December 18, 2020 | 6:51 pm Font Size
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Senate Resolution No. 599, filed by Senator Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel, mandates appropriate committees in the upper chamber to investigate the vigilante killings “with the end view of attaining justice for the slain victims.”
Several senators are pushing for a Senate probe into the alleged spate of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the country, following the deaths of a medical professional and her husband in Central Visayas.
Mary Rose Sancelan, a doctor by profession, and her husband Edwin were shot dead in Brgy. Poblacion in Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental on Dec. 15. Before she was killed, Ms. Sancelan served as the head of the government’s anti-coronavirus task force in the city.
(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Senate Resolution (SR) 599, filed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, seeks to attain justice for the Sancelans and other victims of unlawful and vigilante killings.
The resolution, which also aims to restore law and order in the country, was also signed by Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, Ralph G. Recto, Richard J. Gordon, Nancy Binay, Joel Villanueva, Francis ‘’Kiko’’ Pangilinan, and Leila de Lima.
“At a time of the biggest health crisis the country has ever seen, I am alarmed that this anti-communist agenda reigned over the literal health and survival of the Filipino people. Dr. Sancelan and her husband are only few of the victims of a failing and senseless red-tagging campaign hellbent on crippling our democracy. This attack is only one of the many horrific killings in the country, legitimized by an administration that has distorted the meaning of human rights,” Hontiveros said.