Rody’s sabotage claim absurd — lawmaker

An opposition congressman yesterday described as absurd President Duterte’s claim that his anti-drug war campaign is being sabotaged in the wake of the recent killing of at least two young drug suspects in Metro Manila.

“It’s preposterous and absurd to say those things. President Duterte has almost absolute control over government, from the legislative to executive branches including the security sector,” Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin said.

“It’s the height of irony to blame others while the Philippine National Police (PNP) under Director General Ronald dela Rosa has done nothing to curb extrajudicial killings (EJKs) nor has the Department of Justice prosecuted people responsible for thousands of murders,” he said. Villarin said the President “has tons of intelligence funds at their disposal to go after the perpetrators of EJKs.”

Villarin reiterated the opposition’s call for Duterte to create an independent, impartial commission to investigate killings connected to the administration’s bloody anti-drug campaign.

“The President should also put a stop to all PNP operations involving Oplan Tokhang, Double Barrel Reloaded, Galugad, etc. that involve or resulted in killing of alleged drug personalities,” he said.

In Digos City on Friday, Duterte directed Dela Rosa to look deeper into the killing of Kian delos Santos, 17, Carl Arnaiz, 19, and Reynaldo de Guzman, 14. The suspects in the death of Delos Santos and Arnaiz are policemen.

The President said the killing of teenagers meant that the anti-drug campaign was being sabotaged. He did not identify the alleged saboteurs.

Duterte said he could not have ordered the police to shoot Arnaiz, whom he claimed to be his relative.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said corrupt police officers are the ones likely sabotaging Duterte’s war on illegal drugs.

Zarate said Duterte should not look at other personalities to blame for ruining his antidrug campaign.

“If there are people sabotaging his campaign, it’s within the Philippine National Police because there are corrupt policemen from the lowest police officer to a general,” Zarate told a news forum in Quezon City.

He said it is not surprising that people within the PNP are ruining Duterte’s campaign to eradicate drugs as these police officers likely belong to drug syndicates themselves.

“If there are corrupt policemen, there should have been reforms first,” Zarate said.

Liable

An alliance of children’s welfare organization said Duterte should be held liable for the recent spate of killings.

Eule Rico Bonganay, secretary-general of Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns, said Duterte’s pronouncements in relation to the campaign against illegal drugs have encouraged the police to kill as many people without considering the innocence of their targets.

“Duterte’s statement gave courage and assurance that police officers are free to kill anyone with an alibi of performing their duty as policy enforcers,” Bonganay said.

“There might be no formal policy to kill, but his pronouncements made him liable for the recent killing spree,” he added.

The group condemned the recent killings of the youth.

“The spate of killings is disquieting. Too many lives, both young and old, have perished in the brutal manner at the very hands of state forces who are supposedly bound to protect and serve the public. We should not allow this bloody policy to go on further,” Bonganay said.

Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison said Duterte himself agitated and emboldened some groups to do the dirty work for him.

Sison said Duterte’s previous pronouncements are opposite to what he is saying now.

“Please review his statements. He openly advised the death squads to take resistance by the victims and plant evidence. He set up the reward system in cash and promotions for the murderers in the PNP. The going price per victim is P50,000,” Sison said.

A rights group, on the other hand, said the spate of killings of teenagers over a three-day period signals the need for a United Nations inquiry into Duterte’s war on drugs.

“While several dozen children under 18 have died in drug war-related killings since June 2016, circumstances suggest that the PNP deliberately targeted the two children,” the Human Rights Watch said.

“The apparent willingness of Philippine police to deliberately target children for execution marks an appalling new level of depravity in this socalled drug war. These killings demonstrate that Duterte’s rejection of the rule of law has made all Filipinos potential ‘drug-war’ victims, no matter how young,” said

Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Kine cited the data from the Children’s Legal Rights and Development Center showing the latest killing of Delos Santos and De Guzman brought the number of minors killed in the drug war to 54.

“Most of those children had been shot while in the company of adults who were the apparent target of the shooting. Both Duterte and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II have dismissed those killings as collateral damage,” Kine said.

A public uproar over the killings of Delos Santos and De Guzman has prompted Duterte, the justice department and the PNP to promise 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.

On Friday, President Duterte described De Guzman’s killing as a deliberate act of “sabotage” to “discredit” the police.

There are major concerns about the willingness and capacity of Philippine authorities to conduct thorough, impartial and transparent investigations into drug war-related killings, Human Rights Watch said.

The Catholic Church also extended empathy and spiritual support to the families of those killed.

“We cannot allow the destruction of lives to become normal. We cannot govern the nation by killing,” Jose Antonio Cardinal Tagle, archbishop of Manila, said in a pastoral letter.

Tagle said bells will be rung for five minutes each night in the early evening starting on Sept. 14, which the archdiocese said was a Catholic custom to honor the dead.