Human rights lawyer debunks claims of no EJKs in PH

A HUMAN rights lawyer lambasted some public officials on Wednesday for dismissing the existence of extrajudicial killings (EJK) in the country.

Abdel Jamal Disangcopan, former coordinator on the legal issues of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, debunked claims of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing III and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano that there are no EJKs in the country.

“For me, extrajudicial killing is ‘yung hindi talaga sumusunod sa due process ‘yung pagpatay. In the context [of] war on drugs, pinapatay ka na hindi man lang napatunayan na totoo. Kung napatunayan man, hindi ka rin naman pwedeng patayin kasi wala namang judicial killing sa Philippines,” Disangcopan said in an interview with the Dapitan Post.

He added, “Administrative order ang [ginagawa nilang] basis, pero…noong time ni Justice Secretary De Lima, [ang] extrajudicial killing talaga [ang] common understanding [ay] pinatay ka na walang paghahatol.”

Following an independent probe of the DILG last year, Densing said that such killings cannot be called as EJKs because there are no judicial killings.

Cayetano has also been justifying the bloody war on drugs, citing Administrative Order 35 under the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III. The order states that killings that involved common criminals cannot be as classified as extrajudicial.

Moreover, Disangcopan said that the public officials are forced to defend the drive against drugs to secure the reputation of the country.

“Kung hindi nila ‘yun (EJKs) ide-deny, aside sa liability, it will open a can of worms,” Disangcopan said.

He also stated that the war on drugs has led to the culture of impunity.

“It’s true…hindi lahat ng napapatay [ay] extrajudicial killing, but now…you can always blame anybody about [a trouble],” Disangcopan said.

Commission on Human Rights and various human rights groups, such as Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, claim at least 12,000 deaths in the campaign against drugs — including alleged vigilante-style killings.

Meanwhile, in a recent data released by Presidential Communications Operations Office, 3,967 drug personalities were reportedly killed in anti-drug operations from July 1, last year to Oct. 25 this year.

The forum titled, “WHOStisya: Mananagot ang May Sagot” was organized by the UST Sociological Society, the UST Simbahayan Community Development Office, and the Faculty of Arts and Letters Student Council.