Senate committee approves Foreign Affairs budget, presses Justice dep’t on killings

THE Senate Committee on Finance postponed the approval of the proposed 2018 budget of the Department of Justice (DoJ) of P17.276 billion after failing to obtain specific information on alleged extrajudicial killings accompanying the campaign against illegal drugs, though it approved the P19.66 billion budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday.

Sen. Franklin M. Drilon inquired about the accomplishments of an interagency committee tasked with looking into alleged instances of extrajudicial killings. He specifically asked about the deaths caused by the campaign on illegal drugs.

The committee, which is proposed to receive P33.3 million in 2018, up from P32.9 million in 2017, failed to immediately provide statistics that Mr. Drilon asked for.

“Di ko nga maintindihan kung ano ang interagency committee e. Hindi nga nila maipaliwanag kung ano ang trabaho nila. Gumastos sila ng mahigit sa P30 milyon na pera ng taumbayan. Di ko maintindihan kung ano ang ginagawa nila,” he said. (“I don’t understand what the interagency committee does. They can’t even explain their work to me and they are spending more than P30 million of the people’s money.”)

Mr. Drilon further questioned DoJ officials regarding reports of 4,000 deaths that allegedly resulted from the crackdown on illegal drugs. According to the DoJ, out of the 4,000, 3,050 were legitimate operations while about a thousand were allegedly perpetrated by vigilantes. Thirty seven of these cases are being investigated by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) of which 24 are pending while three were concluded and recommended for prosecution. These totals cover the period of July 1, 2016 to May 2017.

Mr. Drilon, speaking to reporters, said he is disappointed “but I think there is deliberate attempt to be less than transparent to keep this from the public.”

The interagency committee looks into suspected extra-legal killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other grave violations of right to life, liberty and security of persons, according to the presentation by the DoJ.

DoJ Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre added that it was only after the Department Order 120 was imposed that the NBI had the power to investigate extrajudicial killings related to the drug campaign. It was released in February. The cases concerning labor, journalists and other groups are filed under Administrative Order 35.

After Mr. Drilon left, the DoJ was able to provide the information the senator was seeking. As of Aug. 4, under Department Order 120, DoJ had received 11 reports, filed nine cases and dismissed one. These covered Regions 1 to 15.

“With respect to the killings on drugs, they are not part of the extrajudicial killings,” Mr. Aguirre said. He also added that the interagency committee meets once a month.

Mr. Aguirre said that the DoJ is still waiting for reports from more than 200 provincial prosecutors. The department has yet to collate the information and he is asking for more time.

The P17.276 billion budget represents 0.46% of the proposed national budget. Sen. Loren B. Legarda, who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance, said the DoJ budget will be approved once the questions of Mr. Drilon had been addressed. Another hearing was set for Aug. 31.

The P19.66 billion budget of the DFA, on the other hand, was approved by the committee, making it the first department to hurdle the budget hearings.

Ms. Legarda, however, asked the DFA to strengthen its economic research and translate to operationalized information. The Senator also asked the department to provide an inventory of all grants and loans from various multilateral institutions. —