Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Vice President Jejomar Binay sounded an alarm over the possibility of having an “executioner” as the most powerful man in the country.
The United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), in a statement released on Tuesday (April 12), said their standard-bearer remained committed to upholding the right to life — and rejected extra-judicial killings as a means to solve criminality.
Binay, instead, said that addressing poverty would be the key to solve the problem.
“Kung mayroong Pambansang Kamao, si Manny Pacquiao, meron naman ho tayong Pambansang Berdugo… Yung mga pinapatay nila Duterte, panay mahihirap ho iyan,” he said. “Hindi dapat maging pangulo ang isang taong may katangiang berdugong at ang pinapatay ay mahirap at bata.”
[Translation: “If we have a “national fist” in Manny Pacquiao, then Duterte is our national “executioner/butcher” who only kills poor people. Someone who has the characteristic of an executioner who kills the poor and children should not become president.”]
Related: Duterte, Marcos take sole leads in latest SWS poll
Echoing Mar’s warning
In this instance, Binay and administration bet Mar Roxas shared similar sentiments.
Roxas had repeatedly said that Mayor Rodrigo Duterte had never gone against the rich and powerful, and had only preyed on poor, ordinary criminals or suspected criminals.
Duterte, himself, had admitted on a number of occasions that he had executed over a thousand criminals.
Related: Binay slams Duterte during campaign
But the Davao City mayor had stressed that he had never killed women or children. This, after Binay had told a crowd in Quezon City the week before not to vote for a candidate who would kill anyone — women, the young and the elderly — if they were to be involved in a crime.
After getting wind of Binay’s comment later in the day, Duterte shot back by saying the vice president, in turn, was the “berdugo ng ekonomiya” (butcher of the economy) — in obvious reference to the numerous plunder and graft charges facing Binay and his family.
Curiously, though, when Binay and Duterte faced each other during the second presidential debate, they expressed mutual admiration — saying they were both qualified to be the country’s top leader.
Grace joins in
Sen. Grace Poe, who was in Surigao del Norte also on Tuesday, said the government had to be tough in addressing crime and illegal drugs, but it also had to remain just and responsible.
Poe repeated a call for a society that respected due process and the rule of law.
“Hindi lang po patayan ang solusyon palagi… Ang kailangan po natin ay katarungan at hindi karahasan…” she said.
[Translation: “Killing is not always the solution. What we need is justice, not violence.”]
The lady senator said she would also declare illegal drugs as a national security threat if she won the presidency, and planned to tap the president’s intelligence fund to intensify crime-busting efforts by giving incentives to informants and rewarding crime-free barangays.
