DRUG WAR | DOJ details PNP lapses but information on killings in Metro Manila still limited

October 20, 2021 , 01:10 PM

By Beatrice Puente

(October 20, 2021) – The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday released information about the drug war killings it examined over the past months, revealing the lapses of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in waging the brutal campaign.

Out of the 52 cases reviewed, most of the killings occurred during buy-bust operations in which police officers accused suspects of fighting back, more commonly known as “nanlaban.” But the DOJ pointed out gaps that weakened the typical excuse.

Such is the case of a certain Clark Nardo from Pangasinan who died in July 2019. Like many others, he was accused of firing at police officers but the DOJ said there was insufficient information to prove this allegation. Nardo also suffered multiple fatal gunshot wounds, said the report.

“There is nothing in the records that would support the police operatives’ claim that the suspect fired at them. No paraffin or ballistics tests, as well as cross-matching of the weapon allegedly recovered from the subject, were conducted,” said the DOJ.

At least six killings were done in the context of serving an arrest or search warrant, including the case of Leo Morata in Davao del Norte in 2017. The “nanlaban” excuse was once again used but no firearms were included in the inventory of evidence, according to the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS).

Most of the penalties incurred by erring police officers were mere suspensions ranging from 22 days to six months. Twelve were demoted by at least one rank while only eight were dismissed from service. Only the case of Nardo was referred for the filing of an appropriate criminal complaint.

It’s also worth noting that only two incidents of killings in Metro Manila were included in the DOJ report despite being the epicenter of the incidents. In 2019, global human rights group Amnesty International declared Bulacan as the new “bloodiest killing field” in the Philippines but none of the killings in the province were included in the DOJ review.

Carl Angelo Arnaiz, who was extrajudicially killed in 2017, sustained five gunshot wounds to the chest, showing “excessive force and violence.” But the PNP IAS only imposed a 50-day suspension on the police officers involved in the killing of the 19-year-old. Arnaiz’s case already reached the courts in 2018.

Up to now, only the case of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos, who was killed just days before Arnaiz, led to the life imprisonment of three police officers found guilty of murder.

In an earlier statement, DOJ secretary Menardo Guevarra said around 150 PNP personnel could face criminal sanctions due to the drug war killings. Their findings were already forwarded to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

“(We are) inviting any witnesses or persons with first-hand information helpful to the resolution of the 52 cases come forward and approach the NBI for the taking of their statements, if any,” said the DOJ.

(PM)

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