CHR awaiting case files on EJKs from PNP

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has yet to receive from the Philippine National Police (PNP) copies of case files involving deaths related to the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.

“To achieve truth and justice, we need transparency and openness,” CHR Chairman Chito Gascon said yesterday, noting the importance of having access to the case files as these could help shed light on the probe of drug-related killings.

“Cooperation is important in these investigations. The proof of cooperation will be in the sharing of information or records,” he added.

PNP and CHR officials met last week to discuss coordination between the two agencies in investigating alleged human rights violations committed by the police in relation to the drug war.

The rights body requested copies of case files involving nanlaban (resisting arrest) and deaths under investigation, as well as proposed a joint task force to monitor the government’s anti-drug campaign.

The CHR also expressed its readiness to work with other government agencies in the deaths of Kian Loyd delos Santos and Carl Angelo Arnaiz in alleged shootouts during police operations.

“CHR is open to coordinate with other government agencies in investigating cases of killings, including Kian and Carl. We are currently monitoring these cases, and we are also conducting our own investigation,” Gascon said during the Senate investigation on the killings last Tuesday.

He also urged the Department of Justice to prosecute nanlaban cases and let courts decide on the claim of selfdefense of the law enforcers.

“We believe that cases of deaths related to the war on drugs should reach the courts,” said the CHR chief.

“Currently, there are more than 2,000 reported deaths due to police operations. These numbers do not include deaths under investigation or deaths whose perpetrators are un- identified. Despite having the PNP Internal Affairs Service, only one case of death due to legitimate police operations has reached the court,” he added.

Vice President Leni Robredo urged yesterday the PNP to prove to the public that there is no state-sanctioned extrajudicial killings in the country.

“There are many cases which up to now remain unresolved. Until it is resolved, the public will continue to ask whether or not this is a state policy,” Robredo said in an interview in Pasay City.

“I think it’s the obligation of the police to show the public that the killings are not statesanctioned,” she said.

PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa cried during a hearing at the Senate on Tuesday as he insisted the administration has no policy to kill.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros told Dela Rosa that there seemed to be a pattern of killings of drug suspects, citing the cases of Kian delos Santos, 17, and Carl Arnaiz, 19.

Robredo said several questions surrounding the government’s anti-drug campaign remain unanswered.

Thousands have died since President Duterte launched his government’s war on drugs.

The testimonies of the two witnesses were heard by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, Hontiveros and Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV in an executive session last Monday immediately after the inquiry into the killing of Delos Santos.

Witnesses

A 13-year-old witness in the killing of Delos Santos identified a known drug dealer in their barangay in Caloocan City as the person who tagged the victim as his source of illegal drugs.

In an affidavit, which was provided by the office of Hontiveros, the witness said that she was running errands at a drug store near where she lived when two motorcycles passed by, one of which parked at the store.