Bato: We are not butchers

MANILA, Philippines – The war on illegal drugs may be vicious, but police on the frontlines are not butchers who kill senselessly, Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa told a Senate hearing yesterday.

“We’re not killers. We’re not butchers who kill people for no reason at all,” Dela Rosa told senators as he defended his men from allegations they were resorting to summary executions as part of the Duterte administration’s intensified war against drug pushers.

The Senate committee on justice chaired by Sen. Leila de Lima and committee on public order and illegal drugs headed by Sen. Panfilo Lacson resumed yesterday their joint investigation into reports of rising cases of extrajudicial killings since Duterte announced a stepped up drive against illegal drugs.

The PNP chief made his emotional pronouncement as the senators continued to hear testimonies from families of alleged drug offenders reportedly executed by policemen and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

He said policemen are not perfect and can commit mistakes. But he said he is convinced a majority of Filipinos support the Duterte administration’s war against drugs.

“I feel the strong support of the people in our campaign but why are there sectors who make it appear that we’re the bad guys?” he said.

He said while he would not hesitate to prosecute crooked cops, it still pains him that some PNP personnel were found to be involved in illegal drugs and extrajudicial killings, like two Pasay City policemen who were charged with the murder of two drug suspects last month.

The two policemen, identified as P02 Alipio Balo and P01 Michael Tomas, appeared before the Senate committees but refused to testify as they already have a pending criminal case.

They were briefly interviewed by Sen. Manny Pacquiao but the questioning was discontinued as the two cited their pending case.

Dela Rosa said they were sticking to their target of drastically reducing illegal drugs in the country in six months despite severe lack of personnel and equipment.

Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto said the PNP lacks 25,000 personnel, 3,000 to 16,000 vehicles and 18,000 firearms.

Recto said the PNP Internal Affairs Service also suffers a severe lack of manpower to investigate erring cops.

Pacquiao said he found it puzzling that families of drug pushers were tolerating their errant loved ones, as in the case of the parents of Mary Rose Aquino, who were reportedly summarily executed by Antipolo City policemen.

“Don’t you know that illegal drugs is bad?” Pacquiao asked Aquino.

Aquino testified before the inquiry that while she and her four younger siblings were aware that their parents were selling drugs supplied by corrupt policemen, they were helpless to do anything about it.

“They (parents) wanted out (of drug pushing) but they told us if they do that, they’ll be killed by the policemen because they know too much,” she said.

Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said many drug pushers in the country come from poor families.

“Drug pushing provides an easy temptation for them. This is not just a problem of police enforcement, but spans many aspects, like health and economy and family,” Angara said.

More deaths

While the Senate is investigating the alleged extrajudicial and summary killings of suspected drug pushers, the number of deaths at the hands of the police and non-state actors continues to rise with 137 new deaths recorded in a span of 24 hours.

From a total of 1,779 killings reported by the PNP last Monday during the Senate hearing, the number rose to 1,916 yesterday.

Of the 1,916 total, 1,160 were classified as deaths under investigation (DUI), including those allegedly perpetrated by vigilantes.

The remaining 756 killings were done by police during anti-illegal drug operations.

Dela Rosa noted that 273 of the DUIs were drug-related, some were tied to robbery or theft and personal grudges, but the bulk or 757 cases were still undetermined.

In the case of the 756 killed during police operations, Dela Rosa said that these all involved suspects who resisted arrest.

“Kung hindi sila nanlaban e di buhay pa sila siguro (If they did not resist arrest they would probably still be alive),” he said.

Dela Rosa said all of the 756 fatalities resisted arrest and that unless there is proof to the contrary, his assumption is that all of his men were “performing their duties regularly.”

Asked to explain the rise in the number of deaths within 24 hours, Dela Rosa said this was a result of the updating of the records of the PNP.