MANILA, Philippines — The human rights commission has called out the Cordillera police over its 'shoot-to-kill' order on an indigenous leader facing murder charges on what groups have disputed as based on trumped-up allegations.
Cordillera Peoples' Alliance chairperson Windel Bolinget was ordered arrested along with nine others in September 2020 for a murder that took place years ago in Davao del Norte.
While he has turned himself in to the National Bureau of Investigation, police in the region were given the said directive by its chief Police Brig. Gen. R'win Pagkalinawan should Bolinget resist arrest.
In a February 5 statement, the CHR said it is already looking into the IP leader's case, and described the Cordillera police director's order as "more concerning."
"We at the CHR continue to remind the government, particularly our law enforcers, to maintain adherence and respect for the rule of law," said lawyer Jacqueline de Guia, the agency's spokesperson. "Presumption of innocence and guarantee for due process are vested rights upon any individual granted by the Constitution."
Groups have expressed support for Bolinget and have since condemned Pagkalinawan's order, urging him to recall the pronouncement under a kind of language similar to what President Rodrigo Duterte had told cops.
Sandugo, a movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for self-determination, described the shoot-to-kill as "extremely unbecoming, even criminal" to deny the IP leader of proving his innocence.
Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate (Bayan Muna) said too the PNP should be held to account if anything happens to Bolinget, his relatives or those close to him given the said order.
"Government has the primary obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights of all," the CHR added. "It is a grave mistake to construe the demand for the government to live up to this expectation as a form of terrorism or discredit and dismiss legitimate causes as a communist agenda."
Bolinget is a long-time activist who was opposed to mining by foreign companies and other cases involving their ancestral land.
CHR sought to remind government that it has "the primary obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights of all" and dismissing critics as having ties to the armed communist movement would be a "grave mistake."
"[We] join the call in the statement of the UN experts to put a stop to attempts to silence and delegitimise the human rights work of various groups," the agency said. "This continuing situation faced by human rights defenders equally demands the echoing of the call for their protection." — Christian Deiparine