Senate report on extrajudicial killings out this week

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate panel handling the inquiry into the incidents of drug-related extrajudicial killings in the country is expected to come out with its report this week, with signs pointing to President Duterte being cleared of any involvement in the summary executions that continue to draw condemnation from international human rights bodies.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the committee on justice and human rights that held six hearings into the summary executions, said he intends to file the committee report in plenary today or within the week.

Gordon terminated the inquiry on Thursday upon the motion of some senators, who said they have gathered sufficient information from the hearings to submit a report with recommendations on remedial legislation.

“We are terminating the investigation as far as recent and rampant killings are concerned. We already learned enough to enable us to craft proposed measures that would improve law enforcement procedures in the country,” the senator said.

“We have established that there’s rule of law in our country. It’s not perfect but you can see that the branches of government are working. There is a rule of law, the Rule Book has not been thrown out of the window,” he said.

The Senate inquiry, conducted with the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs led by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, was prompted by resolutions filed by Senators Leila de Lima and Risa Hontiveros.

De Lima and Hontiveros warned the rising incidents of extrajudicial killings appear to have been triggered by Duterte’s repeated call for drug pushers to be put to death.

Figures from the Philippine National Police (PNP) showed that as of Oct. 10, 3,844 people have died since the administration launched its war against drugs on July 1.

Some 1,550 suspects were killed during police operations while 2,294 died in extrajudicial or vigilante-style killings, which the PNP has classified as “deaths under investigation.”

De Lima initially led the inquiry being the chair of the justice panel but was removed in a no-confidence vote as head of the committee last month as she herself was being investigated on alleged drug links and was also supposedly biased against Duterte.

Prior to her being ousted, De Lima presented to the panel self-confessed hit man Edgar Matobato, who testified that Duterte ordered the killing of over 1,000 criminal suspects and opponents from 1988 to 2013 when he was mayor of Davao City.

Matobato’s testimony however was later removed from consideration by the senators after they found several inconsistencies in his statements.

‘No proof’

Gordon said there was no indication that Duterte was behind the extrajudicial killings even if he was bent on destroying the illegal drug trade in the country with force.

“There is no proof to show that there is a sustained systematic policy of state-sponsored killings. The President is motivated to kill the use of illegal drugs because he really means to eradicate illegal drugs. But I don’t think he is really going to push anybody and say kill,” he said.

Among the recommendations Gordon intends to put in the report are measures to ensure that law enforcement authorities will really perform their duties with dispatch to assure public safety.

These include setting a rigid deadline for policemen in investigating crimes within their jurisdictions.

He said police officers on a case should be able to finish their investigation in three days and PNP members involved in crimes must be immediately suspended and cases against them filed immediately.

With regard to the chiefs of police or higher-ranking officers in-charge of police stations, provinces or regions, Gordon said the committee would recommend amendments to existing laws so that they could be sanctioned should they be remiss in their duties of ensuring that crimes within their jurisdictions are solved with dispatch.