DOJ review finds lapses in 'drug war'

ops commonly punished with

suspension
Kristine Joy Patag - Philstar.com
October 20, 2021 | 2:17pm

This photo shows a memorial with the names of the victims of extra-judicial killings.
Karapatan, Release
MANILA, Philippines — Information released by the Department of Justice
from its review of 50 "war on drugs" operations that resulted in deaths showed
that most police officers involved were only suspended for lapses, with cops in
one case only getting a reprimand.
The DOJ on Wednesday released some information on cases where the
Philippine Natioanl Police Internal Affairs Service found administrative liability
on the part of law enforcers.

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Human Rights Watch Senior Philippines Researcher Carlos Conde earlier

pointed out that these cases are a "woefully paltry number considering that
more than 7,000 killings by the police have been officially recorded."

National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers chairman Neri Colmenares said the

DOJ's "damning" information "only show that the drug war is not the success
the Duterte administration paints it to be."

Calling the information that the DOJ released "just the tip of the iceberg",
Colmenares said that "all eyes are on the Duterte administration now that the
investigations on these deadly irregularities continue even as the International
Criminal Court conducts its own inquiry."

Colmenares, who is running for senator in the 2022 polls, is one of the
lawyers assisting families of "war on drugs" victims who have raised
allegations of crimes against humanity before the ICC.

The National Bureau of Investigation is looking into case records to determine

if criminal complaints should also be filed against the police officers involved
in the deadly "war on drugs" operations.

Some of the cases that the bureau is probing are for killings that happened in
2016.

Breakdown
A majority of the deaths in the cases — 37 of the 50 — forwarded to the DOJ
happened during buy-bust operations. Four people were killed while being
served search warrants and two others were killed while being served arrest
warrants for a different crime. 
Six people were killed at checkpoints.

According to the DOJ data, the police Internal Affairs Service recommended

penalties ranging from a reprimand, varying periods of suspension, demotion,
and dismissal from the PNP.

In at least five cases, the suspects were shot at close range, as shown by the
presence of gunpowder tattooing on their chest. Cops involved in these
operations were suspended for from 60 to 75 days although officers involved
in two cases were dismissed from service.

The DOJ also noted that, in at least seven cases, suspects who supposedly
shot at cops tested negative in gunpowder paraffin tests. It also noted that, in
some cases, records were incomplete.

Only a reprimand over a suspect's death

Suspect Ryan Robosa was killed in a buy-bust operation on Dec. 15, 2016.

He was accused of firing at police operatives, prompting the cops to retaliate,

but the DOJ said that records of the case do not support that narrative.

"There are no pre-operation report, coordination form, chain of custody form,

ballistics or paraffin test result, or autopsy result on record."

While the IAS found cops were "guilty of grave irregularity in the performance
of duty," the involved police officers were only given a reprimand.

15 gunshot wounds and a 31-day suspension

On July 4, 2017, Fred Ifurung was killed in a buy-bust operation in Lal-lo town
in Cagayan province.

Police said he had fired at them, forcing them to shoot back.

DOJ observations noted that the suspect sustained 15 gunshot wounds,

"particularly on the head, trunk, and upper and lower extremities" but that no
ballistics or paraffin test results, Scene of the Crime Operatives or autopsy
reports were included in the case files.