DILG says no "massive" human rights violations in anti-drug war
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Friday there is no "massive" human rights violations in the government's war on illegal drugs, according to the result of their independent human rights probe.
The department based their conclusion on the examination of 25 sample cases of police operations from July 1 to October 13 where drug suspects have been killed in what authorities say where armed encounters.
Assistant Local Government Secretary for Plans and Programs Epimaco Densing III, who presented their probe, said out of the 25 cases, twenty-three passed the audit. This meant the 23 cases, meaning 92 percent of the samples are consistent with the police version and considered legitimate where suspected drug dealers and users engaged law enforcers in a shootout.
Two cases showed irregularities were committed by the police.
“There will be human rights violations. Is it massive or not? Indications based on the case showed that it is not massive. Indicatively, there is no human rights violations or it is at the barest minimum,” he said in a news briefing in Quezon City.
One is the two cases is Alberto Pamiliar Jr., a suspected drug pusher who died after he allegedly fought back during a buy-bust operation in Quiapo . However, a 3-man investigating team from the DILG found out he was executed.
The other case is Mark Anthony Culata in Tanza town, Cavite Like the first case, police were involved. He was tagged as a drug peddler but an audit of his case revealed he was never involved in drugs and a love triangle was the motive behind his murder by policemen.
The 25 cases were taken at random from 1,781 cases under investigation by the Philippine National Police - Internal Affairs Service, broken down as follows, 12 out of 555 in Metro Manila, seven out of 1,002 in Luzon, four out of 120 in Visayas and two out of 104 in Mindanao.
The audit took about 40 to 45 days to complete, with investigators from the DILG examining police reports and comparing these with testimonies of the survivors, their families, friends and neighbors.
In a query posed by Daily Manila Shimbun, Densing said it took them about one day to investigate one case. "It includes the travel to the police station and the scene," he said.
Also, their investigation on 1,831 deaths under investigation, only 671 were found to be related to drugs.
Forty-eight were a result of personal grudges and eight are related to robbery and theft. The remaining 1,104 are still under examination. Emmanuel Tupas/DMS
