House body drops use of ‘extrajudicial killing’

House of Representatives. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The House committee on public order and safety has decided to stop using the phrase “extrajudicial killings” in its hearings, in reference to unresolved deaths amid the administration’s bloody war on drugs.

In a motion, Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia questioned the use of the term “extrajudicial killing” in the absence of death penalty in the country.

“I am really curious what the definition of extrajudicial killing is because extrajudicial would mean outside of the parameters of a judicial killing…How could we have such a thing as a judicial killing? And yet it is now so commonly used that even in the Senate, there was an investigation conducted by the committee on justice as regards extrajudicial killing,” Garcia said.

“So there is the condition of the possibility of a judicial proceeding or legal process. This definition may apply to the 10 top countries that still have capital punishment. So such a judicial proceeding or process is possible, the condition is possible. But here in the Philippines, there is no such possibility because we do not have the death penalty,” she added.

Garcia proposed to use the phrase “death under investigation” being used by the Philippine National Police in its investigations or reports.

READ: Deaths ‘under investigation’ now at 899—Dela Rosa

Committee chair and Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop approved Garcia’s motion.

For the police’s part, PNP Director for Plans Lazarus Vargas said they never used the term “extrajudicial killing,” noting that summary executions were not part of police operations in the campaign against illegal drugs.

As of Sept. 15, the Inquirer’s “Kill List” recorded 986 drug-related deaths since June 30 or after President Rodrigo Duterte took office. RAM/rga

READ: THE KILL LIST