Amnesty: Hold police accountable for ‘unlawful’ drug war killings
This file photo taken on May 18, 2017, shows police officers investigating an alleged drug dealer killed by unidentified gunman in Manila. The PNP said 3,987 have "died in police operations" from July 1, 2016 to Jan. 17, 2018, suggesting these are drug suspects who engaged arresting officers in shootouts. AFP/Noel Celis
MANILA, Philippines — Amnesty International called on the Philippine government to prosecute the policemen involved in drug-related killings in the government’s brutal anti-narcotics campaign.
James Gomez, Amnesty International’s Director of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said the cops have “unlawfully killed thousands of people” since President Rodrigo Duterte rose to power.
He said that these “extensive and brutal attacks” are tantamount to crimes against humanity.
“Now that police are once more returning to the forefront of anti-drug operations, the government must make sure that there is no repeat of the bloodshed seen during the past 18 months,” Gomez said Tuesday—a day after the relaunch of the Philippine National Police’s Oplan Tokhang.
Gomez reiterated the calls for independent investigations to “cover each of the thousands of other unlawful killings and all perpetrators, including those in positions of command, must be held to account.”
The Amnesty International official also welcomed the filing of murder charges against the three police officers involved in the killing of teenager Kian Loyd Delos Santos and called this move a “positive step.”
Human Rights Watch on Tuesday also called the indictment of Police Officer 3 Arnel Oares and Police Officers 1 Jeremiah Pereda and Jerwin Cruz a “rare instance” of accountability.
“The fact that the national police chief himself has warned that this next phase of anti-drug operations may not be ‘bloodless’ highlights the need for vigilance,” Gomez said, noting that what the country needs is a public health-based drug policy.
“The Philippines neither can nor should try to solve its drug problems at gunpoint,” he added.
Human rights watchdogs estimate that more than 12,000 have been killed during the course of the government’s brutal war on drugs.
But according to the latest #RealNumbersPH release, there have been 6,309 drug-related deaths from July 1, 2016 to January 17, 2018. Of these cases, 2,235 were tagged as homicide cases under investigation.
READ: Bato: I can’t give you 100% bloodless anti-drug operations
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