By Argyll Cyrus Geducos and Martin Sadongdong
Malacañang denied allegations that President Duterte has ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) to not share its reports on the attacks against rights defenders and activists with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
(OPS / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after CHR Commissioner Leah Tanodra-Armamento said they could not file any case over the killings of rights defenders and activists because the PNP is refusing to give them data allegedly due to the President’s instructions.
In a statement on Saturday, Roque said Duterte never gave such an order.
"There is no truth to the alleged report that President Duterte instructed the PNP not to release or share their information to the CHR regarding the recent attacks against right defenders and activists," he said.
According to Roque, the President wants justice for the victims and wants to expose those behind the attacks.
"As an officer of the court, being a lawyer, the President adheres to the rule of law and he wants the wheels of justice to grind, for the sake of the victims of abuse and violence and their families," he said.
"The administration is equally interested to unmask those behind these brazen killings, which are being blamed to state agents, and we will leave no stone unturned to put these people behind bars," he added.
The CHR is seeking justice for human rights activist Zara Alvarez after she was shot in the back by unidentified gunmen on Sta. Maria St. in Eroreco, Barangay Mandalagan in Bacolod City on August 17.
According to the CHR, Alvarez, a former education director and a paralegal staff member of the human rights group Karapatan, had been a target of Red-tagging and was once included in the list of more than 600 people that the Department of Justice (DoJ) wanted to tag as terrorists back in 2018.
Aside from the CHR, the PHP is also investigating the fatal shooting of Alvarez.
Banac maintained that the PNP is compliant with the established protocols and laws in the conduct of investigation on crime incidents by the concerned authorities.
“In the conduct of investigation on crime incidents, the PNP strictly adheres to all procedures which are covered by the Rules on Evidence and the Data Privacy Law mandating the protection of identities while the investigation is pending,” Banac said.
“Once the case is filed with the prosecutor, the police is at no liberty to disclose any and all details without clearance from the assigned prosecutor,” he added.
Banac noted that the CHR “is free to conduct its own investigation” but it must be able “to develop and procure its own evidence.”
“This is independent and separate from the standard protocols of the Philippine National Police,” he said.
This was not the first time President Duterte had supposedly ordered the police not to share reports with the CHR.
In 2017, former Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) officer-in-charge Catalino Cuy said Duterte did not approve CHR's request for the PNP to share data on the drug war.