Senator Leila de Lima.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
The Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) findings pointing to a lack of evidence of massive human rights violations by law enforcers under President Rodrigo Duterte’s relentless war on drugs is an “insult” to the human rights movement and Filipinos, Sen. Leila de Lima said Friday.
READ: No ‘extrajudicial killings’ in PH–DILG
De Lima, among staunch human rights advocates at the Senate, said the spate of killings was undeniable, belying the DILG’s findings.
To date, more than 5,000 have died amid the anti-drug campaign, including more than 2,000 slain in legitimate police operations, and thousands others classified as “deaths under investigation,” including vigilante killings.
“The so-called ‘independent probe’ conducted by the DILG is an insult not only to human rights workers but also, most especially, to the Filipino people at a time when the Philippines joins the international community in the observance of Human Rights Day today,” said the lawmaker, former chair of the Commission on Human Rights.
“No one can deny these daily killings, and the criminals are getting bolder and bolder each day. To say there is no massive human rights violations is like telling us we do not have a traffic problem in the country,” she said in a statement.
READ: Duterte a ‘murderer,’ says De Lima
In a report on Friday, the DILG said a review of 25 randomly selected slay cases between July and October showed that only two warranted investigation over questionable circumstances.
The DILG also proposed the use of the “more generic” term “extra-legal killings” in place of “extrajudicial killings,” saying it carried a “very emotional meaning” linked with human rights abuse. The new term would include killings committed by police in self-defense, the agency said.