Police still not cooperating with CHR in drug war probe

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'We have been deprived the opportunity to examine the scenes of the crime,' says the NBI

MANILA, Philippines – Three years into the Marcos administration, the Philippine National Police (PNP) is still not cooperating with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in investigating killings in Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

“Hindi pa rin tapos ang investigation (The investigation has not concluded) based on the lack of cooperation from the PNP to share information regarding the cases,” CHR chairperson Richard Palpal-latoc said on Monday, June 9, during the last hearing of the House of Representatives quad committee.

Palpal-latoc said the CHR has investigated 4,000 cases of killings out of their own initiative, separate from the investigations done by other agencies. The CHR’s investigation is considered to be the most credible because it is an independent agency.

“Meron po talagang outright refusal for different reasons, walang clearance sa taas, may memo directive from superiors, at ‘yung iba po ay ayaw lang talagang makipag-cooperate,” said Palpal-latoc.

(There are outright refusals for different reasons, some cite the lack of clearance from higher-ups, or there is a memo directive from superiors, and some just do not want to cooperate.)

Police Brigadier General Matthew Baccay, acting head of PNP’s Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) told the committee that they have ordered their units to cooperate since the CHR complained a few months ago. “Please, reach out to our units, the directive is already there, should our units refuse, please inform us,” said Baccay.

This had been a recurring problem throughout the Rodrigo Duterte administration, and even at the start of the Marcos administration where the PNP took cover under Malacañang’s freedom of information exemption to refuse CHR’s requests.

The PNP, which is the usual go-to for cases like this is, was found to have kept the investigation administrative, meaning imposing only suspensions, instead of pursuing criminal actions. Because of this, there was a reinvestigation done by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). But even that had dismal results, closing 32 out of the 52 handpicked showcase cases without criminal action.

NBI spokesperson Ferdinand Lavin said that “there was a climate of fear and hopelessness” that prevented families from cooperating in their probe. Families of the victims in the 52 cases that Rappler was able to talk to spoke of feelings of being deceived – as if the weight of finding evidence depended on them, and not the investigators.

“To contextualize, we have been deprived the opportunity to examine the scenes of the crime, walang binigay na report ang SOCO, hindi namin makuha kung ano ang caliber na ginamit, kung ano ang baril – when these cases were referred to us, the relatives of the victims were very uncooperative,” said Lavin.

(There were no Scene of the Crime Operatives reports, we can’t even know what gun was used, what caliber.)

Outgoing Manila 6th District Representative Bienvenido Abante, chairperson of the human rights committee of the quad, told the PNP for the last time as the months-long hearing concluded – please stand with human rights this time.

“Kapag tayo ulit nagkaroon ng hearing eh sabihin niyo kinakampihan na namin ‘to…sapagkat ang pulis walang karapatang ilagay ang batas sa kanilang mga kamay,” said Abante.

(In the next hearing, say that you stand with us…because police have no right to put the law in their hands.)

The 15 hearings of the quad committee have extracted some of the most damning evidence in the war on drugs, including the confession from retired police colonel Royina Garma of an alleged reward system for every kill by police. Former president Rodrigo Duterte told the quad committee he takes the responsibility for everything the police had done. Duterte was arrested by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March this year.

Garma is still detained in the United States, said the Department of Foreign Affairs, after she fled there despite having a canceled visa weeks after giving the confession to the committee. – Rappler.com