The inter-agency panel led by the Department of Justice (DoJ) has decided to push back to December the release of its report on the review of over 5,000 anti-illegal drugs operations by the police that have resulted in deaths.
DoJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra explained that the recent typhoons that hit the country have disrupted the work being done by the panel.
“We lost a number of working days due to recent calamities, so we may be constrained to submit it in December,” said the Justice Secretary.
Guevarra said that “the review panel is drafting the initial report.”
During the 44th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) last June 30, Guevarra reported that the Philippines formed an inter-agency panel which has been conducting “a judicious review of the 5,655 anti-illegal drug operations where deaths occurred.”
Guevarra had told the UNHCR a report of the panel’s review will be presented by the end of November.
“This review mechanism will not only reinforce accountability on the drug campaign, it will tighten the web on existing mechanisms to prevent cases of impunity, including the inter-agency committee on the extralegal killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other grave violations to life, liberty, and security of persons,” Guevarra said.
He added that Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has been involved in the mechanism as “an independent monitoring body.”
“The Philippine National Police is obliged by its internal mechanism to conduct motu proprio investigations whether or not there are complainants on all law enforcement operations that result in deaths, and take action on this basis,” Guevarra assured.
“This panel, external to the Philippine National Police, re-evaluates these cases and examines the propriety of reinvestigating them or filing appropriate charges against erring law enforcement officers,” he added.
Guevarra said the panel also “intends to engage affected families, provide them with legal options, and assistance in criminal prosecution of law enforcers who have overstepped legal bounds in their operations.”