The Department of Justice is planning to review cases of policemen who have been cleared by the Philippine National Police- Internal Affairs Service of liability in the deaths of drug suspects, Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Wednesday.
“We will take a look at the more than 6,000 cases which are also investigated by the PNP-IAS but where the respondents were exonerated for insufficiency of evidence,” Guevarra said.
Last month, the PNP-IAS submitted to the DOJ the records of 52 cases of illegal drugs operations that resulted in deaths of suspects and where certain PNP members have been held administratively accountable.
“We are about to wind up with the review of 52 cases turned over to us by the PNP-IAS,” Guevarra said.
“We are investigating these first 52 cases because the PNP-IAS already found administrative liability among the policemen involved,” he added.
The DOJ, as part of the government’s commitment before the United Nations Human Rights Council, created last year a panel tasked to review cases involving deaths during illegal drugs operations that have taken place since 2016.
Aside from the PNP, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency also submitted to the DOJ last month the records of seven cases of deaths during its operations.