EDITORIAL - Avenues for redress

The Philippine National Police has a Human Rights Office, and it is tackling complaints filed against scores of policemen, the PNP has reassured the public. Records show that in the first three months of the year alone, 56 cops faced formal complaints for human rights violations.

Critics of the bloody war on illegal drugs may consider that figure too low, but it’s still a lot for the special office. Strengthening this office will give the PNP credibility when it tries to reassure the public that civil liberties are not casualties of the crackdown on drug offenders and other criminals.

Apart from the PNP office, the Commission on Human Rights needs more personnel and resources to carry out its mandate. While the CHR lacks the power to prosecute human rights violators, it can spearhead the gathering of evidence and help build cases against suspects. The human rights offices should have the resources at least to go after the most notorious violators.

President Duterte, in his public pronouncements, brushes aside concerns about human rights violations in his war on illegal drugs. This need not translate into the weakening or neglect of offices set up to uphold human rights. Social injustice breeds peace and order problems. The communist insurgency was at its strongest during the Marcos dictatorship, when gross human rights violations drove thousands to take up arms against the government. President Duterte has inherited the problem and is hoping to end the world’s longest-running communist insurgency. But his brutal war on drugs, waged in fulfillment of his campaign promise, is already raising concern among certain segments of the insurgency.

A credible investigation of human rights complaints against police and other state security forces can bolster what the President’s officials are saying, that there is no systematic violation of human rights under his watch, and there are avenues for redress for victims of injustice.