Robredo to PNP: Solve drug killings

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo yesterday called on the police to investigate extrajudicial killings in Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela).

She sat down with patients in the drug rehabilitation program of the Caloocan anti-drug abuse council at the Our Lady of Grace Parish, one of the hardest hit in the war on drugs due to the number of drug suspects and dependents killed either in police operations or by vigilantes.

In an interview, Robredo said she had been receiving reports that Camanava remains a hotbed of extrajudicial killings that have remained unsolved by police investigators.

“The style today is vigilante killings. I call on the Philippine National Police, isn’t it still your responsibility to investigate vigilante killings? It is your obligation to resolve these, because if not, blood is in your hands,” Robredo said.

She called for an end to the senseless killings in the Camanava and lauded the city anti-drug abuse council for holding drug rehabilitation sessions in addressing addiction as a health problem.

Robredo said other local government units should learn from Caloocan’s drug rehabilitation program, where drug dependents have a chance to reform their ways by entering into a plea bargaining agreement and joining weeks-long spiritual sessions.

“Now we have an alternative through community-based rehab program, why don’t we follow this? Let us stop the killings and support this program instead,” Robredo said.