CHR: Gov’t should assess effects of drug war after ‘fabricated’ Bulacan drug bust

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Saturday called on the government to “start assessing the effects” of its war against drugs, after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) released its findings on a “fabricated” drug bust conducted by the San Jose del Monte, Bulacan police.

“It is high time for the government to share the view that such incidences are of most serious concern that demands urgent action,” CHR spokesperson Atty. Jacqueline De Guia said in a statement.

“The government must start assessing the effects of the campaign against illegal drugs on human lives and rights of people, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized,” she added.

“We cannot afford to lose even one, single innocent life.”

In a complaint dated July 27, the NBI recommended the filing of charges against the former anti-drug section chief of the San Jose del Monte City police, Maj. Leo dela Rosa, and 10 of his subordinates for killing six people during an anti-drug operation in February, which was said to be “fabricated.”

The NBI said that that the six victims, identified as Erwin Mergal, Jim Joshua Cordero, Edmar Aspirin, Richard Salgado, and cousins Chamberlain Domingo and Chadwin Santos, had just passed by a house where Dela Rosa’s men had just arrested five other people in an anti-drug operation.

The victims were then brought to Dela Rosa’s office at the police station,  where they were hogtied and blindfolded without being booked for any offense.

In the days that followed, according to the NBI, the suspects brought the victims two at a time to a dark and secluded area where they were shot dead and made to appear as though they fought back.

The findings, De Guia said, brought “grave concern” to the CHR.

“Time and again, the rhetoric of ‘nanlaban’ or those who fought back has been abused by the police force to explain the numerous deaths linked to the government’s campaign against illegal drugs,” De Guia said.

“With the discovery of this anomalous operation, CHR echoes its call for the need to have an honest investigation of these alleged cases of extrajudicial killings in the country,” she added.

“The case of the San Jose Del Monte police puts into question the true nature of all other deaths that have happened in the name of the so-called ‘drug war.’”

/NBI