In the next few weeks, I will be writing a series of columns on the war against drugs. I will use as my main basis for these articles two important, well-researched, and superbly documented reports by Amnesty International (“If you are poor you are killed”) and Human Rights Watch (“License to Kill: Philippine police killings in Duterte’s war on drugs). These are excellent reports prepared and issued by two of the world’s top human rights organizations with sterling and formidable reputations. Governments and international organizations act on their reports and the recommendations put forward in them.
The backdrop is the report is a sad number: to date, more than 7,000 have been executed in the anti-drug war, mostly young men coming from the poor. It is reasonable to expect that this massacre of the poor will continue with the President vowing to extend his campaign until 2022. In fact, after a brief lull resulting from the murder of a Korean businessman in Camp Crame, the Philippine National Police has just resumed its infamous Tokhang campaign. The victims’ families also had to suffer through police theft and planting of evidence. None of the police perpetrators have been caught and brought before the bar of the law or have been dismissed. The harshest that police scalawags can face is to be ordered to do push-ups or be exiled to terror-stricken Basilan province and await reassignment to better postings at some opportune time when the climes become more favorable. But most of the time, authorities have turned a blind eye on the killings.
In its report, AI investigated 33 incidents of drug-related killings in 20 different cities and towns, spread primarily across the National Capital Region as well as the provinces of Cebu and Cotabato. In the 33 incidents, of which 20 involved police operations and 13 involved unknown armed persons, 59 total people were killed. AI found that based on corroborating witness statements and other credible information, the vast majority of these killings appear to have been extrajudicial executions—that is, unlawful and deliberate killings carried out by government order or with its complicity or acquiescence. A police officer told Amnesty International that there are significant under-the-table payments for “encounters” in which alleged drug offenders are killed. He also said a racket between the police and some funeral homes leads to payments for each body brought in.
In addition to killings during police operations, AI found, there have been more than 4,100 drug-related killings by unknown armed persons, also finding strong evidence of links between state authorities and some armed persons who carry out drug-related killings. Officers sometimes disguise themselves as unknown armed persons, particularly when the target is someone whose family might bring a complaint or whose death might lead to greater suspicion; he mentioned female targets in particular. Two individuals paid to kill alleged drug offenders told Amnesty International that their boss is an active duty police officer; they reported receiving around P10,000 (US $201) per killing. They said that before President Duterte took office, they had around two “jobs” a month. Now, they have three to four a week.
The report noted that victims of drug-related killings tend to have two things in common. First, they were overwhelmingly from the urban poor, mostly unemployed and living in informal settlements or squatter communities. Second, in most cases there is a link to a “drug watch list” prepared by local government officials and shared with the police. Both the concept of the “watch list” itself and the way they are put together are deeply problematic. Inclusion is at times based on hearsay and community rumor or rivalry, with little to no verification. All extrajudicial executions, irrespective of who the victim is, are unlawful. The investigation report discussed in depth the dynamics of the anti-drug war including Oplan Tokhang, police killings and raids on homes, killings in detention, pressure and incentives that encouraged police killings, planting evidence and falsifying police reports and other crimes that naturally thrive as a result of the climate of impunity like vigilante-style killings.
Several local human rights activists told Amnesty International that, if anything is to derail the popularity of President Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, it is the growing realization that poor, small-time users and dealers are being hit in a way that major drug lords and traffickers are not. Of the 33 cases of drug-related killings documented by Amnesty International, more than 20 involved men who left behind partners and children—often young children. The loss of a key breadwinner further compounds a family’s economic situation. Funeral expenses add to the problem. In several cases, health expenses have as well.
AI observes that under Oplan Tokhang, the right to life is not only violated through arbitrary and otherwise unlawful killings, but also by subsequent practices that create barriers to justice, accountability and remedy. These barriers, according to the AI report, often reflect the approach and public statements of President Duterte and his administration. The President has repeatedly said that policemen will not be investigated and has encouraged civilians to personally act against those involved in drugs. As the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings has pointed out, such conduct is prohibited by international law and “is effectively a license to kill.” Whether killings occur as part of a common crime, with some police involvement, or during a police operation, including in genuine “armed confrontations,” the Revised Philippine National Police Operational Procedures require an investigation into the loss of life and delineate specific steps to be completed. Yet many of these appear to be routinely omitted in drug-related cases, including basic measures like interviewing witnesses.
The AI Investigation Report is a strong and damning statement on the Duterte administration’s war on drugs. It illustrates how the catastrophic effects of this war, mostly on the impoverished families, the police institution and justice system in general will have lasting, deep and deleterious impact on our social and moral fabric. In the next installment of this series, I will highlight the recommendations of AI’s report.
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