Atty. Democrito Barcenas
Call made after region’s human rights body decided to stop tracking down these cases
Continue monitoring cases of alleged extrajudicial killings.
This is the plea of human rights lawyer Democrito Barcenas to the Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas (CHR-7) on its decision to stop monitoring these cases.
“It is not enough to just investigate. They should also monitor what is happening. That is part of their duty,” Barcenas told Cebu Daily News when sought to comment on the CHR-7’s decision.
Barcenas said people could not rely on the police to conduct an investigation on their fellow policemen.
“They do not have enough credibility to investigate one of their kind. You can’t expect them to punish their own member,” he said.
He also encouraged other agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation to step in to conduct an investigation on cases of alleged extrajudicial killings.
Msgr. Tan’s take
However, Msgr. Joseph Tan, media liaison officer of the Cebu Archdiocese, said it would be up to CHR to do what it thinks is proper.
“What they are doing is really like a vocation. So it’s up to them if their actions are in keeping with their mission. I can’t tell them to do this or to do that,” Tan said when sought for comment on the CHR-7 decision.
He said the CHR might also want to tap other sectors to help them monitor cases of alleged extrajudicial killing.
“A multi-sectoral approach is best, but, of course, it’s all up to CHR,” he said.
CHR-7 decision
Leo Villarino, CHR-7 chief investigator, said yesterday that the CHR-7 would stop tracking down cases of alleged extrajudicial killings.
Villarino, however, said that the agency would continue to entertain walk-in complainants.
He cited discrepancies in their count of these cases with that of the Philippine National Police.
VILLARINO
“There might be discrepancies between our count and that of the police so we better stop counting,” said Villarino.
Villarino said that they had based their monitoring of these killings solely on news reports especially since all killings in the region are reported in the media.
40 cases probed
But Villarino assured that they would continue the investigation of the 40 cases of extrajudicial killings, most of which involved policemen who went after drug suspects in what they described as legitimate operations.
He said they had requested concerned policemen or their units to submit the post-operation reports for them to determine whether or not the killings were intentionally done.
Probe order
Lawyer Diana de Leon of the CHR’s Human Rights Protection Office in Manila earlier requested all its regional offices to investigate what could be cases of summary executions.
Villarino said they had to prioritize cases based on the availability of witnesses and the willingness of the victims’ families to cooperate.
He said the drug-related killings have been “alarming” since President Rodrigo Duterte was elected in May.
Villarino said law enforcers should solve the killings otherwise people might think they were behind it.
Based on the data of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), at least 157 drug suspects were killed in different operations in the region, while 352 others were gunned down by unknown assailants since July 1.
The different police stations and units in the region also seized at least 22,046.58 grams of shabu worth P260.14 million.
Some 106,980 drug pushers and users surrendered to authorities while 5,413 were arrested.