The Department of Justice (DOJ) is set to meet with law enforcement agencies to discuss “ways and means of avoiding the use of unnecessary force in the conduct of legitimate operations.”
(MANILA BULLETIN)
Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said the meeting is in response to expression of concern made by the United Nations’ Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN-OHCHR) over the deaths of nine persons suspected of ties with communist rebels in South Luzon provinces.
“We understand the concern of the UN-OHCHR. that is why the DOJ has ordered a thorough investigation of the incidents,” Guevarra said.
On Wednesday, March 10, Guevarra has assured that the deaths of nine persons will be investigated either by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) or by the inter-agency task force on extra-judicial killings (EJKs).
He has ordered the NBI to determine if the incidents will fall under the investigative jurisdiction of the Administrative Order (AO) 35 Inter-Agency Committee on Extra-Legal Killings, Enforced Disappearances, Torture and Other Grave Violations of the Right of Life, Liberty and Security of Persons. The committee is headed by the DOJ.
The UN-OHCHR said in a statement said: “We are appalled by the apparent arbitrary killing of nine activists in simultaneous police-military operations in Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal provinces surrounding Metro Manila in the Philippines in the early hours of Sunday morning.”
But it said it welcomes “the Government's commitment to investigate these cases, which will be a critical test for the domestic investigative mechanisms it has established for cases of this kind.”
“The United Nations is working with the Government to strengthen these mechanisms, but we stress that these must be prompt, transparent and effective in order to meet international standards,” it said.
“The High Commissioner's June 2020 Human Rights Council report on the Philippines documented a serious lack of due process in police operations, and near-total impunity for the use of lethal force by the police and the military,” it added.
It urged “the police to take urgent measures to prevent the use of excessive force resulting in loss of lives during law enforcement operations.”