Manila police video disputes 'nanlaban' narrative, bishop says

MANILA, Philippines — Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David said closed circuit television footage of Manila police shooting a drug suspect runs counter to the "nanlaban" narrative that only suspects who violently resist arrest are killed.

Speaking to the STAR in an interview, the incoming Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines vice president said he was shocked at footage obtained by Reuters that suggest cops in Tondo, Manila killed three drug suspects in a slum community last October.

The footage showed police turning security cameras askew, and dragging a body to a pedicab to be brought to the hospital only to be declared dead on arrival. Reuters reported that the videos show "police took at least 25 minutes to haul away the men they had shot." 

The footage, the bishop said, confirms fears that police on drug operations do not kill only in self-defense, the bishop said.

"That's what I've been saying since a long time ago already. The common narrative of 'nanlaban' is very doubtful. People also have common sense," David said.

The bishop of the Caloocan diocese said the common police report that slain drug suspects were found with packets of shabu and firearms also defies "common sense."

The graphic footage gives credence to the September 24-30 Pulse Asia survey that showed that 73 percent of respondents believe extrajudicial killings are happening in the administration's war on drugs, David said

"This footage is just a confirmation of what has always been at the back of our minds, that extrajudicial killings are really happening, and that the 'nanlaban' narrative is not true," David said.

Police: It was a legitimate operation

Director Oscar Albayalde, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, said Thursday that the officers involved in the operation had already answered allegations of irregularities and had been cleared.

"They said that they have barangay officials who will corroborate that those who were killed really fought back and there were guns recovered from the scene," Albayalde said in Filipino in an interview Thursday morning.

He also said that if the Manila Police District had wanted to cover up the operation, then Reuters would not have been able to retrieve the videos.

Senior Superintendent Joel Napoleon Coronel, Manila Police District chief, earlier this week said the video was inconclusive. 

He said that the cameras were "located more than 100 meters away from the actual shootout" and that the report is "inconclusive, at the very least."

He added the case has been referred to the police Internal Affairs Service, which, he has been assured, will conduct a "thorough and, definitely impartial, deeper investigation into the matter."

Reuters, in its report, said "the footage doesn't show the police shooting the three men, but does show an officer appearing to open fire on an unseen target. [Alleged drug dealer Rolando] Campo then falls backwards into the frame, his body hitting the ground. His arms move for a while before resting motionless."

READ: NCRPO insists: Operation caught on CCTV camera ‘legitimate’

Philippine National Police Director General Ronald Dela Rosa was quick to question the "timing" of Reuters' release of its report. He had not yet read the report when he made the statement.

He urged the government not to address the drug menace through violence. "To address the problem in a humane way is to treat it like a health issue," David said.

A vocal critic of the administration's anti-narcotics drive, David said his opposition only comes from his moral duty to protect life, and not from his political beliefs.

"It's from my perspective as a moral and spiritual leader. For me, the drug war is a moral issue, and not just a political issue," David said.