Law enforcers are mandated “to respect, protect and fulfill human rights even when no one is watching.”

This was stressed by the Center for International Law (CenterLaw) as it welcomed the issuance by the Supreme Court (SC) of the rules that require the mandatory use of body-worn cameras by law enforcers in the service of search and arrest warrants.

“Amidst increasing reports of civilian deaths at the hands of the police and under dubious circumstances, the technologization of the legal safeguards is a much-welcomed development,” CenterLaw said in a statement.

“The ‘Rules on the Use of Body-Worn Cameras in the Execution of Warrants’ remind our watchmen that they too are subject to the Filipino people’s watch,” it pointed out

CenterLaw, however, said the use of body-worn cameras is not an assurance that human rights abuses will still not take place.

“The use of body-worn cameras alone will not secure human rights compliance without the legal and operational framework in place, backed by a political will through which human rights violators are held to account, law enforcers should therefore be given not only the technologies but also the trainings to prevent the violations of fundamental rights a priori,” it stressed.

“CenterLaw calls on the Philippine government to faithfully execute our laws, even with only justice as its witness,” it said.