The Palace on Tuesday urged the families of the slain farmers in Negros Oriental to file criminal charges after several human rights groups concluded that the farmers were victims of summary execution.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo assured the families of the 14 slain farmers that President Rodrigo Duterte would not tolerate police abuse.
“President Duterte will not allow police brutality, nor will he tolerate police abuse,” Panelo said.
He said the Palace was awaiting the official copy of the report on the investigation. The Philippine National Police has also created a team from its national headquarters to conduct a probe in Negros Oriental.
While there is a presumption of “regularity” on the police operations because of the search warrants, Nograles still urged the families of the slain men to file appropriate charges and “let the law take its course.”
“The families can always file criminal charges against the police officers and they should if the circumstances warrant, as this is the proper and legal recourse available to them,” he said.
After conducting a fact-finding investigation into the killings, 21 rights organizations contradicted the claim of the PNP that the farmers fought back during their “legitimate police operation.”
They said the farmers were summarily executed.
“Accounts gathered by fact-finding teams from the victims’ families and witnesses showed a pattern”•[policemen in full combat gear and wearing balaclavas] barged into the victims’ houses, [showed] defective search warrants for alleged weapons, shot the respondents, then planted fabricated evidence such as firearms and ammunition,” Danilo Ramos, chairman of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, said.
“Worse, the perpetrators took away money and other valuables from the victims.”