Facade of the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame. Image from pnp.gov.ph website
MANILA, Philippines — The allegations that illegal drug activities have infiltrated the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the subsequent request for all PNP colonels and generals to submit their courtesy resignations are an attempt to divert attention from other significant issues, the Gabriela party-list said in a statement on Wednesday.
Gabriela believes the call for courtesy resignations is an attempt to deflect criticism of the previous administration’s handling of the bloody legacy of the drug war.
Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. announced the move at a news conference and said that a five-person panel would assess the PNP officials’ profiles.
“The call of Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos for all full police colonels and generals of the [PNP] to submit their courtesy resignations is a distraction from pressing issues and a half-baked response to the clamor for accountability over the bloody war on drugs,” Gabriela said.
The party-list also questioned the timing of the announcement, as it coincides with several current issues like the technical glitches that hit the Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC) of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) that forced the disruption of flights in the country’s airspace on New Year’s Day.
At least 66,000 passengers were stranded after the primary and backup uninterruptible power supply (UPS) equipment of the ATMC malfunctioned.
“Curiously, the announcement was made amid raging public interest issues such as the Philippine airspace outage, mass transport woes in the metro, and New Year spike in prices of goods and services, including the water rate hike implemented by Maynilad and Manila Water,” Gabriela said.
INQUIRER.net has sought the PNP’s comments on the claims made by the Gabriela party-list but it has yet to respond.
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The drug war initiated by the administration of then-president Rodrigo Duterte was criticized by human rights activists.
READ: War on drugs: The violence, scars, doubts and families it left behind
While President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed to capitalize on the gains of Duterte’s drug war, the incumbent Chief Executive has assured critics that he will be taking a more holistic approach within the human rights framework.
READ: Bongbong Marcos to continue drug war ‘within framework of law, human rights’ — Swedish envoy
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But Gabriela said if the President wants to rid the PNP of illegal drugs, he should also look at ensuring accountability by going after erring police officers and officials involved in the drug war.
Gabriela believes that the government should allow the International Criminal Court (ICC) to conduct its probe into the drug war.
“If the Marcos Jr. administration really wants to cleanse the PNP of the drug problem, then it must pursue the filing of charges against erring cops instead of pushing for the approval of the free legal assistance bill for uniformed personnel,” Gabriela said.
“It should finally open the doors for the investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in relation to rights violations committed in the conduct of the government’s war on drugs, wherein thousands of ordinary Filipinos were extralegally killed. Otherwise, such move would just be a lame media theatric,” it added.
Complaints for the crime against humanity of mass murder were filed against Duterte and other implementers of the drug war before the ICC, for allegedly conducting a systematic killing of drug suspects.
Duterte, however, maintained that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the country, as the body only intervenes when there is a failure of the justice system. Marcos has issued the same sentiments, saying that the ICC is only welcome if the system collapses.