Palace 'authenticating' video in Reuters report on drug war

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte will not tolerate abuses by rogue cops, Malacañang said Tuesday, adding that authorities are now authenticating security camera footage allegedly showing the summary execution of an alleged drug trafficker.

“I assure you that the authorities are now looking into this matter. We’re in the process also of authenticating the video,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press conference when sought for comment.

“I assure you that the President will not tolerate any abuses that may be committed by some personnel of the PNP (Philippine National Police),” Roque added.

“I will look at the video in my capacity as Presidential Adviser on Human Rights. But I will have to find the video and it will have to be somehow authenticated.”

Duterte, who easily won the race to Malacañang last year on a brutal law-and-order platform, has stoked international alarm over his administration's anti-drug campaign.

Human rights watchdogs say most of fatalities in the crackdown were extrajudicial killings committed by cops—a claim that the government had vehemently denied by insisting that cops were only killing in self-defense.

On November 27, Reuters released an investigative report detailing an alleged drug operation carried out by members of the Manila police in Barangay 19 in Manila.

Reuters released video footage from four security cameras showing several police men in the morning of October 11, 2017—a day after Duterte released a memo stripping the police of control over the drug war.

Philippine National Police Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, in a chance interview at the Supreme Court, said "police are too busy to watch TV" to explain the existence of anti-drug operations that day.

Senior Superintendent Joel Napoleon Coronel, Manila Police District chief, said the national headquarters only issued a directive to desist from anti-drug operations on October 14.

The cops, some in plain clothes, were wearing protective vests and holding firearms. After clearing the alley, they were seen shooting at Rolando Campo, an alleged drug peddler.

An officer was also seen turning the camera that captured the action away from the scene after the shooting.

According to Manila Police District Superintendent Erwin Magarejo, an “in-depth” probe will be launched regarding the matter.

“Due process and presumption of regularity in the conduct of the police operational procedures will be followed,” Magarejo said.

"If evidence warrants against those personnel involved, we will file the necessary charges against them,” he added.

Coronel said that despite the existence of the video footage, there was "no indication that there's irregularity or impropriety even in the police operation."

He said that the cameras were "located more than 100 meters away from the actual shootout" and that the report is "inconclusive, at the very least."

He added the case has been referred to the police Internal Affairs Service, which, he has been assured, will conduct a "thorough and, definitely impartial, deeper investigation into the matter."

READ: Manila police to probe operation caught on video

‘Respect the status quo’

Reuters’ report came after Duterte said he might once again tap the police to lead his deadly drug war as he repeatedly doubted the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s capability to enforce the bloody campaign.

READ: Roque: Duterte not satisfied with PDEA handling drug war | PDEA welcomes return of PNP to lead drug war

But the Palace said the president “was still thinking about” taking such a move.

Asked if the CCTV footage reported by Reuters could affect Duterte’s decision regarding the looming comeback of the PNP to the frontline of his war on drugs, Roque said the matter remains “pending.”

“I do not know if it will or it will not have an impact but until the President has actually issued anything in writing, let’s respect the status quo,” he said.

To recall, Duterte removed the PNP from the anti-drug campaign after the death of two teenage suspects triggered rare street protests last August. 

Kian delos Santos, a 17-year-old student accused of being a drug runner, and 19-year-old Carl Arnaiz, a suspected robber were believed to have been executed by the Caloocan City police.

According to police who seized the teenager in an anti-drug operation last August, delos Santos violently resisted arrest, prompting them to return fire.

But this report came under fire after a CCTV footage aired by television networks showed the minor being dragged by two plainclothes cops to an alley where his dead body was later found with a gun in his left hand.

READ: Duterte on Kian's case: May twist dyan