Bam wants Senate inquiry into killings done in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines — Four senators who visited Cebu yesterday were united in saying that a full-blown investigation should be done by the Senate to tackle the series of murders here over the last few months.

Should this proposal materialize, Senator Bam Aquino, one of the authors of the measure, particularly wants the hearings to be done in Cebu to make it more convenient for the witnesses.

“If ever matutuloy na ang investigation, we want it done here so that witnesses will not be having a hard time going to Manila,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of a youth forum in Cebu City yesterday.

Apart from Aquino, Senators Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, and JV Ejercito also expressed the need to launch a Senate inquiry into the killings.

Angara said the killings in Cebu have already reached an alarming level.

“Dapat talaga na imbestigahan kasi nakakabahala na,” he said in a press conference.

Binay, for her part, said it seems the killings in the country, including in Cebu, have become a trend. She said that the resolution seeking to investigate it is already referred to the committee on public order chaired by Senator Panfilo Lacson.

Aquino pointed out how the killings in Cebu have become more and more brazen and the number is getting higher.

“Recently, we have heard from our friends here na tumataas yung dami nang pinapatay at medyo brazen na yung paraan ng pagpatay. Maraming senators na nag-file ng resolutions upang mapakinggan yung nangyayari po dito,” Aquino said.

Aquino said he hopes that the investigation pushes through.

Angara, Binay, and Ejercito were in Cebu for several engagements, including the formal opening of famous Capitol-run barbecue strip in uptown Cebu City called Larsian. — JMD (FREEMAN)