Albayalde denies CHR claim that PNP ‘uncooperative’ in drug war deaths probe
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde on Thursday denied a claim by the Commission on Human Rights that the national police is not cooperating with them in probing deaths linked to the government’s war on illegal drugs.
“Well that’s what they say. Remember, we have our human rights office already,” Albayalde said over an interview in CNN Philippines’ “The Source.”
Albayalde was referring to the PNP Human Rights Affairs Office.
This comes after CHR Commissioner Gwen Pimentel-Gana said the PNP is not fully cooperating with their office in looking into the deaths.
“Give us the records, so far they have not. They told us ‘Yes, we will,” and some responses, they did give us some records, but it’s not the records that we wanted,” Pimentel-Gana said in an interview with “The Source” aired Wednesday.
But Albayalde said the PNP Human Rights Affairs Office is proof that the national police is taking the issue of human rights seriously.
“That is the very reason why we created the human rights office down to the provincial level, city level,” he said.
“We have our human rights officers that will coordinate directly to the CHR. So I think it’s not totally true that we’re not cooperating.”
“Remember, there’s also that common perception especially into PNP and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) sides. Parang kasi the human rights commission is looking into the offenses of the PNP and the AFP.” /muf
