US State Department flags rape perpetrated by Philippine cops during drug war ops
MANILA, Philippines — Reports of rape and sexual abuse of women in police or protective custody continued in the Philippines, with many of the cases linked to police’s anti-narcotic operations, the US State Department said in its latest global rights report.
In its 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released this week, the US State Department said the Center for Women’s Resources reported eight cases of rape involving 16 police officers from January 2017 to July 2018.
“The Center noted that many of the rapes occurred in connection with police antidrug operations,” the report read in part.
Last year, a Manila cop grabbed the headlines after he was accused of raping a 15-year-old daughter of drug suspects.
Hours after a couple was arrested during a sting operation in Manila in October last year, Police Officer 1 Eduardo Valencia was nabbed when relatives of the drug suspects told authorities that the rookie cop sexually abused the pair’s daughter.
According to reports, Valencia offered to give the victim a ride home. But he took her to a hotel in Sta. Mesa where he allegedly raped the girl. The policeman also allegedly promised to release the teen’s parents in exchange for sex.
Valencia’s arrest came amid recent opinion polls showing growing distrust of the police force and unease with their conduct of President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war, which has killed thousands of mostly urban, poor Filipinos.
READ: PNP: We are ‘inclined’ to believe that Manila cop raped 15-year-old girl
In the same 2018 report, the State Department said summary executions have been the “chief human rights concern in the country for many years,” amid rising impunity following a dramatic surge in drug-related slays.
Washington also flagged the Duterte administration’s defiance of international calls for an external probe into the drug war, saying government officials “were under pressure not to cooperate or respond to the views of international human rights organizations.”
Commenting on the US’ assessment of the human rights situation in the Philippines, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Saturday urged the public to read the whole report so “they may not be deceived by intended negative and false commentaries.” — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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