Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images
Senatorial candidate and actor Robin Padilla should be made aware that extrajudicial killings are considered unlawful and, in the context of armed conflict, can even be treated as war crimes under international human rights instruments.
This is not a movie, Mr. Padilla, where one just conjures fight scenes and be well after every shoot.
Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images
Senatorial candidate and actor Robin Padilla should be made aware that extrajudicial killings are considered unlawful and, in the context of armed conflict, can even be treated as war crimes under international human rights instruments.
This is not a movie, Mr. Padilla, where one just conjures fight scenes and be well after every shoot.
One cannot brush these killings aside as mere inevitable incidents in any anti-crime or counterinsurgency operation, with the victims treated as collateral damage. We assert that any government-sanctioned operation or policy which authorizes and incites these kinds of crimes should not exist.
The Duterte administration’s drug war has failed to stem and destroy the political infrastructure that enables the existence and proliferation of drug syndicates, whose backers may include current or former government officials or personnel. It has only resulted in thousands of people killed, many of them from poor communities, with police personnel acting as judges and executioners with the blessings and guaranteed support of President Duterte. Such a policy can never be considered as something good or acceptable in a so-called democracy.
So, if a senatorial candidate like Mr. Padilla espouses this kind of position and rhetoric, he does not deserve any vote from members of the electorate who value the right to life, to due process, and to other basic rights. He deserves utmost condemnation.
Cristina Palabay
Karapatan Secretary General