Vice President Leni Robredo released a statement on the growing number of cases of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines on Monday, July 11, via her official Twitter account.
She started off expressing her support of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against drugs following the law.
“We support President Duterte’s declaration that the fight against drugs and crime must be done with an uncompromising exercise of the rule of law,” Robredo said in a statement.
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“However, there have been over a hundred cases of drug-related reported killings in less than a month,” she added.
According to Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Kill List, which will be regularly updated based on reported drug-related killings, there have been 136 people killed since the inauguration on June 30 until noon of Monday, July 11.
Robredo also showed her concern over the incidents and the possible casualties in this war – the “innocent and the defenseless.”
“While we are one with the fight against drugs, we are concerned with the growing culture of vigilantism and violence. We hope that the war is not done at the expense of the innocent and defenseless,” she said.
Robredo looked to the authorities for support on how these cases should be handled.
“We encourage authorities concerned to look into these cases. If there is really culpability, then justice requires that appropriate cases be filed and that those proven to be accountable be punished,” she added.
And the fact that Duterte is a lawyer himself seems to give her assurance that he will know the right thing to do.
“Since the President is a lawyer and former prosecutor, we trust that he will do what is appropriate.”
[A] READ: Statement of Vice President Leni Robredo on the Extrajudicial Killings pic.twitter.com/oCXPVvuUHe
— Leni Robredo (@lenirobredo) July 12, 2016
The netizens reacted differently to the vice president’s statement.
One commented that there is a “third path” to solving the drug problem in the Philippines, noting that he/she lived in Davao for 20 years, and shared a link to an Economist article about legalizing drugs.
Another Twitter user said that Robredo should help solve the problem instead of believing what the media says.
Someone also brought up how killings also happened in Davao City, but drugs are still available in the city.
And as what we’ve all seen on social media since the election, the bashers are still in full force.
But by releasing a statement, Robredo showed her awareness of what has been happening in the country and her faith that with Duterte’s goal of eradicating drugs and crime in the country, he and the authorities will still do what the law dictates.
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