The Commission on Human Rights on Friday welcomed the commitment of Justic.e Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla to pursue the probe of the drug war under the Duterte administration.
Executive director Jacqueline Ann de Guia also lauded the Department of Justice’s initiative to share all of its data with CHR.
“CHR, likewise, welcomes the reiteration of DOJ’s agreement to collaborate with CHR,” she said.
In 2020, CHR and the DOJ through its Administrative Order No. 35 signed a data sharing agreement covering cases of extra-legal killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other grave human rights violations.
The arrangement demonstrated the mutual cooperation of the two institutions to uphold human rights and serve the ends of justice for drug war victims.
“With the recent pronouncement of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. not to rejoin the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Philippine Government must now uphold complementarity to validate the functionality of our justice system,” De Guia said.
She said with such development, CHR hopes that more cases would be filed in court and “finally yield impartial court rulings.”
The Philippine National Police (PNP) meanwhile said it will continue its programs in maintaining peace and order in the society, Malacañang said on Friday.
In related news, the National Capital Region Police Office reported that more than 9,400 suspected drug dealers and dependents were arrested in Metro Manila from March to July this year.
NCRPO director Maj. Gen. Felipe Natividad commended his men from the five police command offices — Manila, Quezon City, Southern Police District, Eastern Police District and Northern Police District — for their efforts implementing the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, especially in going after individuals and their cohorts engaged in drug dealing.
Natividad is hoping that the arrest of those men would further trim down criminal activities in the National Capital Region, especially this coming ‘ber months’ —reference to the months of September, October, November and December, or the holiday season.
From March 1 to July 31, 2022, the NCRPO and the five police districts under the leadership of Natividad have conducted 5,148 anti-narcotics operations in NCR resulting in the arrest of a total of 9,443 individuals and the seizure of P1.23 billion worth of illegal drugs.
The confiscated drugs include 188,179.89 grams of shabu worth more than P1.2 billion; 72,629.56 grams of marijuana with an estimate value at P8.7 million; 28.20 grams of cocaine valued at P149,460.00, and party drug ecstasy worth at least P13,600.
