The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Thursday raised concern over an increase in abductions and incidents of gender-based violence perpetrated against women and children, even as the police said a recent spate of killings and kidnappings were mostly related to offshore gaming operators.
“The right to life is a natural right guaranteed to all individuals without distinction and goes beyond the rights to mere existence,” CHR executive director Jacqueline Ann de Guia said as she cited several cases of gender-based violence.
These include:
• Princess Dianne Dayor, an industrial engineer from Barangay Tikay, City of Malolos, who was found dead on July 5 after being reported missing on July 2.
• Josie Bonifacio, 40, of Barangay Quirino, body was found on Aug. 9 several hours after she was declared missing by her husband.
• The body of missing person Jovelyn Galleno surfaced on Aug. 23, after she was declared missing on Aug. 5.
“The CHR condemns the perpetrators behind these incidents,” De Guia said, saying it was increasingly important to investigate incidents such as these as more children return to school.
Beyond these case,the CHR said the killing of a couple on their way to a court hearing in Quezon, a shooting incident in Taguig, the robbery and killing of a 16-year-old scholar in Barangay Bulacao, Cebu City and the still unclear manner of deaths of the Tiamzons in a military encounter were equally concerning.
She lauded the announcement of the Department of Justice that it will look into these killings and the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s call for heightened police visibility as a deterrent to crime.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) said Thursday that from January up to July this year abduction cases were mostly related to Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), but said most of these have since been resolved.
“From January to July 2022, we have recorded 25 incidents of kidnapping incidents, mostly were POGO-related,” PNP spokesperson Police Col. Jean Fajardo said in a public briefing.
She said more than half of the kidnap cases have been resolved and cleared.
Fajardo credited the citizens for raising their concerns and uploading the incidents on social media, saying that the posts helped the PNP to monitor the situation and take immediate action.
Among the reports that raised concerns and fears among the public was that of the 25-year-old man who was abducted in Taal, Batangas, last week and found dead in Sariaya, Quezon, the following day, according to Police Regional Office 4A.
CCTV footage showed that the victim got off a bus on Tuesday at 7:53 p.m. While standing on the side of the road, several armed suspects aboard a gray SUV and a gray sedan abducted him.
There was also the case of a 34-year-old man who was abducted by armed men in Batangas and has remained missing for over two weeks now.
The victim’s live-in girlfriend said they were on board a motorcycle to fetch someone in a nearby town when armed men suddenly blocked their way and abducted him.
PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said the peace and order situation in the country is stable as he allayed public fear amid the reported abductions and killings in the past few weeks.
Speaking at the Police Service anniversary celebration at the Police Regional Office 3 (Central Luzon) headquarters in Pampanga on Thursday, Azurin said the PNP’s crime data has shown a steady decline in crime trends over 12 years since 2010.
He said the Peace and Order Indicator or the sum of both index and non-index crime cases has been decreasing since the start of the administration of the late president Benigno Aquino III.
Azurin added that index crimes (murder, homicide, physical injury, theft, robbery, rape, car theft) have also been on a downtrend since 2010.
Azurin also cautioned the public against an apparent “sensational surge in social media reporting of some crime incidents,” saying many of these are previously reported cases that had been categorized as solved by PNP units.
On Wednesday, the PNP chief said some kidnapping incidents wherein the victims would end up dead in other areas are criminal incidents that are highlighted in both traditional and social media and are now being attended to by the police.
“There is no breakdown of law and order. The peace and order situation in the entire country is still manageable. There are crimes that are highlighted in different platforms but definitely, the crime rate is still low and we continuously aspire to bring it down further,” he added.
The issue of peace and order in the country has been highlighted in the past days over incidents of kidnappings and other high-profile crimes that include rape and murder.
In Batangas, a man who was forcibly taken by armed men in Taal town ended up dead in Quezon on Aug. 17 while four people were found dead inside an abandoned car in Rodriguez town, Rizal province on Aug. 22.
However, some incidents were immediately resolved by the police, including the killing of a 15-year-old girl in Bulacan and another recent rape-slay case in Malabon.
Azurin, however, sees the positive side of the highlighted criminal incidents, saying these manifest the active participation of the public in reporting crime.