Probe of killings pushed

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST Funeral parlor workers lift the body of one of the two drug suspects who were killed in an alleged shootout with police in Barangay Bonuan Tondaligan in Dagupan City on Monday. RAY B.ZAMBRANO/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

Warning that the country could turn into a killing field, Sen. Leila de Lima on Thursday called for a Senate inquiry into the spate of killings in the Duterte administration’s war against illegal drugs.

“We have to look into that in aid of legislation. The killings are on the rise, and there are just telltale signs of summary executions in a number of them,” De Lima told reporters on Thursday.

In the House of Representatives, Ifugao Rep. Teddy Brawner Baguilat of the Liberal Party also filed a resolution seeking an investigation into the “disturbing trend of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug criminals.”

Baguilat said it was the House’s duty to “scrutinize the circumstances behind the killings with a view to ensuring that the people’s rights and lives are protected, especially by law enforcers.”

In just the first few days of the Duterte administration, Baguilat said at least  23 drug suspects had been killed by the police under vague circumstances.

These deaths are on top of the 25 alleged drug suspects killed in police operations from June 16 to 20 and the 22 suspected drug criminals killed by vigilantes from May 14 to June 30.

The 70 drug-related killings in less than two months, compared with the 68 killed in the first six months last year, “demonstrates a shocking increase in police-perpetrated killings,” said Baguilat.

“I’m framing the inquiry not as an all-out indictment on the war on crime but as a means for Congress to enhance law enforcement.  Who knows, the hearings could result in legislative action either in legislating better law enforcement policy or more logical budgeting for the war against drugs?” Baguilat said in a text message.

Madness must stop

The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) said in a statement on Thursday that while the drug menace should be eliminated, “the summary executions of alleged street drug users or petty drug lords, which appear sudden, too contrived and predictable, must also stop.”

“The madness must stop. Quick fix savagery and abuse of power by law enforcers supposedly to quell criminality and drugs, which, wittingly or unwittingly, directly or indirectly, are encouraged, condoned or sanctioned, is a [Frankenstein’s monster] that will haunt us all over time. The cure may turn out to be worse than the illness,” said Edre Olalia, the NUPL secretary general.

Allies of President Duterte, who was elected in a landslide in May elections on a campaign promise to stamp out drug abuse and criminality, sounded lukewarm to the calls for legislative inquiries into the drug war.

No to inquiry

In a text message, Davao del Norte Rep. and presumptive Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Congress had more important matters to tackle and that such issues were under the purview of the National Bureau of Investigation or the Department of Justice.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, the presumptive House majority leader, said it was too soon to seek a probe because the 17th Congress had not yet convened its session and organized the leadership posts and committee members.

All speculation

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, anticrime czar in the Estrada administration, said a Senate inquiry should not be held based on speculation.

“If there is no basis, except that Senator De Lima is just speculating that it might have been a rubout, it’s unfair to police officers,” said the former police chief, once tagged but eventually cleared in the alleged  summary execution of 11 robbery suspects in 1995.

“Perhaps some of them are legitimate, meaning [the suspects] really resisted arrest or grabbed a police officer’s gun, but that can’t be the case for all. All the cases we hear about, the police would say the suspect grabbed an officer’s gun [that’s why he was shot],” said De Lima.

No official count

The goal of the inquiry, De Lima said, would be to craft laws “to try to institutionalize the current operational procedures” of the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and other law enforcement bodies.

The former justice secretary and former Commission on Human Rights chair expressed concern that no investigating agency had looked into the killings.

She noted that there had yet to be an official count of the drug war deaths. “What is the correct figure?” she asked.

Data compiled by Inquirer Research placed the count as of July 6 at 61. Since  May 10, when Mr. Duterte appeared to be the clear winner of the polls, the number has reached 108.

“One thing that’s sure is, almost every day, somebody dies, and many of them are an offshoot of police operations. So we have to look into the legitimacy of the manner and the method by which these police officers are doing their job,” De Lima said.

Messy society

“It’s very laudable, the all-out offensive. But it can’t be done at the expense of human rights, at the expense of due process,” she said.

“We will become a killing field, and violence would breed violence. Maybe this time, OK, the criminals are being scared away because the administration is determined. But you know, if this becomes a pattern, whether or not [the suspect] fought back, whether or not [the suspect] grabbed an officer’s gun, we’re looking at a really messy society,” she said.

De Lima has long maintained a fierce stance against extrajudicial killings and summary executions, including assassinations attributed to the Davao death squads, to which Mr. Duterte was earlier linked.

Of the possibility that the inquiry would draw the President’s ire, De Lima said: “I just hope that he would understand also that that is also my job. He has a mandate, we have our own mandate in the legislature.”

RELATED VIDEOS