MANILA – The Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs is probing the alleged “hit list” in the spate of killings in Negros Island.
The list came from a certain Kawsa Guihulngan Batok Kumunista (Kagubak) group, which was allegedly behind the murder of Negrense lawyer Anthony Trinidad last month.
The string of shootings in Negros Island has killed at least 21 persons – 17 civilians and four policemen – from July 18 to July 28.
The killings continued this month, claiming at least four more lives.
Guihulingan City police chief Lieutenant Colobel Bonifacio Tecson said during the committee hearing on Tuesday presided by Sen. Ronald dela Rosa that five of those killed were on the “hit list.”
“Si Atty. Trinidad, heto ‘yung huli kong nakausap, humingi po siya ng security sa akin. Sabi ko sa kanya idadaan po natin sa process. Bigyan mo ‘ko ng request mo,” said Tecson.
Tecson received a dressing down from Dela Rosa for failing to immediately to provide Trinidad with security.
The lawyer was subsequently ambushed.
“Ngayon na namatay na, hindi ka ba nakunsensiya?” said Dela Rosa.
Opposition senator Risa Hontiveros, who authored the resolution calling for the Senate hearing on the Negros killings, told Tecson to protect the other personalities in the “hit list.”
“Hindi katanggap-tanggap na ilalagay pangalan mo sa isang papel tapos papatayin ka na. Imbestigahan ‘yang hit list ng Kagubak at protektahan ang sampu pang nasa listahan,” said Hontiveros.
The lady senator also called on the Department of National Defense and the Department of Interior and Local Government to “leave no stone unturned” in its efforts to find out who are behind the killings.
“The situation in Negros is not an isolated case. Rather, it is a symptom of the alarming culture of impunity and lawless violence that has gripped the country these past few years,” she said./PN
