Malacañang open to creating truth commission to probe drug war killings
Malacañang said on Tuesday it was considering the formation of a fact-finding body to review the thousands of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs after the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of three police officers for the murder of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos in 2017.
While the executive still needs to review the high tribunal’s decision, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Dave Gomez said “this development underscores the need to consider the proposal from the church, civil society and some members of Congress for an independent Truth Commission to probe more deeply into these extra judicial killings.”
Delos Santos, a Grade 11 student, was shot dead by police officers conducting an antidrug operation in Caloocan City. Police Officer (PO)3 Arnel Oares and PO1 Jeremias Pereda and Jerwin Cruz claimed the teenager fired at them first, although witnesses said they saw the police officers stopping Delos Santos, frisking him and then dragging him into a dark alley where they shot him repeatedly.
In a 40-page decision promulgated in August and made public only on Monday, the Supreme Court denied the appeal of the dismissed policemen and affirmed their 2018 conviction by a Caloocan regional trial court for murder. They were sentenced to reclusion perpetua, or up to 40 years of imprisonment.
Members of the academe were the first one to push for a Truth Commission as early as September 2017, when authorities reported at least 3,800 suspected drug users and pushers were killed in police operations since July 2016 under Duterte’s drug war.
Not enough
The widespread killings prompted the filing of a case against Duterte and other officials before the International Criminal Court (ICC). The former president was arrested on Mar. 11 by local police officers and the International Police Criminal Organization based on a warrant from the ICC for crimes against humanity.
Mamamayang Liberal party list Rep. Leila de Lima, one of the most vocal critics of Duterte and his drug war, said on Tuesday that the pursuit of accountability should go beyond the “low-level perpetrators.”
“[We] continue to seek accountability from those with higher or highest responsibility for the carnage executed under the murderous war on drugs, including its enablers,” said the former senator who filed on Dec. 9 House Bill No. 6686 which pushes for the formation of the Truth Commission on Extrajudicial Killings.
Under the bill, the five-member body shall also be provided investigative subpoena and contempt powers “to investigate, document, and uncover the truth regarding extrajudicial killings, identify the perpetrators thereof, and recommend institutional reforms and redress for victims and survivors.” —WITH A REPORT FROM GABRIEL PABICO LALU
