Lay people sign a manifesto to condemn the series of killings in Cebu during a program on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018, at the IC3 Convention Center along St. John Paul II Avenue in Mabolo, Cebu City.
Additional P50,000 from Osmeña
Who says Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is against all forms of killings?
The mayor on Saturday said he is willing to add P50,000 to President Rodrigo Duterte’s P5 million bounty for any dead “ninja cop” or rogue policeman.
“I will add my P50,000 to that. Maybe we (President Duterte and I) think the same,” said Osmeña, who has been at odds with police officials in Cebu, and whom he had accused of covering up for erring policemen, one of whom he linked to the failed ambush against his ally Barangay Tejero Councilman Jessielou Cadungog and another to the ambush-slay of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) senior agent Von Rian Tecson.
Unsatisfied with the status of the hunt for policemen involved in the narcotics trade, President Duterte on Friday decided to increase his reward for bringing in dead “ninja cops” from P3 million to a whopping P5 million.
In a speech during the Hugpong ng Pagbabago convention in Davao City on Friday, the President lashed out at scalawag policemen, warning them to shape up or face terrible consequences.
“Policemen have many abuses … I told you to stop it already … for ninja cops, I will raise the amount to P5 million if you bring him to me dead,” he said.
“If you bring a ninja cop to me alive, I will give you P10,000. I am not joking. If I say it in public, that’s true,” he added.
Mr. Duterte said he was exasperated by the series of controversies involving security forces and government officials.
“You better shape up. I will rise and fall on the issue of corruption [in government]. That’s enough,” he said.
Osmeña expressed support to the President’s program to fight illegal drugs and vowed to also release money for every slain police scalawag.
Right to life, rule of law
But the Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas (CHR-7) and Catholic lay groups slammed the move both of Osmeña and President Duterte.
CHR-7 Director Arvin Odron reminded government leaders that they are bound to protect human lives at all times.
“We discourage the government from making public pronouncements that encourage violence, much more killings. We are deeply saddened by such pronouncement as it encourages more killings because of the reward system,” Odron told Cebu Daily News in a text message on Saturday.
“We remind the government of its legal obligation to preserve and protect every human life,” he added.
Fe Barino, chairperson of the Commission on the Laity of the Archdiocese of Cebu, said government leaders must value the sanctity of life no matter what the circumstances are.
“I cannot understand why do they need to pay to have people killed. No matter how bad, mischievous or poor a person is, we should keep in mind that his life has a value and should be protected,” she said in an interview.
Barino urged people to pray for the enlightenment of the President.
“We know and we understand the problems that our country is facing right now. But we just pray that the Holy Spirit will guide the President on the right thing to do to solve these,” she said.
“Through our strong faith in God, we know that we will arrive at the right solutions. But any form of violence, especially killings, should not be the solution to the problems we face because these are against the will of God,” she added.
Lay people sign a manifesto to condemn the series of killings in Cebu during a program on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018, at the IC3 Convention Center along St. John Paul II Avenue in Mabolo, Cebu City. CDN PHOTO/ROSALIE O. ABATAYO
Manifesto
On Saturday, leaders of lay organizations from across the Archdiocese of Cebu convened to sign a manifesto against the murder of human beings in Cebu and other parts of the country.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma already issued an Oratio Imperata or a mandatory prayer to “end the spate of killings in Cebu,” a special prayer that will be said after the post communion prayer in all Masses in the archdiocese starting today.
In a tally made by CDN, at least 122 persons were killed in shooting incidents in Cebu over the last seven months.
Of the number, 99 individuals were gunned down by still unknown assailants while the rest of the fatalities perished during police operations from February to Aug. 16, 2018. Majority of these killings remain unsolved.
About a thousand lay people gathered at the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) Convention Center in Cebu City on Saturday to pray and to echo calls for an end to the killings.
They lit candles, sang songs, and prayed that the spate of violence would end. Lay groups also urged the government to step up in solving all murder cases.
“Our manifesto is aimed at letting the people and the government know that we are against these killings. We can’t just keep our silence,” Barino said.
“We feel that it’s very alarming and needs to be stopped the soonest. But sadly, we don’t have the capacity to end the killings other than to pray,” she added.
Past rewards
Previously, as mayor of Cebu City in 2004, Osmeña announced the creation of the so-called Hunters’ Team, a group of elite cops especially tasked to go after known criminals in order to suppress crime in the city.
From 2004 to August 2006, a total of 168 suspected or convicted criminals were shot dead by motorcycle-riding men in vigilante-style killings linked to what was widely believed as a death squad operating in Cebu City.
Shortly after he won in 2016, the mayor also offered a P50,000 bounty for every drug lord or any criminal killed “in a legal way” by policemen, barangay tanods and even civilians as a way to warn lawless elements.
Aside from the P50,000 reward for killing criminals “legally,” Osmeña also offered P5,000 for wounding a suspect.
A total of P625, 000 was released to policemen, including those who killed Cebu’s top suspected drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz, and Rowen “Yawa” Secretaria, the third most wanted drug personality in Central Visayas.
But the reward system did not last long as Osmeña withdrew his offer of cash assistance in July 2016 after the Philippine National Police (PNP) decided to transfer out of Cebu the police officers that the mayor had wanted for the city. /WITH REPORTS FROM INQUIRER.NET