Relieved cops seek solon’s help

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging the US government to pressure Philippine government officials to punish military personnel for human rights violations.

The HRW says the government has not attained significant progress in ending military abuses against civilians.

Why doesn’t the HRW also criticize the US government for atrocities committed by American troops against civilians and insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq?

What some Filipino soldiers are doing to Moro and communist insurgents and their sympathizers are no different from what American troops are doing to insurgents and civilian sympathizers in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Unconventional or guerrilla warfare is not covered by the rules of the Geneva Convention which mandate the humane treatment of captured enemies.

Both sides in an unconventional warfare resort to dirty tricks in dealing with the enemy.

The insurgents and government soldiers are both guilty of committing atrocities against each other.

US and Philippine troops are engaged in unconventional warfare on their respective turfs.

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But why does the HRW focus its attention on the human rights violations committed by the Philippine military against insurgents and civilians, but ignore those committed by the police against civilians?

There are far more abusive cops than there are abusive soldiers.

Soldiers who abuse civilians are dealt with immediately by their superiors as long as the  act is reported to higher authorities.

But not so with abusive cops who, unlike soldiers, are protected by civil service rules that provide that complaints against them should go through due process.

A soldier who commits an infraction can immediately be placed in jail by his superiors while he waits to be tried by  court martial.

The military rule, in dealing with errant soldiers, does not apply to policemen who abuse civilians.

The errant cop can be relieved from his post—which is seldom— but he will have to go through the rigmarole of due process.

The long and tedious hearings benefit the errant policeman, but discourages his victim who eventually stops pursuing the case.

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Senior Inspector Rex Pascua, commander of Station 7 of the Quezon City Police District, has not been relieved of his post despite a complaint of rape filed against him.

It’s been more than a month since we at “Isumbong  Mo Kay Tulfo,” a public service program, helped the 23-year-old  woman file a  rape complaint against Pascua, but no action has been taken against him yet.

The Violence against Women and Children division of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), where we  filed the rape complaint, has been footdragging.

Pascua has  bragged that he knows many people at the NBI.

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Some of the relieved members of the Batangas branch of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group  have reportedly asked the help of  a congressman who, I am told, plans to initiate an investigation into the case involving the law enforcers.

Mr. Congressman, do not protect cops who are allegedly corrupt and abusive, unless you are one yourself.