MANILA, Philippines — Police's claim of "nanlaban" in operations resulting in deaths should be determined by courts and not merely asserted sans a trial of facts, the Commission on Human Rights said Wednesday as cops rehashed the narrative after the bloody Calabarzon raids.
The Philippine National Police has yet again met criticism after it said that an armed encounter ensued when officers tried to serve search warrants over the weekend that saw nine activists killed, an incident widely condemned even by international groups including the United Nations' human rights office.
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On Tuesday, the PNP called as "baseless and unfounded" allegations that those killed did not resist arrest, as well as that officers resorted to planting evidence.
But in a statement, CHR Commissioner Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana said records on injuries sustained by victims of the administration's anti-drug war "reflect the brutality of [the] campaign and indicate that possible abuse of strength and intent to kill by the perpetrators."
"Several witnesses in the cases being investigated by CHR also claimed irregularities in police operations," she said. "There were instances when police officers were said to have barged or kicked down the house doors while the victims were sleeping or resting inside. In the incidents studied, not one search or arrest warrant was presented."
Gana added that the agency has long sought for police documents on the said killings but access to it remained a "recurring obstacle" in their own investigations. In files they were able to obtain, she said police asserted that officers be spared from charges — "even recommended to be awarded, rewarded, or recognized despite the occurrence of deaths."
"Such findings from different cases being covered by CHR Regional Offices point to a more pressing conclusion," Gana said, "that access to justice remains to be a challenge as truth remains elusive."
Police have long stuck to the same tune in the nearly five years since President Rodrigo Duterte waged his anti-illegal drug campaign. Specifically, he has told cops to shoot suspects if they attempt to fight back, even declaring repeatedly that he has no regard for human rights.
The Calabarzon raids, for one, came just days after he told state forces to shoot right away suspected armed rebels during encounters, with groups saying they were no longer surprised that deaths took place after his remarks.
Claims of 'nanlaban,' however, can be disputed significantly by the admission of Duterte's own justice secretary Menardo Guevarra before the UN Human Rights Council last month that police had failed to follow protocols in most anti-drug operations.
"These were similar findings that CHR has been relaying and urging the government to act on since the early days of the government’s anti-drug campaign," Gana said. "The killings being linked to the anti-drug campaign currently being investigated by CHR have often been marked by brazen and brutal deaths."
Many have since condemned the police raids that were dubbed by critics as a "bloodbath," or already a long-standing policy of the Duterte administration. The strongest perhaps came from Vice President Leni Robredo, who outrightly called it as a massacre and said that the Filipino people "deserve better than this murderous regime."