A group of former government officials on Sunday urged President Rodrigo Duterte to reverse the reinstatement of the policemen linked to the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.
The group Former Senior Government Officials said the reinstatement of Supt. Marvin Marcos and 18 of his men made the government look like it was condoning summary killings.
“It displays Mr. Duterte’s contempt for national and international law and warns against expectations that the thousands of deaths from the drug war will undergo any credible investigation,” the group said in a statement.
Some of the former government officials who signed the statement were Jose Cusia Jr., Karina David, Dinky Soliman and Florin Hilbay.
Former Social Welfare Secratry Soliman said the government ignored the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Senate and the political and legal processes in reinstating Marcos and his men.
An official earlier confirmed that Marcos was set to head the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the Soccsksargen region.
Senators were outraged after Marcos and his men were reinstated even though the results of a Senate probe into the Espinosa killing showed it had been premeditated.
But Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella defended Duterte, saying the President complied with the law and other procedures when he favored the reinstatement.
Marcos was head of the PNP-CIDG in Central Visayas when his men shot dead Espinosa and another inmate, Raul Yap, at the Leyte sub-provincial jail.