US on EJKs in Phl: Encouraging signs of decline

WASHINGTON  – There are encouraging signs that extrajudicial killings in the Philippines are on the wane, a ranking US official said.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement James Walsh said the US government is cautiously optimistic that the trend in the Philippines will continue.

In a briefing on US drug policy in Asia, Walsh said when President Duterte launched his drug war, US officials reminded police forces spearheading the campaign that “the US has certain human rights aspects in our laws that would restrict our assistance when supporting police.”

Since then, Washington has reduced its support to the police because of some human rights concerns, Walsh said.

“With that said, many folks have been tracking the EJKs (summary killings) in the Philippines and the trends are going down, so there is some encouragement that we are seeing some of our human rights training working,” Walsh said.

“And so I would describe the United States as being cautiously optimistic in the trends when it comes to the appropriate way for a drug campaign. And so we are just going to monitor that and we are going to continue supporting the government of the Philippines with our rule of law, our demand reduction programs and our maritime assistance,” he added.

International human rights groups slammed Duterte for encouraging the bloody campaign that left thousands of drug offenders killed. Questioned whether the war on drugs in the Philippines has been successful in limiting the amount of drugs coming into the country, Walsh said:  “I would say no.”

Duterte won the elections in 2016 on a promise to eradicate drugs from society by launching the unprecedented campaign in which thousands would die.

Since Duterte took office, police have reported killing almost 4,000 people in the crackdown. 

Another 2,290 have been murdered in drug-related crimes, while an undetermined number of other deaths remain unsolved, according to government data.

Duterte earlier pulled out the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the war against drugs following concerns on extrajudicial killings.

Then Duterte ordered the PNP to come back and take the lead in the campaign.

On Monday, the PNP relaunched Oplan Tokhang, which became notorious for the thousands of drug offenders who were killed, either by the police or suspected vigilante groups.

Walsh said the US had reduced its support to the PNP following concerns on allegations of human rights abuses in the conduct of its anti-drug campaign.

He told PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa about these apprehensions when they met last year.

Dela Rosa yesterday welcomed the statement of Walsh.

“It’s very good. Thank you for that observation,” he said.

Malacañang also welcomed the statements of the US official.

However, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar made it clear anew that the Duterte administration has no policy allowing EJKs.

“While we welcome US State Department senior official James Walsh’s ‘cautiously optimistic’ view of President Duterte’s successful anti-illegal drugs campaign, we maintain that there are no EJKs under the Duterte administration,” Andanar said.

He urged the US State Department to look into the official records regarding human rights under the present administration.

“We urge the US State Department, Mr. Walsh in particular, to base its assessment of this administration’s human rights records on real figures from the people who were actually on the ground – police, barangay leaders and ordinary citizens,” he said.

Dela Rosa, on the other hand, said their actions in addressing reports of extrajudicial killings in government’s war on illegal drugs are not in response to threats from the US and European countries of reducing financial assistance to the Philippines.

“We are not trying to get brownie points from the Americans and Europeans. We want to give justice and proper treatment for the ordinary Filipinos,” he said.

Dela Rosa had admitted corrupt police officers have used Tokhang earlier to extort money from drug suspects in exchange for their removal from the drug watchlist.

Dela Rosa promised the new Tokhang would be a thing of the past and measures are in place to prevent irregularities and human rights abuses.

Walsh said they would continue monitoring the situation in the country and support the Philippine government in terms of demand/remand programs, maritime assistance and rule of law.

Sen. Ralph Recto, for his part, called on the PNP to expedite its purchase of body cameras now that Tokhang has been relaunched. – With Emmanuel Tupas, Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero, Ramon Efren Lazaro