Teaching the police the basics

The sky was clear that early afternoon of Oct. 11. Rolando Ocampo, 60, was lazing around the neighborhood when they came.

After shooting three men in the narrow streets of Tondo, Manila, it took the police officers at least 25 minutes before taking the limp bodies of the alleged “nanlaban” drug addicts to the hospital. This was shown in the security camera footage obtained by Reuters.

The police report, however, said the police rushed the men to the hospital after they were shot in the incident.

What transpired showed the reality of what has been happening in the country since the president waged his bloody war against drugs in 2016.

In a forum last Nov. 8, Abdel Jamal Disangcopan of the University of the Philippines (UP) Law Center said refresher courses on human rights would be necessary to remind the police of their duty amid the killings in the president’s drug campaign.

“Kailangan talagang itulak [ang human rights courses] kasi kailangan may voice pa rin ng reason sa loob ng PNP. Otherwise, tuloy-tuloy yan. Iisipin [ng mga pulis] na tama yung ginagawa nila at walang mali,” he said.

According to PNP, there have been 6,225 deaths during the anti-illegal drugs campaign in the country from July 2016 to September 2017, 3,850 of which are deaths in police operations.

Disangcopan added that police officers must be oriented properly as their testimonies are automatically considered credible, citing Supreme Court’s General Rule no. 181039 in 2011.

“As a general rule, the testimonies of the police officers who apprehended the accused are accorded full faith and credit because of the presumption that they have performed their duties regularly,” read GR 181039.

This general presumption on the police would only be discredited if they fail to comply with their duties.

Political science professor Cleve Arguelles said police violence is continued because policemen have been trained to kill instead of disarm.

“Ang training sa police kapag babaril, kapag nagaaral sila sa PNP academy, ay sa chest. Hindi ba ang goal ng police is to disarm? Yet they are trained na bumaril sa chest,” he said.

Arguelles also slammed the government for awarding Caloocan City Police as Metro Manila’s best city police station on Aug. 18 for its contribution to the administration’s war on drugs.

Two days before the award was given, 17-year-old Kian Delos Santos was killed in a Caloocan City police operation.

‘Duterte’s other war’

Aside from its war on drugs, Arguelles said the Duterte administration has also waged a war against human rights.

“Hindi lang war on drugs, there’s also another war. Ito yung little known—the war against human rights, against checks and balances. I call it Duterte’s other war,” he said.

“During his presidency, he was attacking human rights at the level of ideas. He was actually saying na bakit ginagalang natin ang human rights ng mga drug addicts,” he added.

Sr. Nenet Dano of the Religious of the Good Shepherd, who has helped the families of victims of killings, said the people should not give up on drug dependents.

“We should be in the frontline in helping our brothers and sisters who are into illegal drugs and when allowed to live and given the right assistance and support, they can be healed and renewed persons,” she said.

Disangcopan also urged the people to support the Commission on Human Rights in ending human rights violations in the drug campaign.

“We must support the Commission on Human Rights, be a part of advocacy groups. You really need to engage with the Commission on Human Rights and help them. They are servicing millions of Filipinos and ilan lang sila,” he said.