DRUG WAR PROBE | Police, NBI inks deal to collaborate in inquiry into drug war killings

November 3, 2021 , 09:40 PM

By Clarist Mae Zablan, News5 Digital

(November 3, 2021) – The country’s two law enforcement agencies have joined hands to investigate President Rodrigo Duterte’s five-year war on drugs campaign which resulted in the killings of thousands of street-level drug peddlers, couriers and users, the justice department said on Wednesday.

The justice department, in a statement said the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) promised to ensure the integrity and availability of all information and evidence in the investigation and possible filing of cases against erring law enforcers who were behind the killings of thousands of poor drug suspects.

The Philippine National Police, which was responsible for most of the deaths, promised to cooperate with the justice department and the NBI in the investigation.

“The Philippine National Police remains focused on its commitment to transparency and accountability on this matter and this is the reason why we are now working with the National Bureau of Investigation and will continuously coordinate with the DOJ for review of more of these cases,” National Police Chief Guillermo Eleazar had said.

Under the joint PNP-NBI investigations, the two agencies also agreed to jointly prepare case reports and hold monthly consultations, through designated representatives.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) had released a report of its review on 52 cases of drug war killings, which were turned over to the police then endorsed to the NBI for further investigation and case build-up.

Based on the DOJ’s review, it found lapses in police procedures in carrying out the anti-illegal drug operations, showing several cases where police officers said the drug suspects fought back or “nanlaban” but there was inadequate evidence to back the narrative.

Similarly, a Commission on Human Rights (CHR) report corroborated the DOJ’s findings, showing at least 87 drug war victims were shot dead during anti-illegal drug operations. The killings indicated there were signs of abuse of strength and an intent to kill.

The police has acknowledged the human rights body’s observations, assuring that they wish to know the truth and ease out the widespread criticisms of human rights violations it has received.

“These allegations of human rights and extra-judicial killings that have been hounding us for more than five years have resulted in sweeping generalization that all our operations against illegal drugs are tainted with abuses,” said Eleazar.

Human rights groups have found DOJ’s investigations to be too sluggish and inadequate, as the cases it reviewed covered less than one percent of the over 6,000 drug war deaths tallied by the government since Duterte took office in 2016.

Some raised suspicions that the review was made merely to show that domestic justice systems are working to discourage a probe from international bodies such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations.

(MM)

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