The alleged extrajudicial executions of children should trigger a United Nations inquiry into President Rodrigo Duterte’s abusive “war on drugs,” the New York-based Human Rights Watch said Saturday.
“The apparent willingness of Philippine police to deliberately target children for execution marks an appalling new level of depravity in this so-called drug war,” Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said.
“These killings demonstrate that Duterte’s rejection of the rule of law has made all Filipinos potential ‘drug-war’ victims, no matter how young,” he added.
The deaths of Delos Santos, Arnaiz and de Guzman brings the number of children slain in the drug war to more than 54 deaths, according to data from the Children’s Legal Rights and Development Center, all by the police and “unidentified gunmen.”
Rights group said that children had been shot while in the company of adults who were the apparent target of the shooting, but both Duterte and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre have dismissed those killings as “collateral damage.”
The group called for concerted action by the UN Human Rights Council to address Duterte’s abusive drug war.
“The council should press the Philippines government to accept an independent international investigation into all allegations of extrajudicial killings and to hold those responsible to account. The council should also press the government to cooperate with the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, grant unfettered and unconditional access to the rapporteur, and immediately stop all official incitement and instigation of drug war killings,” Kine said.
Photo from www.hrw.org
“A fundamental obligation of every government is to protect the lives of its children, not to empower police and their agents to murder them. Until Duterte ends his abusive drug war and allows a UN-led international probe, child-killers among the police will continue to get away with murder,” he added.
Public uproar over the killings of Delos Santos and De Guzman has prompted Duterte, the Justice Department, and the Philippine National Police to vow for a thorough investigations into their deaths.
In August, the Public Attorney’s Office filed murder and torture charges against the police officers implicated in the Delos Santos killing.
Duterte, however, described the teenage slays as a deliberate act of “sabotage” to “discredit” the police.
Meanwhile, the police was again reminded of the Commission on Human Rights to open its case folders. The CHR has expressed optimism that police officials will comply with the request despite President Duterte’ refusal to do so.
CHR spokesperson Jacqueline De Guia said that it would also be “advantageous” for police authorities to open the case folders to show that the recent drug-related killings is not a “state-policy, as claimed by the Palace.
She added that the DILG could help the commission on its investigations on the on the alleged extrajudicial killings, like participating in a “joint task force.”
Senator Panfilo Lacson earlier ordered the PNP to submit to the committee on public order and dangerous drugs all of the case folders of killings that they are investigating.
The CHR had also requested for the case folders because some questions remained unanswered despite the police giving them their matrices.
However, Interior officer-in-charge Undersecretary Catalino Cuy said on Friday that Duterte did not allow the PNP to open its case folders to the CHR.
Cuy said that there was no assurance that the folder of a certain case would be given to the CHR as they need to seek clearance from the President on a case to case basis.
As this developed, Malacañang welcomed the move by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle in calling for the tolling of church bells to condemn the recent spate of killings allegedly on the hands of the police.
“Cardinal Tagle’s concern with the Filipino families is noteworthy. This sentiment is something shared by the President as evidenced by his consistent pronouncements to protect the youth and future generation of this country,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement late Friday night.
“The illegal drug problem affects us all and we appreciate the initiative of His Eminence to have a multi-sectoral dialogue attended by bishops, representatives from relevant government agencies, media and the youth,” he added.
The Palace, however, maintained that they are working towards reforming the President’s drug campaign.
Abella said: “Much attention was given to the recent spate of deaths. The 1,308,078 drug personalities who voluntarily surrendered, as of July 26, 2017, belie the claim that “we cannot allow the destruction of lives to become normal and we cannot govern the nation by killing.”
On Friday, Tagle called for church bells to toll for five minutes at 8 p.m. every day starting Sept. 14 in the Archdiocese of Manila as he issued his strongest statement against the growing death toll in the government’s anti-drug campaign.
“The tolling of church bells in the evening to pray for the dead is an old Filipino custom that has almost disappeared. Now is the right time to revive it,” the cardinal said.
“We cannot allow the destruction of lives to become normal. We cannot govern the nation by killing. We cannot foster a humane and decent Filipino culture by killing,” Tagle said in his letter Friday.
He also urged Catholics to show solidarity with those who have been killed, and to extend empathy and spiritual support to their families.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco, and San Jose, Nueva Ecija Bishop Roberto Mallari had also called for the ringing of church bells amid the widespread killings.
