Senate report on EJKs ‘did not focus on EJKs’

Senator Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

The Senate committees that concluded there was no state-sponsored policy of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the Duterte administration’s ongoing war on drugs failed to dig deeper into the issue, Sen. Leila de Lima said on Thursday.

The committees on justice and on public order and illegal drugs that held a joint investigation of alleged EJKs during police antidrug operations did not pursue more witnesses and merely noted a few cases without looking into them thoroughly after her ouster as justice committee chair, De Lima said.

Instead, the two committees focused on other issues and slammed confessed assassin Edgar Matobato as well as her alleged “bad behavior” and that of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, De Lima said.

“They should have focused on the extrajudicial killings. So how can they have that conclusion that there is no state-sponsored extrajudicial killings when they did not pursue the central issue of extrajudicial killings?” De Lima told reporters.

‘Disturbing’ reports

De Lima told reporters the committees did not recall the witnesses who went to the Commission on Human Rights whom she had initially presented when she headed the justice committee. She was only able to present two of these witnesses then.

She said these other witnesses could have narrated their experiences during the hearings.

“The committees should have exerted effort in looking for more witnesses,” she said, noting that international news organizations were able to come up with “disturbing” reports of extrajudicial killings.

The joint committee report filed on Wednesday concluded that there was no state-sponsored policy of extrajudicial killings in the administration’s ongoing antidrug campaign. The committees, however, expressed concern over impunity in the killings over the past two decades.

De Lima and four other senators did not sign the joint committee report that essentially absolved the police and President Duterte.

Due process

The Senate committees advised the President to ensure observance of due process in the fight against drugs and punishment for policemen who violate the law.

The 11 senators who signed the report were the committee chairs Senators Richard Gordon and Panfilo Lacson, Senators Gregorio Honasan II, Francis Pangilinan, Loren Legarda, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Nancy Binay, Emmanuel Pacquiao, Allan Peter Cayetano, Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon and Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III. Pangilinan noted that he signed with dissent although he concurred in parts of the report. Cayetano signed with reservations and amendments while Drilon signed with reservations and intent to interpellate.

Aside from De Lima, the other senators who did not sign the report were Senators Trillanes, Grace Poe (who is away on official business), JV Ejercito and Minority Leader Ralph Recto.