NO STATE-SPONSORED KILLINGS

Human rights and church leaders in Cebu expressed dismay over the joint report by the Senate committees on justice and human rights, and public order and dangerous drugs that declared that the government has nothing to do, much less sanctioned, the rising body count in the war against illegal drugs.

Eleven of 16 senators who looked into the series of drug-related deaths in the country signed a joint committee report which found no proof that the killings in the country were state-sponsored.

But Leo Villarino, chief investigator of the Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas (CHR-7), said that the Senate report that found no sufficient evidence to prove that the killings were ordered by the government is not a guarantee that the state is innocent of the series of killings.

“I do not know what the Senate’s definition of state-sponsored killings are. But even if the killings were committed by private individuals or vigilantes, but the police did not do anything to conduct a meaningful investigation to ferret the truth, that is exactly tolerance or inaction on the part of government. In that case, they should be blamed for the killings,” he told Cebu Daily News.

“The Senate didn’t just have enough evidence to prove it. And how would you get enough evidence when it is the government which is telling law enforcers to kill (when their targets place the lives of operatives in danger)? You don’t immediately see those evidence,” Villarino added.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma also has reservations to claims that there are no extrajudicial killings in the country.

“There are signs of extrajudicial killings. You can always argue either or. You know it’s not easy to prove it. There are cases that even the ordinary judgment of simple people — let’s say it appears to be obvious they fall under extrajudicial killing,” the prelate said in an interview at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral yesterday.

The same Senate joint report also found no sufficient evidence to prove the existence of the Davao Death Squad which was allegedly responsible for the killing of more than 1,000 suspected criminals since 1988 when President Rodrigo Duterte was still the mayor of Davao City.

“There is no proof that there is state-sponsored policy to commit killings to eradicate illegal drugs in the country,” read the 19-page executive summary of the report of the joint committees on justice and human rights chaired by Senator Richard Gordon, and the committee on public order and dangerous drugs chaired by Senator Panfilo Lacson.

“However, the committee took note of the many thousands of killings with impunity taking place every year in the last two decades at least,” it said.

The Senate probe was initiated by Sen. Leila de Lima, who previously headed the justice committee until she was ousted and replaced by Gordon.

Signatories

The 11 senators who signed the 89-page report were Gordon, Lacson, Gringo Honasan, Loren Legarda, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Nancy Binay, Manny Pacquiao, Francis Pangilinan, Alan Peter Cayetano, Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and Franklin Drilon.

Three of them, however, have affixed their signatures either with reservations or have expressed intentions to interpellate and proposed amendments to the report prepared by the joint committee that investigated the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country.

Pangilinan, in signing the report, said that “I dissent in part and I concur in part.”

“I will file a separate opinion. More hearings necessary for a definitive finding to be established,” he said in his note.
Drilon signed “with reservations” and expressed intention to interpellate when the report is reported out to the plenary.
Cayetano also signed with reservations as he also expressed intention to propose amendments to the report.

Other members of the joint panel who did not sign the report were Senators Leila de Lima, Grace Poe, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Antonio Trillanes IV and Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto.

Continue the investigations

Villarino said CHR will continue investigating cases of alleged extrajudicial killings in the country to get to the bottom of the issue.

Since late May 2016, the CHR-7 has been looking into 172 cases of alleged extrajudicial killings in the region, most of which involved policemen.

Of the number, at least 40 cases are undergoing a formal investigation wherein the respondents were required to submit their counter-affidavits to refute the allegations.

“That is just a Senate investigation in aid of legislation. Perhaps there were no available resource persons who can testify about the killings. Investigators have their limits,” Villarino said.

So far, however, he said the CHR has not made any conclusions and that they have yet to determine whether or not the government has a hand in the series of killings.

“We’re careful in making conclusions without solid evidence. For now, we are content in saying that there are ‘alleged’ extrajudicial killings,” Villarino said.

“We will not stop investigating. We just can’t. It might turn out in the process that there are enough evidence to prove that the government is behind the killings,” he added.

Human rights lawyer Democrito Barcenas, however, was certain that President Duterte should be blamed for the spate of murders that happened in the country since he assumed his post.

“I remembered very well how Duterte, after he assumed the presidency, exhorted policemen to kill drug addicts and pushers because he would back them up. There’s nothing more glaring when Duterte publicly announced that he won’t allow policemen who killed Mayor Espinosa to stay in jail,” he told CDN.

While he won’t interfere in the investigation conducted by the Department of Justice, President Duterte on Wednesday said he will do his best to help the 24 members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Visayas who took part in the raid that resulted in the death of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. last Nov. 5.

The President’s statement came a day after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) ruled that the mayor died in a rubout and not a shootout as earlier claimed by the involved policemen.

Barcenas said the joint committee report in the Senate was aimed at protecting President Duterte amid accusations of masterminding the series of killings in the country.

“I think that (Senate report) is intended to whitewash and to protect the Duterte administration from any culpability that might arise as a result of the extrajudicial killings in the country,” he said.

“I can’t believe that the victims committed suicide or killed each other without the sanction of the state. The killings now are state-sponsored,” he added.

According to records of the Philippine National Police (PNP), at least 2,028 drug suspects were killed in police operations while 3,841 others were gunned down by unknown assailants from July 1 to Dec. 3.

On one hand, 38,999 drug suspects were arrested by the police.

Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas, in an earlier interview, said the police are investigating the death of drug suspects who were killed by unknown assailants.

But so far, they said there have not validated the presence of vigilantes in the region.

“Perhaps, members of drug syndicates are also conducting an internal cleansing. They fear that some of them will squeal on the others,” Taliño said.

When he visited Cebu City last month, CHR Commissioner Jose Luis Martin “Chito” Gascon said the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) are expected to come to the Philippines to investigate the spate of executions and to review the country’s compliance with its human rights obligations.

Blind eye

Retired Judge Meinrado Paredes said President Duterte’s remarks indicated that he’s in favor of killing drug suspects and other criminals.

“Even before the elections, he already said that he will kill one hundred thousand people and throw them at Manila Bay for fishes to eat. And in several speeches, he expressed his support in killing criminals,” he told CDN.

Paredes said Duterte clearly wanted to get rid of drug suspects without due process of law.

“Do you think vigilantes work without pay? Someone must be behind them. The senators who said there are no state-sponsored killings turned a blind eye on what truly is happening. They pretend to be blind or innocent,” he said.

Read more...