DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Human Rights group Karapatan dubbed as “a classic example of impunity under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte” the non-indictment of murder charges and reinstatement of Supt. Marvin Marcos to police service.
“Encouraging cops who spit on the right to due process to continue doing so and rewarding them with immunity from grave criminal charges is the order of the day,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay in a statement on Friday, July 14.
Marcos, who was then head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Region 8 was among the police officers involved in the killing of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr. last year.
Espinosa was killed with fellow inmate Raul Yap inside their cell at the Baybay Provincial Jail in Leyte.
Marcos was among the police officers being investigated by the National Bureau of Investigation and the Senate in connection with the killing.
“Cops who kill the poor are ordered to continue doing so, while they remain invincible from prosecution and penalty,” Palabay said, adding that “many of the cases against police personnel involved in alleged extrajudicial killings of alleged drug users or peddlers in the course of Duterte’s anti-crime campaign remain unsolved.”
Karapatan also raised concern over the new assignment of Marcos at CIDG in Region 12, where Palabay said: “the PNP is notorious for illegally arresting peasants and Lumad on trumped up charges.”
The group reported of the recent incident where “at least ten indigenous community leaders in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat are on the PNP’s watch-list for their activism against the encroachment of large-scale mining and other business of the David M. Consunji Inc. (DMCI) in their ancestral land.”
One of the latest arrests was that of Kama Sanung, a farmer, community leader and a pastor of the Association of Dulangan Manobo Evangelical Church, Karapatan added.
Sanung was arrested based on fabricated charges of illegal possession of firearms last July 12, at Barangay Hinalaan, Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat, the group reported.
The family of Sanung, who is also an active member of Kesasabanay Dulangan Manobo, claimed that the firearm seized by the police in their house was planted by the arresting officers themselves, Karapatan said.
The group added that nine more community members in said area fear as they heard reports that they are set to be arrested by the police.
“A corrupt and bloodthirsty police force working in concert with a fascist military especially in an area where martial law is enforced furthers the already worsening human rights situation. The killings and arrests should stop, and the perpetrators should be brought to justice, instead of being rewarded,” Palabay pointed out.
Drug war breeds injustice
In a dispatch on Friday, Phelim Kine, the deputy director for Asia Division of the Human Rights Watch also expressed deep concern over the reinstatement of Marcos and the rest of the police officers suspected to have direct involvement in the killing of Espinosa.
As they are now heading for their police works despite the unresolved controversy, Kine said the continuing and abusive drug war in the country is now breeding injustice.
HRW added that the reinstatement came in the midst of the conclusions made by the NBI and the Senate that said police officers has committed premeditated murder when they shot Espinosa to death inside his prison cell.
“Espinosa had surrendered to the police following public accusations by President Rodrigo Duterte that he was a drug trafficker. Both probes rejected the officers’ assertion that Espinosa died in a firefight in his cell after brandishing a concealed pistol,” HRW said.
But HRW was not surprised with the decision to allow said police officers back to their work as the human rights group recalled Duterte’s vow earlier this year he would pardon Marcos and his group if convicted.
“They can call me and say they have been convicted, and I’ll tell the judge to pardon them all,” the HRW quoted Duterte’s statement.
“The kid-gloves handling of the officers is emblematic of the wider impunity enjoyed by those responsible for the killing of more than 7,000 people in Duterte’s murderous ‘war on drugs.’ Duterte has glorified those thousands of deaths as proof of the ‘success’ of an anti-drug campaign that has disproportionately targeted urban slum dwellers,” HRW said.
The group also hailed as “blatant falsehoods” the government claim that the deaths of persons suspected as drug users and dealers were lawful.
“Interviews with witnesses and victims’ relatives and analysis of police records show a pattern of unlawful police conduct designed to paint a veneer of legality over extrajudicial executions that may amount to crimes against humanity,” HRW added.
“While the Philippine National Police have publicly sought to distinguish between suspects killed while resisting arrest and killings by ‘unknown gunmen’ or ‘vigilantes,’ Human Rights Watch found no such distinction. In several cases, the police dismissed allegations of involvement when only hours before the suspects had been in police custody,” it said.
HRW added that “such cases call into question government assertions that most killings were carried out by vigilantes or rival drug gangs.”
It said the drug-related deaths demand accountability through a United Nations-led international investigation.
“Until that occurs, police and their agents implicated in those killings will continue to get away with murder,” the human rights group said.
Senators’ reactions
Senators also expressed concern over the decision to reinstate Marcos and the rest of the police officers linked to the killing of Espinosa.
Though she was not shocked by the decision, Senator Leila de Lima said the order was “part of Duterte’s commitment earlier made that Marcos will not only be pardoned and reinstated in the service, but he will also be promoted. That was clear from Day 1. The men behind the killing of Mayor Espinosa were just following his orders, according to the President.”
What was shocking, she added, was “the obvious and inescapable conclusion that these actions by Duterte have been adopted with the illegitimate purpose of affording criminals immunity. International law doctrine and jurisprudence consider these actions as clear indicators of “fraudulent administration of justice”.
Senator Antonio Trillanes, on the other hand, said setting free murderers will lead to more murder with impunity while Senator Francis Pangilinan labeled the decision as disturbing “considering that the NBI and the Senate findings point to a murder.
“We hope the members of the Senate majority who signed the committee report will close ranks and fulfill its duty to act as a check and balance on the executive branch,” Pangilinan said.
Senator Bam Aquino saw dangers to the Filipino people the reinstatement of what he called “murderous cops”.
Ito’y malinaw na pagbalewala sa mga umiiral na batas at nagpapalakas pa sa kultura ng karahasan. Itigil na ang pagkakanlong sa mga kriminal sa hanay ng kapulisan at hayaang umiral ang katarungan. Kailangan managot ang mga gumagawa ng krimen – kahit pulis, kahit makapangyarihan, at kahit kaibigan ng pinaka-makapangyarihan,” he said.
Senator Risa Hontiveros condemned Duterte’s order of reinstating Marcos and the other police officers involved in the controversy, saying it was “a clear attempt to obstruct the course of justice” and “tacit approval of extrajudicial killings in the country.” (davaotoday.com)
