MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights said it is looking into the brutal killing of Vincent Adia, who was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Rizal province after surviving an earlier attack.
On Friday, Police Gen. Camilo Cascolan, Philippine National Police chief, said the police will look into possible lapses on their part but also maintained that officers cannot be faulted for what happened.
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"There was really no threat anymore. Maybe the police were right but we will have to investigate why they did not leave a security detail," he said in an interview carried by radio dzBB.
"Because they were thinking already that everything was done to their best efforts. I don't think we can blame the police because they thought there was no need to secure (the person) because there was no threat anymore," he also said, adding police "didn't know what the incident was about."
In a statement Thursday, CHR spokesperson Jacqueline De Guia said its regional office sent a quick response team to investigate the killing of Adia, who was shot twice while being treated for gunshot wounds at the Rizal Provincial Hospital System Annex in Angono town.
Shot at the hospital after surviving murder attempt
Adia’s first attacker shot him in Barangay San Isidro and placed a piece of cardboard identifying him as a drug suspect. He managed to survive the attack and was brought to the hospital.
But a gunman entered the hospital’s emergency room hours later and finished the victim off. The assailant also pointed his gun at health workers attending to Adia.
“The CHR strongly condemns this brutal killing inside a hospital. The brazenness of the attack is utterly reprehensible— a desecration of the very facility where the sick and wounded are supposed to be treated and saved,” De Guia said.
“Amid the suffering in this period of pandemic, it is disheartening that extra-judicial killings still persist,” she added.
The commission also repeated its call to the government to “concretely address the continuing atrocities and vigilante killings.”
“With the government's recent expression of openness to cooperate with international mechanisms in improving the human rights situation in the country, we hope and expect that cases of extrajudicial killings will be truly curbed and tackled with utmost urgency,” De Guia said.
Last month, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on technical assistance and capacity building to improve the human rights situation in the Philippines.
In a report released June, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said the government’s war on drugs and incitement to violence from the country’s top leaders have lead to grave human rights violations, including “widespread and systematic” extrajudicial killings.
As of July 31, the government’s official tally only counts 5,810 alleged drug personalities killed in its brutal anti-drug campaign since Duterte assumed office. But groups have higher estimates—more than 27,000 slain drug suspects—since mid-2016.