MANILA – Davao City’s Cong. Paolo Duterte sought a House of Representatives investigation into alleged extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses in the country for the last 25 years.
Duterte made the proposal under House Resolution 1745 on Thursday, days after the House Committee on Human Rights started its probe on deaths associated with the “war on drugs” of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“As part of the duties and functions of the House of Representatives, it is prudent to revisit and scrutinize the surrounding circumstances behind the progressing extrajudicial killings in the country for at least a period covering the last 25 years up to the present and evaluate existing laws, rules, and regulations that uphold and promote the constitutional guarantee against any form of human rights violation,” Paolo said.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Philippine National Police (PNP) are tasked to cooperate with the congressional investigation.
“They are deemed as most credible repositories of data on extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations,” Paolo said.
He further said that the premise of the probe are the statements of the US Department of State and Amnesty International stating that extrajudicial killings in the Philippines remain a serious problem even during the current Marcos administration.
Paolo added that, based on police and DILG records, the cities of Manila, Cebu and Quezon City have recorded the highest number of extrajudicial killing incidents and other human rights violations.
Former President Duterte and other top officials of his administration are already being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with alleged commission of crimes against humanity for systematic drug war deaths in police operations during his tenure.
According to government records, there are around 6,200 drug suspects killed during the Duterte administration’s anti-drug police operations, but human rights organizations said the number may reach 30,000 due to the unreported related slays./PN
