Rights group slams police claims of 'nanlaban' and possession of firearms
MANILA, Philippines — Claims that arrested activists fought back or owned illegal high-powered firearms are shoddy at best and were called into question by a local human rights monitor.
“The family and colleagues of Magpantay and Topacio have each and every right to question the 'nanlaban' narrative of Sinas and the Philippine National Police, which they used to justify the death of the couple. Magpantay and Topacio were sick and elderly, very much incapacitated to even take care of their own needs, when the police barged in, in the middle of the night, and killed them,” Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay said in a statement.
She was referring to the spate of police operations over the past week which led to the deaths of National Democratic Front peace consultants Eugenia Magpantay and Agaton Topacio. Cops claimed they violently resisted arrest when authorities attempted to serve search warrants of their home at three in the morning.
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Meanwhile, the case of peasant organizer Amanda Echanis has drawn flack all over social media after the former was arrested over claims of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, the same charge a majority of the more than 600 political prisoners in the country are detained for. Her newborn son was brought to the detention facility with her.
"How can they possibly fight back? Sinas’ logic defies reason and logic. They couldn't even stand or move on their own, and the police still used the tired line that they fought back with guns and explosives," Palabay also said in mixed Filipino and English.
Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes echoed the same, writing in a tweet on Friday: "I cannot imagine why a nursing mom will be keeping an arsenal of weapons in the house where she is staying. The charges against her defy all logic."
Lawmakers and the government's own human rights commission have since issued calls to drop the charges against Echanis, the daughter of murdered peace consultant Randall Echanis.
'Para hindi matiktikan'
Police Gen. Debold Sinas, the chief of the Philippine National Police, has since defended the operations, saying it was not impossible for the elderly couple to fight back against police despite their age.
In an interview over ANC's Headstart, Sinas said when asked why the search warrant had to carried out at that hour: "That's why it happened in early morning, so they wouldn't see us. Because imagine, if we searched in the morning, the entire neighborhood would see us. They could have a spotter or a contact, so by the time we got there, they would have escaped already."
Karapatan said that the planting of evidence, especially guns and bombs, on activists has long been alleged as a form of legal maneuver of authorities to arrest and keep them in jail.
Findings published by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights have suggested a pattern suggesting planting of evidence by police officers in the administration's flagship campaign against drugs and casting doubt on the self-defense narrative, implying that the victims were likely unarmed when they were killed.
“This is the reason why it is important to question the rule on presumption of regularity in police operations because of many allegations that the police violate their own regulations and the law. Presumption of innocence should remain as paramount in the course of police operations in serving warrants,” the secretary-general said.
“Only an independent investigation, one that is not tainted or influenced by the President’s blanket declaration of immunity for Sinas’s acts, can thoroughly and substantially investigate on these allegations of human rights violations by Sinas,” Palabay said.
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