lawyer, I am a human rights lawyer. Killing, extrajudicial killing, is wrong.
Extrajudicial killing especially based on mere suspicion. When rumors are spread about you and the people in government believe [the rumors], you will be killed right away. That鈥檚 wrong, there is no due process there.)
Binay took no exception to the deaths of children in the hands of the alleged Davao Death Squad.
Binay cited the siblings Richard Alia, 18, Christopher Alia, 17, and Bobby Alia,14, who were reportedly knifed to death by the Davao Death Squad.
鈥淏ale ba naman ang pinapatay diyan, gruesome ha, if you can only see a picture noong isang batang 14 years old. Pinagsasaksak iyon,鈥� Binay said.
(The kind of killing they do, it鈥檚 gruesome, if you could only see a picture of one 14-year-old child. He was stabbed repeatedly.)
Binay also hit Duterte over his promise to end criminality within six months of his administration through extrajudicial means.
鈥淚yong sinasabi ng isang kandidato na six months, kahit ilang taon pa ho iyon hindi po maso-solve 鈥榶on [through extrajudicial killing],鈥� Binay said.
(What one candidate was saying about six months, no matter how many months that is, it won鈥檛 be solved [through extrajudicial killing].)
Duterte had previously claimed he and Binay were the most qualified to be president.
While he was hailed for his anti-crime crusade,听Duterte听had been linked to the听Davao听Death听Squad, an alleged gang of assassins purportedly responsible for the听deaths听of 1,000 suspected criminals in the city since听Duterte听became mayor in 1988.
鈥淭hey say I am the听death听squad? True, that is true,鈥澨鼶uterte听once said in a television interview admitting his ties to the alleged group.
搁贰础顿:听Duterte听confirms 鈥榯ies鈥� with听Davao听Death听Squad听
The New York-based Human Rights Watch has expressed concern about Duterte鈥檚 support of extrajudicial killings amid a rise in summary executions of suspected criminals in the city.
The Human Rights Watch in a commentary even called Duterte the 鈥淧hilippines鈥� Death Squad Mayor.鈥�
鈥淭he Philippine government should take a zero-tolerance approach to any public official who publicly endorses extrajudicial killings as an acceptable means of crime control,鈥� Phelim Kine, HRW deputy Asia director, said in a statement last year. CDG
搁贰础顿:听Duterte to rights group: You are all hypocrites
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