The Malubog 5: A case of summary execution?

The death of at least 15 people across Metro Cebu in just less than 10 hours paints a grim picture of the state of the Duterte administration’s campaign against criminality, particularly its war against the illegal drug trade.

With the exception of the five persons killed in Barangay Malubog, Cebu City, all those killed in police operations in the cities of Cebu, Talisay, and Lapu-Lapu last Thursday reportedly resisted when authorities swooped down on them.

In Malubog, suspicions were raised about the circumstances surrounding the killing of the five people. Witnesses described the perpetrators as police officers who brought the victims to the mountain barangay and killed them.

The police denied the allegation. Chief Superintendent Debold Sinas, director of Police Regional Office-7, dismissed the insinuation of a summary execution although the police believe the shooting could be related to the illegal drug trade.

It’s too early to judge as to who really were the culprits in the Malubog incident. As the authorities are starting their investigation, we are not in the proper position to conclude who were really responsible.

Still, we cannot blame those who cast judgment and point fingers at the police as behind the Malubog shooting. For them, the statements of the two who claimed to witness the incident are too important to ignore.

In fact, extrajudicial killings allegedly carried out by the police have been blamed for majority of deaths in the government’s intensified drug war across the country. And it is well within the rights of many Cebuanos who truly believe that the Malubog incident was one of those statesponsored summary executions.

We are not singling out the police as suspects in the Malubog incident. Besides, there is still no compelling evidence that would warrant legal action against them. But they need to go the extra mile to convince the public that they have nothing to do with the upland massacre.