Justice for Human Rights

Is Extra Judicial Killing Effective?

Where is the Justice?

(PILI IT MAUPAY NA TITLE HEHE)

(A Position Paper on the Extra Judicial Killing)

Chester P. Manasis

Abbie Kate A. Arante

Ryegin D. Cartalla

Patricia Amor S. Monteza

Nelinda Mae Lamac

Erica Cumla
 INTRODUCTION

Amnesty International’s investigation, “If you are poor you are killed”: Extrajudicial

Executions in the Philippines’ details how the police have systematically targeted mostly poor and

defenceless people across the country while planting “evidence”, recruiting paid killers, stealing

from the people they kill and fabricating official incident reports.

“This is not a war on drugs, but a war on the poor. Often on the flimsiest of evidence,

people accused of using or selling drugs are being killed for cash in an economy of murder,” said

Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Director.

"Extra Judicial Killing" is one of the most recent and trending issue of our country,

Philippines. The number victims have increased and is getting worse everyday. Some who have

been victims are innocent, spare their lives and not getting the justice they deserve. Extra Judicial

Killing sadly is continuously getting worse. The problem lies within those who control it, for

decades or even centuries, our country had always faced problems which all differ with their length

and seriousness but nevertheless they always require the call of every citizen to alleviate it. In the

past, we had a war against a form of corruption under the Marcos regime which was tyranny, but

now we face another form of corruption although now it’s in a form of a major drug problem.

Those who fail to learn from their past often repeats it, that is why people who are under the control

should not consider extrajudicial killing as a solution for the drug problems and poverty within the

Philippines.

“From what we see today, it is worse than Marcosian dictatorship, and can even be as

equally deadly as Hitler’s holocaust,” Kabataan said in a statement. A TOTAL of 3,257

extrajudicial killings (EJKs) were committed during the Marcos dictatorship. In contrast, there

were 805 drug-related fatalities from May 10 (when Rodrigo Duterte emerged winner of the

presidential election) to Aug. 12, per the Inquirer count. If the current rate continues, the total

number of EJKs for the six years of the Duterte administration will end up about 700 percent more

than the killings committed during the 14 years of the Marcos dictatorship.
 “It is clear that even while laws exist to lay the foundation of our rights and freedoms, they

are not safeguards that will completely protect the people from state-perpetrated violence. Laws

do not ensure the protection of our rights; continuous struggle does,” Kabataan said.

Extrajudicial executions are unlawful and deliberate killings carried out by officials, by

order of a government or with its complicity or acquiescence. It violates the right to life as

enshrined in both Philippine and international law. In addition to extrajudicial killings, human

rights defenders operating in the Philippines continue to be the target of harassment, death threats,

and even verbal abuse.

A fact-finding mission to the Philippines, carried out by the Observatory from August 7 to

16, 2017, observed an increasingly hostile environment for human rights defenders in the country.

Interlocutors reported having experienced increased difficulties in carrying out their human rights

activities under President Duterte, particularly in relation to investigations surrounding

extrajudicial killings allegedly committed by police and vigilantes as part of Duterte’s ‘war on

drugs’.

Inducing police to engage in de facto shoot-to-kill policies is enormously corrosive of law

enforcement, not to mention the rule of law. There is a high chance that the policy will more than

ever institutionalize top-level corruption, as only powerful drug traffickers will be able to bribe

their way into upper-levels of the Philippine law enforcement system, and the government will

stay in business. Moreover, corrupt top-level cops and government officials tasked with such

witch-hunts will have the perfect opportunity to direct law enforcement against their drug business

rivals as well as political enemies, and themselves become the top drug capos. Unaccountable

police officers officially induced to engage in extrajudicial killings easily succumb to engaging in

all kinds of criminality, being uniquely privileged to take over criminal markets. Those who should

protect public safety and the rule of law themselves become criminals.

Extrajudicial killing have been denounced by the international community as a clear

derogation from the rule of law. However, that statement by itself does not tell us which aspects

of the rule of law are being corroded by the commission of extrajudicial killings. This aims to

identify the aspects of the rule of law that are hindered by extrajudicial killings, and to elucidate a

process for cultivating a rule of law society that addresses these hindrances. We argue that this
crucially depends on two mandates that tie together: 1. holding the government accountable to

their obligations under the rule of law, and 2. addressing the current constraints on meaningful

civic engagement and participation. The paper addresses the challenge head-on by developing a

working concept of the rule of law that opens room for discussions on the role and power of

citizens.

BODY

Counterarguments

The current all-out drive against crime is showing a positive impact, the government

claimed as the incidence of crime went down significantly during the first month of President

Rodrigo Duterte’s incumbency.

Quoting police reports, Secretary Martin Andanar of the Presidential Communications

Office said the government’s relentless campaign against crime, particularly drug-related crimes,

“are bearing positive results”.

Seventy-one-year-old Duterte, who was a prosecutor before serving several terms as mayor

of Davao City, was elected as the country’s 16th President on an anti-crime platform last May. His

iron hand approach to criminals has drawn criticism as well as praises in the country where drug

use is rampant.

Andanar quoted data submitted by Philippine National Police (PNP) Public Information

Officer Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos, which stated that the crime volume went down from 56,339

in July 2015 to 50,817 for the same month in 2016, indicating a 9.8 per cent drop.

Index crimes — which include murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault,

burglary, and motor vehicle theft — dropped significantly, by 31 per cent in July 2016 compared

to in July 2015.

So-called “crime against property” also plunged by 40.3 per cent to 4,476 incidents in July

this year, down from 11,106 during the same month in 2015.
 “Crimes against persons went down by 13.82 per cent or 829 incidents,” said Andanar.

The figures were issued in the face of reports over hundreds of killings of persons suspected

to have links to illegal drugs.

PNP added at least 513 drug personalities were killed and more than 600,000 drug pushers

and users have given themselves up to authorities since July 1 while more than 3,000 were arrested

over the same period.

Arguments

President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs in the Philippines is morally and legally

unjustifiable. Resulting in egregious and large-scale violations of human rights, it amounts to state-

sanctioned murder. It is also counterproductive for countering the threats and harms that the illegal

drug trade and use pose to society — exacerbating both problems while profoundly shredding the

social fabric and rule of law in the Philippines. The United States and the international community

must condemn and sanction the government of the Philippines for its conduct of the war on drugs.

Extrajudicial killings. Killings beyond legal means. No lawyers, no trials, no due process.

They’re dead before they can even defend themselves in court.