PNP gives CHR partial access to ‘nanlaban’ cases

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) has given the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) partial access to the case files on deaths during police operations and other killings believed to be related to the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, The STAR learned on Wednesday.

In a letter to CHR Chairman Chito Gascon, PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said the police could not provide the human rights body with copies of the entire case reports as many are still under investigation.

“Please be informed that the PNP can only provide to the CHR copies of spot reports of the cases, similar with what we submitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives,” the letter dated Nov. 18 read.

“We hope you understand that a majority of the cases are still under investigation and the release of the case records might prejudice, preempt or jeopardize the investigation being conducted by the respective police stations nationwide,” it added.

Dela Rosa said some of the case folders also contain confidential information that cannot be made public.

He also urged the CHR to request case information from prosecutors or judges for cases that have already been filed for preliminary investigation or criminal proceedings.

“We deemed it wise and more appropriate to let the concerned prosecutor or judge decide first whether or not to release the documents,” Dela Rosa said.

Gascon welcomed the decision of the PNP to give them copies of the spot reports, but said they would continue to request access to the entire case folders.

“We will start from there,” he told The STAR. “We will write again to the PNP to formally request copies (of the spot reports).”

The CHR is conducting its own investigation on the thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings believed to be related to the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.

PNP data showed that more than 3,800 suspects have been killed in police operations since the drug war started last year. Some 2,200 drug-related killings perpetrated by still unidentified suspects have also been confirmed by authorities.

Critics say drug-war related deaths could reach as high as 10,000, noting that there are thousands of other homicide cases still under investigation.

Gascon earlier called out the administration after President Duterte declined to release the case files of drug-related killings.

The CHR chairman also slammed Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II for allegedly failing to investigate the killings, particularly the so-called nanlaban cases.

Gascon noted that cases should have been filed in court over the deaths in police operations, saying that determining whether it was a case of self-defense or not should be decided by a judge.

Task force vs scalawags

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has created a task force to handle criminal charges filed against police officers involved in illegal activities.

In Department Order No. 697 released earlier this week, Aguirre designated 14 prosecutors led by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Severino Gana to the high-level panel to conduct preliminary investigation on charges filed by the PNP Counter Intelligence Task Force (CITF) against erring policemen.

The other members of the task force are Senior Assistant State Prosecutors Juan Pedro Navera, Susan Azarcon, Edwin Dayog, Susan Villanueva, Ma. Emilia Victorio and Hazel Decena-Valdez; Assistant State Prosecutors Aristotle Reyes, Consuelo Corazon Pazzuiagan and Chulo Palencia Jr.; and Assistant Prosecution Attorneys Borgy Calugay, Jonathan Paul Dimaano, Joan Carla Garcia and Loverhette Jeffrey Villordon.

The CITF reported that over 1,000 policemen were implicated in illegal activities such as extortion, drug trafficking, illegal gambling, physical injuries, illegal logging, kidnapping, smuggling, gunrunning as well as amassing unexplained wealth.

The illegal activities of the policemen were reported through text messages sent to the PNP hotlines: 0998-6702286 and 0995-7958569.

The PNP created the CITF last February as part of the organization’s intensified internal cleansing and in response to Duterte’s order for the policemen to stop participating in operations against illegal drugs following public outcry over the involvement of several police officers in the kidnapping and murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo in Pampanga.

Led by Senior Supt. Jose Chiquito Malayo, CITF is composed of 100 policemen, 72 of whom came from the Special Action Force (SAF) and the rest from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

No apology from Bato

In another development, Dela Rosa refused to apologize to the news wire service Reuters as demanded by the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) on Wednesday.

The NUJP wants Dela Rosa to retract his “utterly asinine and dangerous” insinuation that Reuters could be working with illegal drug syndicates following the release of a special report on the suspicious killing of three drug suspects in Tondo, Manila last October.?Also, the NUJP said Dela Rosa should apologize to the authors of the story, namely Clare Baldwin and Andrew Marshall, and must promise to ensure their safety as their security has been jeopardized because of his irrational and irresponsible statements.

In response, Dela Rosa said he would not issue an apology as he denied insinuating there is a conspiracy between Reuters and drug syndicates.

“I have said sorry in public many times if I have done something wrong but my God, I never said Reuters is in cahoots with drug lords,” Dela Rosa said in an interview over radio station dzMM.

He believed the video footage included in the news report were intended to discredit the PNP after Duterte announced he is planning to bring the police back to the government’s war against drugs.

“This mean our enemies do not want us to go back in our war on drugs,” Dela Rosa said on the sidelines of the oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The NUJP also criticized Dela Rosa for telling the media how they should report the news after he questioned the timing of the release of the Reuters report, pointing out that the shooting happened on Oct. 11 in Barangay 19 but the news agency only released the report on Monday.

“What is even more appalling is deigning to tell media, in this case, Reuters, how they should report the news,” it said.

Dela Rosa, for his part, said the NUJP should look at both sides.

“They have the right to present news that way while I don’t have the right to comment on that?” he said.

Dela Rosa vowed an impartial probe by the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS), saying the policemen in the video will be held accountable if proven there were irregularities in their operation.

“If further investigation would show they committed foolishness, we will hold (the policemen) accountable,” he said.

Meanwhile, the IAS on Wednesday asked Reuters to submit a copy of the video of the incident which the news agency obtained from closed-circuit television cameras at the site of the shooting.

“We already sent a subpoena yesterday (Wednesday),” IAS Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo said in a text message.

After they obtain the video from Reuters, Triambulo said the next step is to secure the statements of witnesses in the area and the owner of the security cameras for authentication. – Janvic Mateo, Edu Punay, Emmanuel Tupas, Jennifer Rendon