Foes gain from killings

The consecutive killings of local executives in two days raise the specter of a potentially deadly period in the runup to next year’s mid-term polls.

On Tuesday, General Tinio, Nueva Ecija Mayor Ferdinand Bote was leaving a National Irrigation Administration (NIA) office in an SUV in Cabanatuan City when a motorcycle-riding man shot him repeatedly with a pistol. The gunman escaped.

Last Monday, Tanauan City, Batangas, Mayor Antonio Halili was shot in the heart and killed while singing the National Anthem with hundreds of employees in a flag-raising ceremony. An apparent single rifle shot felled the 72-year-old mayor in a murder that was recorded in a social media video.

Both of the assassinations were done professionally, based on initial reports, as Halili was slain by a sniper while Bote was killed in an ambush.

The yellow critics of President Rody Duterte immediately ascribed the deaths to the administration, of course without any proof to show, as they claim a culture of impunity exists due to Mr. Duterte’s unrelenting war on drugs.

Mr. Duterte stating Halili’s name among mayors with narcotics links who had recently died violently also contributed in his opponents blaming him for the string of deaths.

The Palace was correct, however, in saying that Rody did not make any accusation in his remark and merely expressed his suspicion about Halili’s death.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the exact translation of Mr. Duterte’s line on the day Halili died was, “I heard today that Halili has died. But we’re suspecting that it’s drug-related. It’s just a suspicion.”

The increased power to be bestowed on local governments under the draft Federal Constitution is also being seen as a catalyst for fiercer competition among political rivals in the provinces.

The draft Constitution allows increased autonomy in the Federated Regions which will each get a share of not less than half of all collected taxes on income, excise, VAT (value added tax) and Customs duties which are automatically released.

Rody’s suspicion of the drugs menace being behind the Halili killing all the more makes the situation disturbing since it may indicate that drug traffickers are making their move to gain from coming political exercises which are the national elections next year and the effort to shift to a Federal government.

Government’s unrelenting anti-narcotics campaign has caused syndicates to lie low or even transfer to neighboring countries.

Indonesia recently launched a tough anti-narcotics drive, saying narcotics traffickers driven away from the Philippines had relocated to Jakarta.

Political rivalry, or for any other reason, the twin assassinations pose a serious challenge to law enforcers who are being relied on in the peaceful conduct of the coming national exercises.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), which are the lead agencies in probing the cases of Halili and Bote, should act with dispatch in resolving the cases.

A pivotal factor in attaining Rody’s main goals such as the eradication of crime, the shift to a Federal government and the granting of autonomy to Muslim Filipinos would need overwhelming support from Filipinos to succeed.

The recent deaths only favor those who are against the radical changes that Rody wanted instituted in the country.

Without ascribing any sinister agenda to his opponents, recent events afforded them more ammunition against Rody in a period when the opposition voices have been marginalized due to the solid accomplishments of the President in the first two years of his term.

It is convenient for his opponents to drag the administration into the killings, but the motives of those who gain most from it are far from Rody’s camp.