5 February, 2016, 4:30 PM – VICE PRESIDENTIAL candidate Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday said
a Duterte administration won’t violate human rights under a campaign pledge to
wipe out criminality.
“If you see how Mayor Duterte talks, yes, he talks about [it
being] bloody, about killing. But he’s never said he’d kill anyone in cold
blood,” Cayetano said in a forum at the Seminary Gym, in answer to a question
about his running mate, presidential bet Rodrigo Duterte, being involved in
summary killings of criminals and drug peddlers in Davao City.
Duterte, who has been mayor of Davao City for seven terms, was
unable to attend the UST forum due to a prior commitment in Pampanga, where he
was seen kissing some women attending his event.
Cayetano, the Senate majority leader, said law enforcers would
only kill criminals in life-threatening situations. “Policemen have a duty to
kill when another life can be taken,” he said.
The Duterte-Cayetano tandem’s priorities in their first 100 days
in office are cutting the crime rate and shifting to a federal form of
government, Cayetano said in response to a question from the Varsitarian.
‘Decentralization’
The two candidates have criticized the Aquino administration for
prioritizing development in Metro Manila, while neglecting the regions.
Cayetano said they would move Cabinet departments out of the
capital, increase the budget given to the provinces, and make people “trust the
government as their partners.”
Cayetano is a two-term senator, who was first elected in 2007
and re-elected in 2013. In 1998, he served as congressman and acting vice mayor
of Taguig City. His wife Lani Cayetano is the incumbent mayor of Taguig. His
sister Pia is on her last term as senator.
The first in a series of election fora, titled “The Filipino
Youth Vision: The Presidential and Vice Presidential Forum Series for the New Philippines
2021,” was organized by Aktiboto, a student-initiated voter
education campaign for the Filipino youth. Paul Xavier Jaehwa C.
Bernardo and Monica M. Hernandez
