Church, EJK victims’ kin denounce killings

MANILA, Philippines - In prayers and in tears, sur­vivors and relatives of victims of extrajudicial killings joined Church officials yesterday in denouncing the wanton killing of poor people suspected of dealing in illegal drugs in a mass at the Our Lady of Victory Chapel in Malabon City.

Led by Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, the concelebrated mass prayed for the more than 7,000 people killed in the government’s anti-illegal drug campaign and called on authorities to stop the killings.

A priest opined most of the victims of the government’s anti-drug war are poor people, “who were not given chance to reform, while the illegal drug sources continue to remain scot-free.”

The mass attendees cried when relatives of the victims, or the survivors themselves, took turns in narrating their ordeals.

A grieving father narrated how his scavenger son ended up dying on the street and erroneously given the name Reynaldo Guttierez at the morgue. 

“This is obviously a case of mistaken identity. But our problem was compounded when we were not allowed to claim the remains of my son because the people in the morgue asked us to talk to the police,” he said in Filipino.

A 19-year-old boy drew the loudest applause after he narrated between sobs how he managed to survive, when he and seven of his friends, including an old woman and a pregnant teenager, were gunned down inside a house where they were gathered.

“The problem is that those innocent people died and the subject of the operation lived,” he said.

The organizers asked the faithful to show their support in condemning the impunity and attend the next Holy Eucharist mass action on March 2 at the Baclaran Church National Shrine of Perpetual Help.

A framer of the 1987 Constitution called on Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II yesterday to resign following his remark that criminals should not be considered part of humanity.

“How in the world can we have a justice secretary who does not see part of our people as human beings? He must resign,” Edmundo Garcia, one of those who drafted the Charter after the fall of former president Ferdinand Marcos, said yesterday.

Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairman Chito Gascon also called out Aguirre for his remark, reminding him that the role of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is to uphold the law and the constitutional guarantees of right to life and due process.

Aguirre issued the controversial remark on Wednesday in reaction to a recent report by Amnesty International (AI) saying the thousands killed in connection with the government’s war against illegal drugs could be considered crimes against humanity.

International court

Sen. Leila de Lima said it is time for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to look into the killings in the Philippines, now that a third party has found that crimes against humanity are being done in the country.

In a statement, De Lima said AI’s report on extrajudicial killings in the country was based on “verified and verifiable testimonial and documentary evidence.”

“(The AI report) reaffirms my long-standing belief that the administration’s most murderous war on drugs constitutes an obvious case of crime against humanity, as it is defined under both domestic law… and international law,” she said.

“Under said bodies of law, willful killing or murder, among others, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack, constitutes crimes against humanity,” she added.

She said the ICC should immediately step in to stop the killings, which continue to rise on a daily basis.  –  With Marvin Sy