When the police learn a habit of preoccupied bias on victims, the likelihood of them being able to perform their duties to ensure the perpetrators of murders are prosecuted, and families of the victims are afforded with remedies, become negligible. And by allowing themselves to continuously label them as criminals it out rightly denied the victims and their families of any possibility of due process. Therefore, when there is no effective investigation there cannot be effective prosecution expected. When the prosecution is not performing the basic task, particular on supervising on site investigations, the possibility of legal redress is negligible because evidence in court is expected to be weak.
What is alarming as well is the actions taken by the local officials; for instance the Mayor of Manila, Alfredo Lim and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, continuously warning criminal elements that they should get out [from their cities or cooperate [with the local government] or evaporate. It effectively warns and threatens them they would suffer the consequence should they not refrain from doing their supposed illegal activities. In effect, it reduces the victims to subhuman status; that do not deserve due process; and effectively exposes them to further risks. Such practices by local politicians by way of threats and warnings have resulted in the increase of killings in their areas.
In the Philippines to prove whether such statements or supposed encouragement by local politician to incite killing of supposed criminal offenders could not be considered a criminal offense and to hold them to account, would be extremely difficult unless there is sufficient evidence to prove that they themselves are themselves involved, directly or indirectly, in these murders. However, by merely labeling repeatedly a particular group of persons to be criminals, they have made them targeted for death and outside the protection of the law. In many instances, there have been migrations of persons from one place to another to avoid being targeted for the killing and attacks.
Local politicians can get away with this practice of threatening and warning supposed criminals. For instance, on pretext of peace and order and fighting criminality, in the past Lim allegedly encouraged spraying of red paints on houses of persons supposedly involved in drugs activities. Despite complaints filed against him there has been no known progress in the matter. The acts itself effectively violate the rights of citizens to be presumed innocent. The recent killings of supposed criminals in Manila, took place after Lim warned and threatened criminal they would suffer consequence, once they fail to refrain their activities.
This practice of labeling persons as criminal, if allowed to continue will seriously undermine the fundamental right to life of every citizen.
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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
Extrajudicial Killings
