CHR tells PNP on DOJ review of police operations: 'Step towards right direction'

While the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) do not "see eye to eye" on many issues, a new development has emerged that prompted the commission to laud the country’s police force.
The development referred to by the CHR was the PNP’s decision to open 61 cases of police operations for review by the Department of Justice (DOJ), particularly those that resulted in the deaths of illegal drug suspects.
PNP Chief Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar said the decision was for a more "active collaboration" in reviewing cases of reported extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and other similar cases.
"PNP's willingness in opening these cases for scrutiny is a step towards the right direction," CHR Spokesperson and lawyer Jacqueline Ann de Guia said in a statement issued on Wednesday, May 26.
De Guia said the CHR hopes that these 61 cases would be "just a beginning" and that more police cases would be open for review in the future.
"CHR, even from the start, has repeatedly urged the government to be transparent and open in cooperating in the investigations of the said cases involving alleged extrajudicial killings related to the government's drug campaign," she said.
She also said the CHR has stressed the importance of the PNP’s maintaining a cooperative stance with the public and other government agencies, especially in terms of human rights violations.
As the police force carries out its mandate to investigate and pursue cases, it still has the obligation to uphold and protect the rights of everyone, she said.
Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra had said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the PNP will sign an agreement for closer cooperation in the investigation of alleged EJKs, illegal drug operations that resulted in deaths to suspects, and “other related cases.”
Guevarra said he met with PNP Chief Eleazar. “We discussed two areas of immediate concern, namely: active collaboration in the review of illegal drug operations where deaths occurred, and in the investigation of alleged EJKs and related cases.”
“General Eleazar expressed his sincere intention to cooperate with the DOJ in order to remove or discipline wrongdoers among the ranks of the police and thereby uplift the image of the PNP as protectors of the people,” he said.