Manila invites UN rights expert

Assassins unmasked as policemen: authorities

MANILA, Oct 13, (Agencies): The Philippine government has formally invited a United Nations rights rapporteur to investigate the thousands of killings during President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on crime, a presidential spokesman said Wednesday.

“The (presidential) palace has sent the invitation to UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard and is awaiting her response,” spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters.

Since July Duterte has overseen a brutal crackdown on illegal drugs that has left more than 3,300 people dead, both at the hands of police as well as in unexplained circumstances, according to official data.

The United Nations, the European Union, the United States and international human rights groups have all raised concern over alleged extrajudicial killings.

The acid-tongued Duterte has rejected the allegations and called the campaign an internal affair of the Philippines.

He has also branded US President Barack Obama a “son of a ..... ” and UN chief Ban Ki-moon a “fool” over their criticism.

Duterte last month challenged Ban and international human rights experts to visit the country, both to investigate the allegations and to face him in a public debate.

The government initially rebuffed Callamard when she announced plans to take up Duterte’s challenge.

Callamard has since told AFP she would discuss with Manila the date and scope of her fact-finding mission, state guarantees for her freedom of movement and inquiry, and assurances about the safety of mission members and their interview subjects.

Abella said Wednesday the government also asked Callamard “to include in her investigation the killings of law enforcers by drug suspects so that she could obtain an accurate perspective of

decisions and actions.”

“There is a lot of noise, there’s a lot of stray voltage in the media, but ultimately the decisions about the alliance operations are going to be taken, I believe in a deliberate and thoughtful way.”

Russel said the United States was “working through” the uncertainty and added that the two countries had “been through a lot worse in our 70-year history.” (RTRS) the drug problem in the country”.

Meanwhile, following a periodic review of the country’s commitments to the international body, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has expressed concern at Duterte’s drug war.

“The committee is deeply concerned that declarations made by high-ranking officials in the context of the ‘war on drugs’ may be seen to encourage and legitimise violence against drug users, including extrajudicial killings,” it said in a statement.

“Indeed, the number of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects has drastically in recent months,” it said, adding “poor neighbourhoods and individuals have been disproportionately affected in this process”.

Duterte has insisted he and his police forces were not doing anything illegal, and that law enforcers were forced to shoot and kill after the suspects put up a fight.

MANILA:

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Two Philippine police officers are to be charged with murder after being unmasked as motorcycleriding hitmen who shot dead a local woman, authorities said Thursday.

The policemen were wounded and arrested after a shootout with local police last weekend as they fled the scene of the crime in the central island of Mindoro, an official police report said.

Loaded handguns, a wig, and a face mask were among items recovered from Inspector Markson Almeranez and Senior Inspector Magdaleno Pimentel, it added.

Clad in civilian clothing, the two suspects allegedly shot dead a 51-yearold woman on Oct 9 outside her home in Gloria, a rural town on Mindoro about 170 kms (106 miles) south of Manila, according to the police report.

Police gave chase, unaware of the suspects’ identity.

The authorities said the motive of

Panel to probe media violence:

Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte has issued an administrative order to create a presidential task force to protect journalists and investigate attacks on media, in what is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the press.

A special unit comprised of cabinet ministers, police, defence and justice officials would spend a month compiling an inventory of outstanding cases before

A man smokes a cigarette at a public place in Manila on Oct 13. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will this month ban smoking in public, the health department said Wednesday, further strengthening some of the toughest tobacco

regulation in Asia. (AFP)

the killing was unknown.

Philippine police have said nearly 2,300 people have died in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs since July, down from an earlier estimate of 3,600, after investigations into the near-daily killings.

“Not all (the deaths) are related to the war on drugs,” Philippine National Police spokesman Dionardo Carlos told Reuters late on Wednesday.

He added 1,566 drug suspects were killed in police operations and 722 deaths were still under investigation or had been already investigated.

Police had provided Reuters with data on Oct 5 showing 3,652 people had died since Duterte launched his drugs war after taking office on June 30, including almost 2,000 cases under investigation.

Philippine police said Thursday the bodies of three foreigners with gunshots to their heads have been found in a sugar cane field, and South Korea’s Foreign Ministry identified them as its nationals.

One man had his feet bound by packaging tape, the other man and the woman had marks of strangulation and the left wrist of the woman also had packaging tape, said police investigator Victor Eduardo. They were found by a farm worker Tuesday morning in a field in Bacolor town in northern Pampanga province.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it was the fourth homicide case involving South Koreans in the Philippines this year in which six died. It said it will work with the Philippine police for a quick investigation, but provided no other details.

Eduardo said South Korea’s police attache in Manila is expected to meet with police in Bacolor on Thursday, and police too are asking the help of the Korean community in the province to establish the victims’ identities.

pursuing investigations, said Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar.

The Philippines enjoys one of the most liberal media environments in Asia, but violence against journalists is common and probes into killings are often inconclusive or hamstrung by lack of witness testimony.

“The reason why the president wanted this administrative order number 1 is because he cares for you, for us,” he told a regular briefing on Thursday.

“And he believes in freedom of the press.”

The order was signed by Duterte on Tuesday and includes the formation of an oversight panel to scrutinise the probes and gather input from non-governmental sources, such as human rights and journalist groups.

It would also monitor media personnel in danger and provide them with protection, Andanar said.

Scores of journalists have been killed in the Philippines in the past three decades, with many of the victims radio broadcasters, often for coverage of provincial-level politics, which is notoriously dangerous.

Thirty-one journalists were among 57 people killed in a massacre in 2009 in the southern province of Maguindanao while covering a local election, in what was one of the most deadly incidents involving media in the world.

The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks the Philippines fourth in the world in its impunity index, which tracks deaths of media members whose killers go free. (RTRS)