LP to gov’t: Fulfill promise to turn over to CHR all case files on war on drugs

DRUG KILLING Policemen investigating the killing of an alleged drug dealer who was gunned
down in Manila. AFP File photo

If the government is “rethinking” its bloody campaign against illegal drugs, it should start with the Philippine National Police (PNP) fulfilling a promise of turning over its case files to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), the once-ruling Liberal Party (LP) said Saturday.

READ: Teen deaths prompt ‘major rethinking’ in gov’t war on drugs—Abella

CHR Chair Luis Gascon said that during the Commission’s meeting with ranking police officials, PNP agreed to turn over all the case files related to the anti-drug war launched by President Rodrigo Duterte.

The LP said turning these files over to the human rights body is a start.

“On the killings, if the government is serious about solving them, it should allow an independent, impartial body—the CHR is constitutionally mandated—to conduct the investigation of these killings so as to be more credible to the public,” the LP said in a statement.

The political party also welcomed Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella’s statement that the consecutive deaths of teenagers Kian Delos Santos, Carl Angelo Arnaiz, and Reynaldo De Guzman, has prompted a “major rethinking” of the government’s violent war on drugs.

“As medical doctors around the world consider drug addiction a disease that can and must be treated, the government can use this lens as a strategic direction in its war on drugs,” LP said.

The teens’ deaths have sparked public outrage and put spotlight on Duterte’s drug war that has killed thousands of suspected drug criminals. JPV