Drug war probe a ‘test of honesty’ for Eleazar – rights groups
Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, PNP chief (Photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Rights groups expressed guarded optimism on Tuesday, noting that the move of the Philippine National Police to open for review only 61 of the thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the war on drugs was but a “teeny, weeny baby step” toward real justice.
They said it would be a “test of honesty” for the PNP’s newly installed chief, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, who in a statement issued also on Tuesday assured the public that the police force was serious in working with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in its inquiry into EJKs.
Eleazar said the two agencies were to sign an agreement in which the PNP would commit full cooperation in the inquiry.
But in separate interviews with the Inquirer, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) and international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the inquiry was unlikely to lead to a significant shift in President Duterte’s brutal war on drugs.
At most, they said, it might be a “tokenistic” agreement to ease local and international pressure on the Philippine government to prosecute perpetrators of EJKs. Rights groups estimate that over 25,000 have been killed in the drug war, with only one murder conviction—that of three Caloocan cops found guilty of killing 17-year-old Kian delos Santos in 2017.
On Monday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra announced that Eleazar had allowed the DOJ to check the records of 61 police operations already investigated by the PNP Internal Affairs Services (IAS).
But rights advocates “cannot be euphoric” just yet, warned NUPL president Edre Olalia. “[We] should see it for what it appears to be: for show, to deflect and dissipate valid criticisms over lack of immediate, fair and comprehensive accountability.”
After all, the “insultingly petty” 61 cases represent barely 1 percent of over 7,000 drug war deaths officially recognized by the PNP, Olalia said. It is also outside the 5,655 fatal police operations that the DOJ was supposed to be investigating, per Guevarra’s commitment made at the 44th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) last June.
He said the cases for review might even “validate the view that [these were] sanitized and cherry-picked to use as inconclusive ‘showcases.”
HRW senior researcher Carlos Conde said he was surprised at the agreement “given the police’s history of stonewalling and noncooperation with agencies tasked to investigate its conduct.”
In the past, despite its posturing that it was open to investigation for abuses, the PNP had been notoriously uncooperative especially in granting access to drug war files. Even the Supreme Court, which had ordered the PNP to release drug war documents, received “rubbish” case files that were incomplete or redundant, according to a Rappler investigation published earlier this year.
“This is a test to the PNP’s honesty and Eleazar’s willingness to push the accountability envelope in his organization,” Conde said. “The PNP obviously needs to be forthcoming and forthright about these cases. If they won’t be, this would sink the PNP’s credibility even lower.”
“It’s a step in the right direction, to be sure, but it’s a teeny, weeny baby step,” Conde said.
But Olalia and Conde agreed that this development was only possible because Eleazar—reputed to be a professional police official—gave Guevarra a better chance to uphold his commitment to the UNHRC.
“[Is] this sustainable? Not clear, especially because … Eleazar only has a few months in office. There’s no telling what the next PNP chief would do,” Conde said.
Olalia said that if it were truly committed to achieving justice for the thousands of drug war victims, the PNP should “completely and totally open any and all files, documents, records, and uncontaminated evidence to an impartial scrutiny by an independent body.”
‘No tolerance for rogues’
In his statement, Eleazar said the PNP was open to making more records available in the course of the DOJ inquiry.
“I assure our good justice secretary that the PNP has no tolerance for rogues, including those who may have committed unjustified killings in the course of anti-illegal drug operations, and that we are serious in cleansing our ranks,” he said.
Asked if the DOJ was interested in reviewing any particular police operation, Guevarra said the 61 cases “stood out” among thousands of others “because there was a finding of liability.”
“Apparently, there was not enough evidence with respect to the other cases examined by the PNP-IAS,” he said.
Guevarra also said the DOJ did not choose the 61 cases. He said the filing of criminal cases against erring cops would depend on the evaluation of the review panel.
At a hearing on Tuesday in the Senate, former PNP chief and now Sen. Ronald dela Rosa made a fresh pitch for the revival of the death penalty for high-level drug traffickers, arguing that the illegal trade was still being controlled by drug lords doing time in prison.
But Dela Rosa, who as PNP chief led the drug war in its first two years, drew a quick rebuttal from a Commission of Human Rights (CHR) official.
“I am really frustrated with these high-level drug traffickers. If we only had a death penalty, then all our problems will disappear. [You might say], sir, just improve enforcement and implementation of the law, but even if you keep piling on drug cases, they still continue their activities,” Dela Rosa said, addressing CHR Commissioner Karen Gomez Dumpit.
“Believe me, up to now, the drug problem in the Philippines is still being controlled by drug lords, especially Chinese drug lords, in [New Bilibid Prison]. It’s like cancer,” said Dela Rosa, who chairs the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs.
He added: “I want to say I really care for life. Every night, I pray to the Lord, may no one be hurt during the operation. We value life, but in a situation like this, in order to save innocent lives, we want the death penalty. We value life, but when it comes to the drug problem, we’re on opposite sides.”
In response, Dumpit said: “We know the issue is not the penalty. The issue is full implementation [of the law].”
She cited Dela Rosa’s own example: “Why is [the drug lord] being enabled? He is already confined, so where is the accountability of the custodians? If they are enabled to orchestrate their activities, why are the custodians not made accountable?
Dela Rosa’s committee was deliberating on the controversial House Bill No. 7814, which proposes amendments to drug laws that will allow authorities to presume people under certain circumstances to be protectors of drug dealers.
