Rights group blames draconian government policies to the non-resolution of extrajudicial killings

Karapatan called for the UN Human Rights Council and UN Special Procedures to conduct an independent investigation of extrajudicial killings and other rights violations. “These international organizations should see through the Marcos Jr. government’s attempts to window-dress the dire human rights situation in the country.” 

By AIRA MARIE SIGUENZA
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – For the human rights alliance Karapatan, it is not solely the lack of capacity on forensic pathology or knowledge of international human rights norms that affect the investigation of the cases of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the Philippines, but the climate of impunity and draconian government policies in place.

This was the statement of Karapatan following the four-day visit of the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings Dr. Morris Tidball-Binz, who visited the Philippines in his capacity as a forensic pathologist, per the justice department.

In a statement, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that Tidball-Binz came not as a Special Rapporteur but as an expert in forensic pathology, adding that there is a need to have more “capable doctors in our country to assist our law enforcement agencies in their work.”

Dr. Morris Tidball-Binz with human rights defenders and OHCHR Senior Human Rights Adviser Signe Poulsen. (Contributed photo)

Tidball-Binz met with government officials such as Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Chief Moro Virgilio Lazo, Philippine National Police Chief Rodolfo Azurin, and National Bureau of Investigation Director Medardo De Lemos.

The visit concluded yesterday Feb. 9.

While Karapatan welcomed the expert’s visit, the group said that extrajudicial killings in the country will remain unresolved unless they answer the “systemic problem driven by government policies such as the drug war and counterinsurgency programs.”

The group lambasted the lack of improvement in the human rights situation in the country amid years of “supposed training on human rights and forensic investigations.”

“From preventing reprisals and harassment of families of victims to lack of extraordinary due diligence in conducting investigations, contamination of crimes scenes by the very perpetrators of the alleged killings, refusal to furnish families and legal representatives with police and other reports for case build up and even fabrication of information in these reports and documents, and the lack of independent and credible forensic experts, these obstacles, among others seem to point to an intent to enable the perpetrators of EJKs and masterminds to evade accountability,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.

As of April 2022, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) reported that 6,248 individuals have been killed during former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. However, this number does not include those killed by unidentified gunmen. In a 2020 report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), at least 8,663 have been killed, with other estimates of up to triple that number. 

Read: #UndoingDuterte| Five years of bloody drug war, kin of victims fight for justice 

Human rights groups, however, estimate that some 30,000 have been killed in Duterte’s war on drugs, which mostly come from poor communities. 

Aside from this, the rights group also assailed government laws such as Executive Order No. 70, creating the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the passing of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), which led to persecution and extrajudicial killings of progressives.

Last month, the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) designated community doctor Natividad “Naty” Castro as a “terrorist individual.” Castro is a doctor who dedicated her life to serving poor communities in Mindanao and advocated for the Lumad community’s defense of their ancestral domain and basic human rights.

Read: Terrorist designation of red-tagged doc ‘baseless and malicious’ – rights group

Last February 2022, Castro was arrested based on multiple charges of kidnapping and illegal detention. However, the court junked the charges a month later due to a lack of jurisdiction. 

Karapatan also criticized the restoration of the NTF-ELCAC’s P10-billion funding in the 2023 national budget. In a statement, Karapatan listed the anomalies in the agency’s use of budget, including “incomplete documentation, low fund utilization, and unutilized funds, unauthorized fund transfers and lack of guidelines on the use of funds,” and the failure to liquidate P33.4 million of its 2021 budget. 

“As long as there is no acknowledgment of these impacts and as long as these policies remain, extrajudicial killings and a host of gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law will continue,” said Palabay.

Karapatan called for the UN Human Rights Council and UN Special Procedures to conduct an independent investigation of extrajudicial killings and other rights violations. “These international organizations should see through the Marcos Jr. government’s attempts to window-dress the dire human rights situation in the country,” Palabay said. (RVO, JJE) (https://www.bulatlat.org)

Share This Post