To address attacks on politicians
MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Martin Romualdez has called the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to an emergency meeting today to discuss the recent spate of armed attacks on politicians.
“This has really become bothersome because we have these reports of attempted slays almost every week. It’s alarming because it seems that almost every week there is news about high-profile killings,” the Leyte congressman said yesterday.
“We want to know from the PNP and the DILG what steps are being taken to stop these kinds of heinous crimes,” the administration stalwart and leader of the 312-member House of Representatives added.
“The way it looks, politics appears to be the motive behind the recent ambuscades because many of the victims are politicians,” Romualdez pointed out. “We will ask the police and the DILG, what’s the problem? Is it intelligence? How can Congress help in solving these crimes?”
In February alone, a mayor of Maguindanao was severely wounded in an ambush in Pasay City; a business couple and their companions were fired upon in their car, also in Pasay City; and the vice mayor of Aparri, Cagayan was shot and killed in an ambush.
Romualdez, along with Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman, also condemned the ambush in early February of Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. that left four of his security aides dead and another wounded.
“I strongly condemn this assassination attempt on Gov. Adiong, which left four of his security details dead. This senseless act of violence has no place in a civilized society like ours,” the House leader said.
Romualdez called on law enforcement agencies to act with dispatch in identifying the gunmen who fired on Adiong’s convoy as they were traversing the road between Maguing and Amai Manabilang town en route to Wao, a town in Lanao del Sur.
“I want the gunmen identified and whoever is the mastermind unmasked. I want them all to be placed behind bars and brought to the bar of justice as soon as possible,” the Speaker, a maternal cousin of President Marcos, said.
“I call on our law enforcement agencies: waste no time in running after the perpetrators of this dastardly crime. They need to restore peace and order in the province immediately,” he added.
Adiong, a member of the Speaker’s political party, is the vice president of Lakas-CMD for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). He is the older brother of Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong.
Hataman also condemned the attempted slay.
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the ambush that left Adiong and his aide wounded, and killed four members of his convoy near the boundary of Lanao del Sur and Bukidnon,” the House deputy minority leader said.
“This attack was a brazen act of violence, perpetrated against no less than the highest local executive official of the province of Lanao del Sur and his companions,” Hataman said as he raised alarm over the series of violence in BARMM areas.
“I call on the law enforcement agencies to identify and arrest the perpetrators of these incidents. The perpetrators must be brought to justice in these cases, lest we give them an impression that the law cannot punish them,” the former ARMM governor said.