Senate majority calls on government to stop EJKs

Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel on Wednesday led the majority bloc of the Senate in filing Senate Resolution No. 518, which condemned extrajudicial killings in the strongest sense and called on the government to "exert and exhaust all efforts" to stop these and other unsolved killings.

The resolution was signed by 16 members of the majority, except for Senator Joel Villanueva, who is on sick leave but communicated his agreement.

"The Senate is against the violent death of every Filipino, and will seek justice for its victims", said Pimentel.

The figure came from the Philippine Information Agency, which reported that as of June 16 of this year, there is a total of 12,833 homicide cases, 2,098 of which are drug-related, 2,535 are non-drug related, and 8,200 are still under investigation.

The resolution named Kian Loyd Delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz, and Reynaldo De Guzman as cases of extrajudicial killings which alarmed the nation and sparked public outrage.

In addition, the cases of Leo Sarmiento, Raymart Siapo, and Roman Manaois were mentioned in the resolution. The senators, through the resolution, called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other law enforcement agencies to implement the law and conduct operations in accordance with the Constitution and existing laws.

Pimentel said, "The Philippines is a civilized democratic society that will not tolerate unresolved killings. The police must do its job and solve these crimes."

The Senate President added, "Let it be known that the Senate, as the bastion of democracy, will not surrender its duty to protect and defend the human rights of every Filipino.