Sen. Leila de Lima. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
Senator Leila de Lima has recommended the creation of an independent body that would investigate the government’s war on illegal drugs.
Her recommendation was contained in her 151- page “dissenting” report to the Joint Committee Report No. 18 of the Senate committees on justice and human rights, and on public order and dangerous drugs that investigated the alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the country.
De Lima dubbed the joint panel report a “virtual whitewash” meant to exonerate President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration.
“Due to the premature and abrupt termination of the Senate investigation, no comprehensive, in-depth gathering, and assessment of the evidence was done by the Committee. Instead, what came out was a virtual whitewash designed to absolve the national leadership as led by the President,” she said in a statement.
The Senate probe, De Lima said, failed on several grounds, noting its refusal to hear the testimonies of EJK witnesses of the Commission on Human Rights, its premature termination, its failure to weigh in the testimonies of confessed assassin and witness Edgar Matobato, among others.
READ: No proof against Duterte; perjury, murder raps eyed vs Matobato
She said the justice committee headed by Senator Richard Gordon wasted its “golden opportunity when its ultimate goal was to exonerate the President and the administration from any involvement in the bloody drug war that claimed thousands of lives.”
READ: No proof of state-sponsored drug killings, Gordon says
De Lima then recommended the creation of an independent commission that would investigate the President’s war on illegal drugs.
“There should be an independent probe on the President’s war on drugs and the concomitant EJKs that have gone with it, to be conducted by an independent commission composed of men and women of proven integrity, probity, and independence, including former Supreme Court Justices,” she said.
“There is need to ensure that the government will implement a legitimate campaign against illegal drugs and not merely propaganda efforts under the guise of a war on drugs,” De Lima added.
Aside from the creation of an independent body, De Lima’s report also recommended the following to the Senate:
- To look into the alleged irregularities in the preparation, routing and filing of the Gordon Report and study the propriety of enforcing the standing Senate rules on all the committees;
- To strengthen the investigative and forensic capacities of our law enforcement agencies to align with internationally accepted standards of law enforcement;
- To urge the Department of Justice (DOJ), Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority to follow the International Drug Control Conventions;
- To ensure the conduct of the visit, and effective and unhampered discharge of the duties of the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on Summary Executions;
- To enact into law of Senate Bill 1197, also known as the Anti-Extrajudicial Killings, which seeks to address institutional barriers to efficient, independent and impartial investigation of EJKs among concerned government agencies;
- To enact into law the Charter of the Commission on Human Rights, logged as Senate Bill 1230, granting it its status as the country’s premier human rights body with powers to respond in real-time to human rights violations against Filipinos here and abroad;
- To create a separate, dedicated office within DOJ or Public Attorney Office that would provide legal assistance and representation to law enforcement officials facing charges;
- To establish a program in the Department of Social Welfare and Development to assist the surviving families of those killed during police operations;
- To investigate not only the possible criminal acts of policemen but also the liabilities of their superiors under the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity.
De Lima also lashed out at the joint panel report for taking an issue on her alleged unparliamentary behavior and that of her colleague Senator Antonio Trillanes IV during the probe.
“The Gordon Report was not about finding the source behind all this public bloodbath drowning the poor and shirtless in this country, but about libeling, attacking, and pillorying the two senators who dared come out with guns blazing against the President as the inducer of these killings,” she said. RAM