MANILA – The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said the government is not responsible to help the families of suspects killed in the administration’s “war on drugs.”
DILG secretary Eduardo Año said the agency has no policy to address the bereaved families but they are free to seek government assistance.
During the DILG budget hearing at the House of Representatives, Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez asked Año about the possible help the latter can extend to the wives and children of those who were killed in the antidrug campaign.
“They are not involved in these crimes, and so if the family is not taken care of, we have a lost generation of children who will be problematic in the next generation because they will not be able to go to school,” Rodriguez said.
Año said his agency does not have any existing policy to address the bereaved families but they are free to seek government assistance, particularly from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“Considering these are presumed legal antidrug operations, so there is no responsibility or accountability on the part of the government to address the needs of the suspects. But we have a very compassionate government and any victims, any family of the victim can approach appropriate government agencies,” Año said.
“War on drugs” was one of the campaign promises of President Rodrigo Duterte despite receiving backlashes from the opposition and from foreign countries./PN
