ZAMBOANGA CITY, 29 August 2004 — A city official has warned that the rampant incidence of unsolved killings in this key southern Philippine city could backfire against the local economy.
Councilor Milabel Velasquez voiced concern on Friday after leading the burial of at least 22 corpses, mostly of summary execution victims, which have remained unclaimed for weeks.
A Roman Catholic priest blessed makeshift caskets, some of them containing up to three bodies, at a funeral home in downtown Zamboanga. The bodies were then transported to the remote village of Talabaan, about 30 kilometers east of the city, and buried in a common grave.
Officials said no one had claimed the corpses, including the bodies of three infants, which have been found in separate places in the city.
“Most of the bodies belonged to victims of unsolved killings,” said former journalist Velasquez, who spent about 83,600 pesos ($1,492) for the caskets and funeral services.
Last year, city authorities also buried 55 unclaimed bodies, mostly of Muslims who were victims of summary killings.
Politicians have urged the police and military to enforce the gun ban in the city, but contract killers continue to roam the streets. Hired guns have killed dozens of traders, including lawyers and doctors and two journalists in the city, and many of these cases remain unsolved.
The latest attack happened on Wednesday when two gunmen shot dead a Filipino-Chinese trader named Aniana Wee in a broad daylight attack in downtown Zamboanga. None of the gunmen had been caught.
