Human Rights Watch on Philippines

We are already aware of the ruthless tactics employed by President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines to control drug related crime and now, he is considering reinstating the death penalty since its abolishment in 2006. He used the State of Nation Address this week to address his considerations to bring back the death penalty by way of lethal injection for drug offenders.

The Philippines had ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 2007, which compels the signatory states to abolish the death penalty and if reinstated, violate their obligations to international human rights. That may not be enough to prevent Duterte.

Given the methods imposed by the government to address drug related crime, it would appear increasingly likely that the House Committee on Justice would support the death penalty being reimposed.

AT least 6, 000 Filipinos have been killed by the National Police and thousands of unidentified gunmen since Guterte began the “war on drugs”, with minimal accountability. The Philippines has also since withdrawn from the International Criminal Court in March 2019, an additional move against any accountability towards the human rights of its people.

SINCE President Duterte’s inauguration on 30th June 2016, the anti drug campaign dubbed “Operation Double Barrel” has targeted suspected drug dealers and users through the use of extrajudicial executions, instead of an old fashioned arrest. Prior to being elected, he was mayor of Davao City for 20 years where he was known as “Duterte Harry” for the use of his “Davao Death Squad” on petty criminals, drug users and street children.

I mean, he really meant business even back in June 4 of 2016, stating “if you are still into drugs, I am going to kill you. Don’t take this as a joke. I’m not trying to make you laugh. Sons of bitches, I’ll really kill you.” After taking office on August 6, he warned drug dealers, “my order is shoot to kill you. I don’t care about human rights, you better believe me.”

Since then, individuals are placed on a ‘watch list’ compiled by local police and neighbourhoods, where many will receive a visit or a phone call to inform them. Family members of those who have been shot often recall plain clothed armed assailants storm the home banging on doors and barging into rooms, before gun shots are heard despite the pleas from the alleged suspect.

Many bodies containing gunshot wounds are left under bridges whilst police cordon off the area and the masked gunmen remain on the scene, alleging they receive a tip off from a local relating to “Found Bodies”. Relatives of Edward Sentorias, a 34 year old unemployed father of 3 recall police entering his home with an aluminium briefcase, leaving the gun beside his body once the job was done. Families feel defenceless, as who are they to complain to?

Although difficult to prove that Duterte ordered the extrajudicial killings, his repeated calls to kill as part of his war on drugs can be seen as instigating law enforcement to engage in acts of murder. However after widespread national outrage, three policemen have been convicted for killing teenager Kian Delos Santos in 2018, after they suspected he was a drug runner and had acted in self defence. Surveillance footage showed officers later dragging his body away before leaving it in a pigsty. The Philippines youngest victim was three year old Myca Ulpina, who was caught in the crossfire between police and her father on June 29, 2019. They later claimed he used her as a human shield, and that was the end of that.

Further to this, the war on drugs may even have dire consequences on the health system in the Philippines, with the Human Rights Watch reporting that many countries have seen many drug users going underground to seek medical treatment, fuelling the transmission of Hepatitis C and HIV.

But for now, the world will continue to monitor what happens next. The use of extrajudicial killings as a means of crime control seeks to spread terror amongst the country, with Duterte further warning that “the will see the fish of Manila Bay getting fat. That is where I will dump you.”

It may be easy to suggest recommendations in improving the human rights of the people in the Philippines through methods such as anonymous hotlines to report alleged killings during anti-drug operations or conduct impartial investigations and prosecutions by the National Bureau of Investigations, however it is feared these operations are too far embedded amongst their law enforcement practices, as encouraged by its leader.

We have therefore seen that the licence to kill enforced by the President through extrajudicial killings and a push to reimpose the death penalty continues to constrict the rights of the people in the Philippines. Amongst the fear, free speech continues to diminish after journalists Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos Jr were each sentenced to six years for critically reporting on government policies, including the “war on drugs”. But that is another chapter.